I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll probably keep blogging about it as long as people keep doing it:

I HATE PARTIAL RSS FEEDS.

Really, what is the point? If somebody subscribes to your feed, it’s because they want to read it, not just the headlines or a usually pointless 1 paragraph excerpt. I am a big fan of using a feed reader and subscribing to people’s feeds for two main reasons: speed & efficiency.

I like to read lots of blogs, and I’d like to read even more, so consider the two different approaches I can take:

The old-fashioned way. 

  1. Have a list of blogs stored somewhere. Maybe a blog roll, even though they can have SEO implications, and, especially if it’s a new blog to me or if they are particularly controversial, I may not want to link to them.
  2. Click on their link in my list, wait for the page to load.
  3. The blog’s down! I’ll have to remember to check tomorrow.
  4. OK, now I can access the site, I see there’s nothing new since the last visit. Maybe tomorrow then.
  5. Now there’s loads of new posts! Have I seen all of these? I’ll just have to keep scrolling through and loading pages, until I find something I’ve read before.
  6. Oh well, I didn’t find any of those posts inspiring enough to make a comment.
  7. Back to my list to read the next blog. Only another 100 sites to go-wonder if I’ll have time to write my own posts today?

Now I’ll go my preferred route:

The RSS feed reader way.

  1. Open Google Reader. All the blogs that have new content are marked in bold. Those that haven’t updated are greyed out, although I can still click on them and visit if I wish. I don’t have to link to any site to read it.
  2. I choose a blog that’s got new posts. Click on their name, and all of their posts appear on the right, with unread posts in bold, read posts greyed out, but still readable.
  3. I’ve read all of their posts without waiting on any load time (the pages are cached by Google), and a simple right or middle click on the title opens up the post I want to comment on in a new tab. I don’t have to visit (i.e. load) the posts I’m not commenting on.
  4. That’s that blog finished, onto the next one. If a blog has published posts, but is now offline due to server issues or something, I can still read the posts in Google Reader.

Now which is faster, simpler and just a more enjoyable all round experience as a reader?

There are other advantages too, such as the fact that Google on average has a cache of blog posts going back months for each blog, meaning I can explore your archives without laboriously loading page after page on your blog itself. This gives me the chance to find out more about your blog, and to establish you as a favourite in my mind.

An emergency backup for your blog: If you’re only publishing partial feeds, you won’t have anything to recover should the worst happen.

Stickability: I don’t forget to visit any blog in my reader, because of that big bold visual cue that new material has been published. I’ve just deleted all of the blogs issuing partial feeds simply because there’s nothing to read, so why keep them in my reader? Over time this means I’m going to forget about your blog, because I’m reading loads of others who are being flagged on a daily basis in my reader. Why should I remember to come visit yours?

But…

I’ve read the reasons about why you should publish partial feeds, such as forcing me to visit your site so I can click your ads (Well, gee thanks, but I use Adblock with Firefox, so I don’t see them anyway), increasing your page load count (but losing return visitors?)  and to prevent sploggers stealing your posts (no it won’t).

The simple fact is, if you write good posts and publish a full feed, I will read and be compelled to visit your site to comment. If you publish partial feeds, you are unlikely to ever see me again on your blog - not out of pettiness, but because I’ve forgotten you exist.

I’m not alone

There are many bloggers that feel this way about partial feeds, and if you read into the comments, you’ll see that the vast proportion of the commenters agree.

Ultimately of course, it’s up to you - but if you do go for partial feeds you’ve lost at least one reader.