The Blogs at Penn State includes an rss feed for comments for each blog by default. Does anyone actually use these? I find them pretty important for certain blogs that tend to generate a lot of discussion. I also see blogs where the first step to what should be a ongoing discussion is taken, then never quite gets off the ground. I assume this is because after leaving a comment, most people don't bother to go back to see what further discussion may have taken place. Would it be useful to you if you could opt in to receive email alerts when additional comments are placed on an entry on which you commented?
Do you use blog comments feeds?
7 Comments
Brad manages the programming group in Education Technology Services.
Personally I don't use the comments RSS feed, despite its inherent value. It will probably sound like some sort of obsessive compulsive tendency, but for some reason I'm stingy about modifying my feeds (high quality new content sources not withstanding). The idea of filling up my reader with comment threads that, while interesting, will only last for a week or two makes my virtual neat freak panic. I have actually found myself manually checking a blog for updates instead of using the comments feed.
I guess I'm just more comfortable with being subscribed to 10,000 email lists than 10,000 RSS feeds. Its inexplicable, but something feels more organized about it to me.
Actually, the comments feed used at blogs@psu aren't on a per post basis. There is one comment feed for all posts in a blog. So some blogs, like kxm's, I tend to follow the comments as well.
I don't use the comments RSS feeds, but I have thought about it. I guess I was just thinking that it might be an overwhelming amount or something. I like the idea of being notified of new comments that have been made after I have commented somewhere.
I would much rather receive an email (maybe even an daily summary) of comments than use the separate feed. There are only one or two feeds that I subscribe to that I also subscribe to the comments. An email would be much better in my opinion.
I'd prefer the email as well, mainly because I think they would be easier to manage (check the comment, hit delete and be done with it). Also, while RSS is personalized to a particular subscriber group, email is personalized to a particular person (me) which I think lends itself to being a gateway for blog discussions that I'm a part of or interested in...
- Mark
Hi Brad,
Not wishing to state the obvious I have always found the email digests I receive for various groups useful. Now and then a blogger will post a provocative or inquiring post worthy of follow up. I subscribe to the comments feed for that post if available and keep an eye on it. Once the interest has died down I unsubscribe. I think if I subscribed to too many comments feeds I would soon feel overwhelmed.
I have read a few posts recently where active "edubloggers" have seen value in "stopping to smell the roses" and simply slowing down a bit. I am about to filter the newsfeeds that I subscribe to so that I do not get caught up in too much online activity.
Cheers
John
Brad,
I always feel interested in how people will respond to my comments, so I'm a frequent re-visitor. Maybe I'm the only one?
Is there a way to monitor how many people are periodically/repeatedly hitting a comments feed?
I agree that subscribing to comments can make some readers look really cluttered/messy/unattractive. I use Vienna on my MacBook and find that its interface seems cleaner and therefore less cluttered with many subscriptions. I also open it on login and have it running in my menu bar. This allows me to avoid longer periods of time where I don't check the reader. I never used to subscribe to comments when I used G_Reader.