I'm Spider-Man No More

Before I tell you what this is all about, watch the video (if you can):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_X0mnIosBQ

I'm not going to use a feedreader anymore. Neither Google Reader nor Bloglines. There are two reasons behind my madness: 1) I don't visit the actual blogs I want to visit and comment on (and that's bad), and 2) the feedreaders don't update properly. I need to go to each blog to see what's actually there. Both of the feedreaders have been lying to me — showing me feeds that haven't been updated in a week when I know they have. Perhaps it's my lousy connection, but I doubt it. I've shut everything down and restarted, loaded up the readers and nothing happens.

Speaking of my lousy connection, I found out on Saturday that I'll have to wait until sometime in January to switch to Globe Broadband due to their subscriber capacity being maximized until equipment upgrades have taken place. I'm stuck with this crappy SubicTel DSL connection until then.

My decision to stop using feedreaders goes hand in hand with my master plan: To get more than 1,000 real visitors per day every day, without being stumbled, dugg or zoomed (versus 200 to 300 per day). By visiting and commenting on as many blogs as possible, this goal can be attained. You don't believe me? Sit back and watch as the comment count goes up on my blog in the next couple of weeks. Barring brain freeze on my part, or some other personal complication, my goal should be reached quickly.

What the heck does all this have to do with Spider-Man? Not a damn thing other than the fact that I sometimes feel a great responsibility, but without the power to go with it. By the way, the phrase "…with great power, comes great responsibility" didn't originate with "Spider-Man 2 (2004)". I may be wrong, but I think it was borrowed from "…and with great power, goes a greater responsibility" from "Teen Wolf (1985)".

Starting today sometime, I'll be using the Bookmark Reviewer add-on for Firefox to go through the bookmarks that I set up specifically for blogs. The number of bookmarks is around 115 right now and I know I have some missing that I'll have to add to the list as I go to those blogs.

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December 11th, 2007 By RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines | Categories: Blogging, Marketing | Tags: comments, feeds, Firefox | Full Article Feed | Summary Article Feed | Comments Feed | Full Articles by Email | Respond | Trackback URL

2. Pingback: Get out and read not feed « goldcoaster on 2007-12-12 at 4:41 pm

   [...] Internet, Technology, Vista This is my thoughts on what Richard at Untwisted Vortex has just written about. The only site I use on a feed is Untwisted Vortex because , I think, he asked a while back, [...]

2. Vic Grace on 2007-12-11 at 2:43 am (Reply)

   I am getting your feed OK and I have been using Google Reader up to recently but I changed over to Flock. I wrote a short review on Flock if you are interested

   Flock is definitely worth a look

   I originally thought the Flock Reader not much good but I have revised my thinking and am using it now instead of Google.

   I have moved over from Blogger as it lost some of my template and wouldn't load correctly so imported into Wordpress now looking into getting my own domain etc.

3. RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2007-12-11 at 3:48 am (Reply)

   I'm not worried about my feeds, I'm worried about the inbound feeds. Both Google Reader and Bloglines don't update properly. Perhaps it has something to do with FeedBurner. Whatever, visiting blogs seems so much easier these days.

4. Tim on 2007-12-11 at 11:30 am (Reply)

   Teen Wolf was one awesome movie.
   I never could use a feedreader properly. I just like to 'feel' each blog. I end up using the Sage for Firefox, just as a bookmark collector for blogs.

   Tim's last blog post..An Evening of Murder: Forever Friends

5. hari on 2007-12-11 at 12:51 pm (Reply)

   I use a desktop feed reader, but mostly as a way to see if there are any new articles. I do all the reading in the browser.

   hari's last blog post..The power of CSS and other stuff

   2. RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2007-12-12 at 3:34 am (Reply)

      It's what I used to do, before getting into feedreading, and now it's what I'm going back to.

   3. Gerri on 2007-12-12 at 10:52 pm (Reply)

      Hari, any chance of you developing a b2evolution export to WordPress? I have liked b2evolution, but there are features in WordPress that I feel are easier for a tech-dummy like myself to use.

6. Gerri on 2007-12-11 at 4:22 pm (Reply)

   Thanks for the tip RT. I don't use a feedreader.. I just am manic about visiting the blogs I like. I am going to try Bookmark Reviewer though, it may just work out really well for me.

   I have an unrelated question for you and I thought you might be the person with an answer. I have a non-WordPress blog that I would sincerely like to convert into a WP blog. However, it is not a format that is readily supported in the conversion. It is a b2evolution blog, which was fine when I started out but it really does lack a lot of the features that I like about WP. It's my most popular blog.. so if I convert it, if it's even possible, I'm really worried about downtime too. Any ideas?

