Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Google Reader Request: Why am I subscribed to this blog?

I am reading a blog post from a blog that I don't remember subscribing to. I don't remember because I subscribed to it a month ago and they haven't updated since then. I actually prefer this model of posting. Few REALLY GOOD posts because then when you read them it is like you have found a gem that you weren't really looking for.

But then you have people like me, who don't post very often, and when they do they are complain about some feature that an awesome tool on the Internet doesn't have. And you wonder, why did I subscribe to this feed? It is because 2 years ago this guy actually posted something useful and you thought future posts would be good too. HAH! I tricked you!

What is missing from Reader is the ability to find out why I subscribed to a feed in the first place. My first gut reaction to this "need" is a "note" icon next to the name of the poster. When clicking on the icon a note is displayed which I wrote sometime soon after subscribing that tells me why I subscribed. My second gut reaction that was prompted by the disgust of having to write something like that is that Google creates a summary of the blog as a whole.

I doubt any of these are really good ideas, especially since it is so easy to just go back and read past titles and dive into posts for clarification, but it sure would be nifty to not have to research why I subscribed to this random feed. Hopefully the brilliant Reader team can come up with something better that fits the need.

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