Yay: down to 5 blogs in my RSS feed. aka Reading raw blogs is like reading the slushpile.
Reading raw blogs is like reading the slushpile.
Last year I finally gave in and started using an RSS feed to organize my blog reading. This year, I realized that I could be even more organized and efficient by just not reading them at all.
Reading raw blogs is like reading the slushpile.*
The initial act of pruning felt hard (going from too many down to 15), but I was (in retrospect) clever: I deleted them just before going on a 3 day weekend retreat- intense conversation, stunning nature. When I got back, catching up on the blogs I had left felt more annoying than edifying. It was time consuming, and the library called to say my books-on-hold had come in. It was work at a time when I had real true paid work to catch up on.
Reading raw blogs is like reading the slushpile***.
Now to avoid the temptation for just one more look at the feed before the computer goes off.
And because I was asked: reading LiveJournal is like reading Usenet. I miss Usenet. But that's another essay entirely.
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* raw = random unrated** posts by people where you can't have a good conversation about that essay OR you can't remember it a week later. This to me maps to: not friends, or not in my communities, or not a consistently good essayist.
** digg definitely doesn't count... "rated" should at the minimum have the details that Gary Farber puts in his 'read the rest scale.'
*** You don't want to read the 99% of the slushpile: when you do, you're doing it to save all other people from reading what you've just read, because you're an editor.
Last year I finally gave in and started using an RSS feed to organize my blog reading. This year, I realized that I could be even more organized and efficient by just not reading them at all.
Reading raw blogs is like reading the slushpile.*
The initial act of pruning felt hard (going from too many down to 15), but I was (in retrospect) clever: I deleted them just before going on a 3 day weekend retreat- intense conversation, stunning nature. When I got back, catching up on the blogs I had left felt more annoying than edifying. It was time consuming, and the library called to say my books-on-hold had come in. It was work at a time when I had real true paid work to catch up on.
Reading raw blogs is like reading the slushpile***.
Now to avoid the temptation for just one more look at the feed before the computer goes off.
And because I was asked: reading LiveJournal is like reading Usenet. I miss Usenet. But that's another essay entirely.
-----------
* raw = random unrated** posts by people where you can't have a good conversation about that essay OR you can't remember it a week later. This to me maps to: not friends, or not in my communities, or not a consistently good essayist.
** digg definitely doesn't count... "rated" should at the minimum have the details that Gary Farber puts in his 'read the rest scale.'
*** You don't want to read the 99% of the slushpile: when you do, you're doing it to save all other people from reading what you've just read, because you're an editor.