Cutting down the noise from your RSS feed reader

I love blogs.  Big fan.  To the point that I actually have several blogs myself.  But loving too many blogs too much can bring more ‘noise’ than expected.  This made me trim down on my subscriptions and evaluate the items on my feed reader.  Of course, this action also led to a new article I wrote for Web Worker Daily entitled “Fine-tune Your RSS Subscriptions“.  Here’s an excerpt from that post:

“…I refer to an ancient Sumerian saying goes “Get it only when you need it.” Okay, maybe I made that one up, but it’s a rule that applies to kitchenware, packing, and yes, even RSS feeds.  If your reason for buying fondue forks is “You’ll never know when we’ll have a fondue party”, then odds are these forks will gather dust for several months until you need to use them - if ever that actually happens.

The same goes for RSS feeds.  “You’ll never know when they’ll post something I can use…” is a very flimsy reason for subscribing to something - and I know this from experience.  If there’s particular information you need, then that’s the time you go out and look for it, rather than hoarding useless feeds in the hopes that something useful might come up.”

Anyway, if that sounds familiar, head on to that article to read the full version and share your thoughts.  I’d like to hear how other people reduce the noise from their feed readers (yes, even if you’re going to say “By unsubscribing from your boring blog!”)

Last week I wrote about this exercise that one of my writing teachers taught me.  Basically, the idea is this: get a small notepad and write at least 3 interesting/odd/quirky/strange/fascinating things in it each day.  These could be things you see on the street, or things you imagine or think about.

The thing is, I don’t want to be a hypocritical phantom advice-giver who doesn’t walk the walk (we have enough of those, according to Deceiver), so I said I’d do the exercise and share some of my results.  Here they are:

• As I was walking at night in a busy street, I noticed how the homeless seem to blend with the background and appear to be inanimate objects - until they move.  What looks like a lamp post or a pile of trans bags from the corner of your eye is actually a human being.
• I’ve lived in the same house for 25 years, but never realized that the handlebar on the front door was uneven.  My partner has only lived here for a little over a year, and yet she’s noticed.
• Three men in long, white, hooded cloaks were unloading boxes behind a grocery store.
• I keep mistaking my bunched up white blanket for my cat.
• The three women depicted in the packaging of “Happy Needles” (a company that sells, uhm, needles) are now illustrated in Japanese manga style.  They used to be in 50’s Americana style.

These are only 5 things from a week of notes, but I actually wrote 3 items each day.  Wouldn’t want to go against my own advice and add to your noise now, would I?

Until next week,

Celine

No related posts.