   2. RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2007-12-11 at 4:52 pm (Reply)

      Well, Hari (see the comment above yours) wrote a b2evolution importer from WordPress. Perhaps you can convince him to write an exporter?

      Regardless, make sure you have a complete database backup before you even attempt it. I tried the WordPress to WordPress importer for my sandbox and it hosed it up several times before I was able to do it.

7. HMTKSteve on 2007-12-11 at 9:33 pm (Reply)

   If you can save all of your content in XML format (feed) WordPress can import it.

   HMTKSteve's last blog post..Alzheimer’s: Time to Care

8. HMTKSteve on 2007-12-11 at 9:39 pm (Reply)

   What's that "last post" plugin you are using in the comments? I want that!!!

   I hear you on the feedreaders, I tend to just bookmark the feeds in Firefox (live bookmark) and read new articles that way.

   When I looked at John Chow's last income report I noticed that his page views are very low, under 400K per month. With all the feedreader traffic he has I would think that advertising on his site is a waste while feed advertising is the best.

   If you look at his numbers you will see that he makes the majority of his "blog income" not from readers but from advertisers. I have also read reports from some of his advertisers that advertising on his site is not worth it.

   Regardless of that, I am getting back into commenting on other people's blogs as well as selling off some of my extra blogs.

   HMTKSteve's last blog post..Alzheimer’s: Time to Care

   2. RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2007-12-12 at 3:31 am (Reply)

      I sent the plugin link to you by email.

      I agree on the John Chow thing. He brags a lot about how much he makes, but his referrals are horrible in contrast. People visit his blog and read his feeds for one thing — to see if they can copy his tactics to make money.

9. DragonLady on 2007-12-11 at 11:26 pm (Reply)

   I've decided I need to make an effort to visit the blogs listed in my faves physically rather than just reading the posts in my feed reader. I'm not giving up the reader, but it has made me a little lazy.

   DragonLady's last blog post..OTA Monday 61

   2. RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2007-12-12 at 3:33 am (Reply)

      Because of my lousy connectivity, it sometimes takes me all day to visit a mere 10 sites. It's horrible. If I had good connectivity, you'd see me around a lot more. It isn't laziness on my part, yet I'm still having as hard a time getting around.

10. Canucklehead on 2007-12-12 at 3:38 am (Reply)

    Will any of the above be translated into English at any point?

    2. RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2007-12-12 at 3:55 am (Reply)

       Huh? What part did you not understand?

11. Steve on 2007-12-12 at 5:39 am (Reply)

    "With great power comes great responsibility" was first published in the early sixties as a caption in the Amazing Fantasy comic (ie the Spiderman comics).

    Man, I'm a geek!

    Steve's last blog post..Please vote for me! Best BJJ Blog of 2007

    2. RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2007-12-12 at 5:47 am (Reply)

       Yes, you are!

12. Stevo on 2007-12-12 at 5:58 am (Reply)

    I physically visit, I could never get the hang of feedreaders. Send a copy of that plug-in my way too.

    Stevo's last blog post..POTD, part deux

13. Tammy on 2007-12-12 at 7:33 am (Reply)

    I am totally non-technical. I simply visit who I want to visit when I want to visit them. I know I should get more into this stuff, maybe in the new year.

    Tammy's last blog post..WRAPPING PRESENTS

    2. RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2007-12-12 at 7:59 am (Reply)

       Feel free to ask anything technical, Tammy. If I don't know the answer, I should be able to point you in the right direction.

14. goldcoaster on 2007-12-12 at 4:42 pm (Reply)

    I have posted about this post.

    Richard your comment on my blog has a link to your free wordpress blog (which doesn't get used by the look of it), do you want that changed to this one?

    goldcoaster's last blog post..Get out and read not feed

    2. RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2007-12-12 at 7:30 pm (Reply)

       Yes, please change it to this one. I only created that one in case I couldn't pay for domain renewal.

       2. goldcoaster on 2007-12-13 at 7:16 am (Reply)

          All done. Your last comment went to your free WP as well - you will have to remember to signout from it so you can post with this site as your details.

          goldcoaster's last blog post..Get out and read not feed

15. Doug Robertson on 2007-12-12 at 4:56 pm (Reply)

    I don't get into feed readers. Never have. Like some of the others have already said, I like to read directly from the source. Just not the same. I gave up on feeds some time ago, bookmarks work just fine. Even better for me anyway.

    Doug Robertson's last blog post..Gimme An F!