10/15/2011
Austin FraktThere’s no reason to suffer with partial RSS feeds in your reader. You can convert them to full feeds here. I’ve just done a bunch, and it seems to work just fine. Maybe there will be some delay in feeds, but that’s worth it. I was missing loads of blogospheric content that was delivered only via partial feed, particularly if I was reading on my phone. Those days are over.
And, to bloggers who think partial feeds are helping you, you’re wrong. You’re doing little more than decreasing links to your site, limiting the dissemination of your work, and irritating readers.
UPDATE: In the first paragraph above, I link to fulltextrssfeed.com. I’m simultaneously experimenting with fivefilters.org, which claims to do the same thing. If either work, the delay is long. I’m still waiting for Krugman’s blog post of over 7 hours ago to come through. This is rather disappointing.
by Jonathan on October 15th, 2011 at 12:22
Hey Austin you forgot the best part! If you are using google chrome you can also do this with the chrome extension as seen here:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ngjdkiihbphbiaeaaghhlacjnoekdcfe
it does get a bit finicky some times but it does the job for some websites, not so great with multiple pages though.
But this is the same without the extension so beware!
by Austin Frakt on October 15th, 2011 at 12:50
Yes. I have been using something similar, Super Full Feed: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/khbjahpecnkenngkidhioicnfpakihgo?hc=search&hcp=main . However, it doesn’t work on my phone or iPad or anytime I’m not using Chrome. I presume the same for the extension you suggest. So, a better solution (for me) is to have the feed completed externally, which is what the service I linked to in the post does.
by Jonathan on October 15th, 2011 at 17:03
Is it like Wizard RSS? Because that was a mess for me and I actually had to go back and get the original feeds. These single page feeds tend to work for a short period of time until the websites are modified even slightly, also some have advertisements mid story. I’m not trying to be critical, just helpful!
by Austin Frakt on October 16th, 2011 at 07:32
I only just started using it. Saw it suggested at the Lifehacker blog. That’s usually pretty trustworthy. But, time will tell, right?
by Mark Spohr on October 15th, 2011 at 14:05
Google Reader (for desktop and Android) does a good job of delivering full feeds. The mobile Android version is particularly easy to use with nice formatting… I even get your illustrations.
by Austin Frakt on October 15th, 2011 at 16:56
I’ve been a Google Reader user for years. However, it can’t convert partial feeds to full ones across all platforms (for Chrome, yes, as discussed in prior comments), including on the Droid. However, the link in the post takes you to an external utility that will do the conversion. I cannot tell you how much I do not read (especially on my phone) because the feed is partial and it is just too much overhead to click through. (Some) bloggers and organizations overestimate how willing people are to click through. The very busy bloggers they want to link to them will not do it.
by Brad F on October 16th, 2011 at 21:55
Austin,
Why dont you just right click over the feed HTML title, and OPEN LINK IN NEW TAB. Its nearly instantaneous, and does not interfere with the open reader. Navigating to the new tab is seamless and quick. Dont like what you see. Close it.
Brad
by Jonathan on October 16th, 2011 at 22:24
Kinda useless when your dealing with NYTIMES articles. This theoretically circumvents single page articles that would be blocked otherwise. I know this is a very specific case but thats all I can think of at least. But I quit using it Brad.
by Austin Frakt on October 17th, 2011 at 08:06
Trust me, the extra time that takes really matters when you’re trying to track and scan dozens of feeds. Consequence: I read almost nothing provided in partial feeds. The title better be exceptional or I don’t even skim. Krugman doesn’t need my eyeballs, but some other blogs should want them.
by Jonathan on October 17th, 2011 at 11:26
Hey Austin,
I just got Instapaper and love it. What are your thoughts? Are you using this in conjunction with Instapaper as well?