wine on the keyboard

Blog Hopping Control

by Kay~Kacey on 5/31/2005

Kind of long post, bear with me:

So, my blog hopping is out of control. I’ve met so many great writers this way. BUT, my hopping is taking a lot of time. Writing time. (no, I’m not launching into one of those…my life is so busy so I’m not going to hop, but please still come to my blog because I’m so important type posts that PISS ME OFF when people post them! :angry: )

I decided to force myself to use RSS feeds. I downloaded PLUCK for internet explorer. It installs a toolbar. Then you can open it in a side window right in explorer. (I didn’t import my bookmarks, an option they had nor did I set up an account on their webspace). I created a folder called Blogs and added the RSS feeds from all the blogs I read. WEll, all the ones that have a feed. I went to my bookmark of each blog, click on the FEEDS icon on the Pluck toolbar, and picked the feed that pops up (if there is more than one feed, I picked the RSS2 feed.) I had to be careful because sometimes there would be a feed to the comments. I wanted the main blog feed.

Then I went and marked all my folders read. Now, by simply opening the Pluck side window and right clicking the blogs folder and hitting refresh, I can see who has posted a new entry. (the blog name shows up in BOLD if there is a new post) I can click on it right from the side panel and read the new post. Mark it read.

No more hopping around again and again wondering if there is something new, afraid I’m missing something. I know right away, and can hop right there and read and/or comment.

There are other ways to do this same thing. There is SAGE for Mozilla/Firefox. There are desktop solutions that sit right on your computer. Pluck has a webbased solution where you set your stuff up on the web, and you can access it from any computer. Bloglines has a web based method of keeping track of your feeds.

There are lots of methods. I just wanted one that incorporated into IE. If you search on Google for new aggregators or RSS aggregators or rss readers you’ll find a wealth of information.

Anyway, I finally feel like I’ve gained some control over my blog hopping. And now I KNOW when you’ve posted something new!

Kelly May 31, 2005 at 6:05 pm

Hi Kacey!

I just sub to Bloglines, and yes, it’s so much easier! I love it. It took up so much time hopping everywhere and finding out certain people hadn’t updated yet, so it is a real time saver. Hope it saves you good time too! :typing:

Sasha May 31, 2005 at 7:00 pm

Wow! That sounds like something I need to look into! Putting it on my blog, AND getting ti to stop my own hopping around.

Blog hopping is addictive, and just too easy to do when I’m trying to write and hit a semi hard spot, instead of pushing on.

Great post!

Amy K May 31, 2005 at 7:01 pm

OK this sounds like something I need in some form, but I’m shaking just from reading your entry about how to do it. I might go look at Bloglines and see how that works.

I agree, blog-hopping takes up time. I try to use it as a reward for when I’ve worked a bit (then I get to go to 2-3 blogs.) Unfortunately, sometimes I find myself not stopping after 2-3. :crazy2:

Rene May 31, 2005 at 10:40 pm

I use bloglines (thanks to Kelly) and sometimes its helpful, but it is late in letting me know blogs are updated. I surf blogs around 6 a.m. then later about 10 a.m. and then any other time I’m trying to avoid something I need to do.

Steph T. June 1, 2005 at 2:42 am

I was trying to figure out RSS feeds myself. But it got too complicated – so seriously, I clicked off and went bloghopping.:oops:

Katie June 1, 2005 at 7:49 am

Kacey, you are so dang techie you make my head hurt!! And those posts “I’m too important to hop, and almost to important to post on my own blog” rather irritate me too. :angry:

Margery June 1, 2005 at 8:13 am

Kacey, I’ve got hives just reading all that techie stuff. You scare me 🙂 But you’re right on about those “I’m too busy to post on your blog but you still should comment on mine” people. They really annoy me, too.

Jill June 1, 2005 at 9:31 am

I’d like to try this but I still can’t program my VCR so I’m just keeping my head in the sand …

LauraP June 1, 2005 at 9:37 am

I was just thinking this morning about asking you this and voila!

LauraP June 1, 2005 at 9:37 am

I was just thinking this morning about asking you this and voila!

Mary June 1, 2005 at 9:49 am

What a great idea. I might try it.
:bath:

Tori June 1, 2005 at 10:59 am

I have got to figure out RSS feeds! :useyourhead:

Suzanne June 1, 2005 at 11:28 am

I need to figure out how to do this…..

Michelle June 1, 2005 at 8:02 pm

I’ll have to play with this option tomorrow. I know I need to learn how. I can’t keep up with everyone otherwise!! 😳

Larissa June 2, 2005 at 10:40 am

This all sounds wonderful…but scary. Too techie for me! Maybe I’ll check into the bloglines thing…

Cindy June 2, 2005 at 5:26 pm

Oh, this sounds like something I need too. I’ll have to try and figure it out.

Brenda Bradshaw June 4, 2005 at 3:59 pm

Ah. Blog guilt. I deal with it all the time. Some mornings I just set aside two hours to hop around and post where the wind blows me, and when I don’t, I feel such GUILT that I haven’t posted to other writers. ~sigh~

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