» Using RSS to keep up with blogs is much faster! Early Retirement Extreme:

Using RSS to keep up with blogs is much faster!

Published on December 11th, 2008

If you're new here, this blog will give you the tools to become financially independent in 5 years. Here is how I did it and here is how I currently do it. The method is robust and replicable (no need to win the lottery, start a blogging business, or win at real estate), but not easy; much in the same way that a diet results in weight loss but is hard to follow persistently unless you set your mind to it. The key is to save 75%+ of your net income and invest it in income producing assets (bonds and dividend stocks). There is a "step-by-step" plan for how to get to 75% in the right side bar. I try not to be too trite, so if I cover a topic, you will probably not see it again for a very long time, thus you may want to read the older posts here and here.

If you use a browser and you are addicted to more than a handful of blogs, then you are probably familiar with the routine of continuously checking the websites to look for updates. I used to do that too until I discovered the beautiful efficiency of RSS readers. You can read more about RSS here. An RSS reader will regularly check all your subscriptions for updates. If there is an update it will even download the content(*) so you never have to use your browser.

There are several RSS stand alone readers. Some browsers also have built in RSS readers. You can even use google to read an RSS feed. I believe that you can also use google to search for websites using keywords, but I digress. To subscribe to this blog go to the upper right corner of the page and click on whatever option looks most appealing. You can even subscribe via email.

(*) For some inexplicable reason some sites only provide a partial feed e.g. the first 200 words or maybe not even that. My guess is that the site owner expects people to go online read the post with their browser instead. I think this is highly inconvenient, so if a blog only has a partial feed, I cancel my subscription and rarely return (why bother when it is so much easier to read other blogs via RSS?). There is in fact only one blog where I make an exception and that is Daily Speculations because it is simply too full of insights to ignore even it it is annoying to have to click through.

5 users responded in " Using RSS to keep up with blogs is much faster! "

Dividend Growth Investor said, in December 12th, 2008 at 08:58

The reason why some blogger do partial feed is because there are sites made for adsense that scrape people’s RSS content automatically and publish it on their own sites. Having a partial RSS helps you to identify these situations.

Jan said, in December 12th, 2008 at 16:40

Another reason for partial feeds probably is that authors want users to visit their site and see all ads, offers and other assorted money-generating crap.

Tight Fisted Miser said, in December 12th, 2008 at 16:54

Another reason is that they might not know their blog only has partial feeds. I didn’t know until earlier this year that my Bank Bonuses site only had partial feeds. If you’re a blogger you should subscribe to your own feed so you’ll be aware of any problems.

Jacob said, in December 12th, 2008 at 18:45

I usually deal with scrapers by deleting all pingbacks and providing links to my blog in the post. That way I get their google juice but they get none of mine. Also, if they have any readers at all, they will find their way to my blog.

Four Pillars said, in May 2nd, 2009 at 10:15

I too can’t stand partial feeds – I just don’t have the time/desire to click through.

I’ll second TFM – of all the times I’ve told blog owners that I didn’t like their partial feeds – probably three quarters of them didn’t know it was happening.

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