Confession Time Again

[andrewducker]

I currently have 222 people on my friends list, 34 communities and 58 syndicated feeds.

There is no way on Earth that I can possibly read all of that every day.

So I don't.

Instead I have an 'Important' friends list, a 'People' friends list and a 'MorePeople' friends list.

On the 'important' list are the people I am in contact with on a regular basis and therefore have to keep up with, and those people who regularly post things I find excrutiatingly interesting (computer talk, thoughts on the universe, rants about comic characters - what I think of as 'content' rather than 'soap opera'). This is my first port of call when I hit LJ (along with my comic friends list, of course), because if I failed to notice that someone on this list broke up with their long-term boyfriend then I'd get in trouble (and hey - they might have posted a long screed about why aquaman sucks).

On the 'People' list are people who I find interesting enough to read their soap opera, or people who occasionally post interesting things, or are friends at one remove, or otherwise interesting, but the world wouldn't end if I wasn't up to date with their lives. Ths gets read once a day, most of the time, but it's not so high priority.

On the 'MorePeople' list are people who I added back because they looked kinda interesting, but actually turned out to not be _that_ interesting. Or people I added back when the world was fresh and shiny and new and I only had two people on my friends list, so adding a third person was A Cool Thing To Do. And I have a sense of nostalgia about them, or don't want to offend them, or am just too busy to read everyone, so someone has to get moved down for a bit. This list gets flicked through once a week or so, if I'm bored.

Now, none of these are permanent filings - people get shuffled around on a semi-regular basis - I'll realise that I look forward to someone's posts, so they get moved to Important. Or I realise that someone's posted nothing but quizzes for three weeks, so they get moved to MorePeople. I'm not saying who's where, because this is a coping strategy, not a competition - you're all lovely people, and the fact that I have limited time has no bearing on your global ranking in the kewlness stakes.

[Poll #457482]

Comments

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Almost positive I feature on the morefriends list - why read it on LiveJournal when you can get it straight from the horse's mouth?

[andrewducker]

Because if I read it then I don't have to talk to you.

[adders.livejournal.com]

I "eye-skip" entries - I can normally determine if I want to read the whole post within the first two lines. Some I do, so I don't.

[redshira.livejournal.com]

That's what I do, yes.

[theferrett.livejournal.com]

Yep. Ya left that one off.

[draconid.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much what I do, combined with splitting my list into groups so I can pay more attention to certain people and communities.

[kimberly-a.livejournal.com]

I use a lot of filters, some for posting and some for reading.

For reading, I primarily use my "Short List" (only the people whose journals I really don't like to lose track of, but this includes some communities and some people I don't know all that well ... it's just stuff I really don't want to miss), "Medium List" (everyone -- and all communities -- that I wish I could be reading every day if I only had the time), and "Long List" (every single darn person I have friended -- even if I have no interest in them and friended them only to give them access to my locked entries -- and every single community I have friended, as well, including the ones that get way too much traffic). I only read my "Long List" when I'm bored out of my mind or have WAY too much time to waste.

I'm curious about your own filtering system. I'm guessing I'm on "Friends"?

[andrewducker]

I'm curious about your own filtering system. I'm guessing I'm on "Friends"?

I can not see anything good coming out of telling anyone what friends list they're on. If I reassure one person then someone else will ask who possibly _isn't_ on the people list. So you'll just have to live without the knowledge I'm afraid.

[kimberly-a.livejournal.com]

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

I only use filters for posting, and that very rarely.

I tend to scroll through my FL and read most things, but some of them I just skip over. Sometimes that's specific people, but more often it's just the type of post (eg the post from you a little while ago that had a block of code in the middle, which I did rather just scroll past!).

[green-amber.livejournal.com]

Yeh actually that's more what I do. I have to be VERY busy before i skip FL entirely and then I read back a few key people (no names!)

[moniqueleigh]

Yeah, that.

[protempore.livejournal.com]

I inadvertently lied in the poll. It occurs to me that since subscribing to the feeds for all my friends I read pretty much everything. Can't tell you the last time I actually looked at my friends page, though.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

I keep it all in one list, and mostly read it every day, skipping over people or topics that look dull.

[angelevie.livejournal.com]

aye that one is my way too

[stillcarl.livejournal.com]

I plan to filter my friends list into groups and read some more than others, but haven't got around to it yet... :-)

But when I do, the read-every-day group would contain all on my mutual friends list and a mix of others I wouldn't want to miss.

Regardless, I'd still not have time to read every post in that group, but I'd definitely skim them all.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

I've pretty much moved all the syndicated feeds I read over to my regular RSS reader - because that links them into my email, and my desktop search.

A much better way of working for me...

[andrewducker]

Livejournal _is_ my regular RSS reader.

It's the only way I've found of reading multiple RSS feeds in multiple locations and not getting confused as to where I've read up to. If I'm reading my SynPeople flist and get up to one I've read before, I'm up to date!

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

I use Newsgator for Outlook. That way I have a synchronised online service for when I'm on the road, and a full archive on my PC.

[andrewducker]

Ooh - have just played around with Newsgator and it does seem nice (although I haven't got Outlook on this machine, so I haven't seen all the cool stuff it can do).

Hmm, I wonder if there's an RSS reader that also posts to del.icio.us...

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

I at least skim read everything except feeds. Many feeds are only there because I don't want them to clutter up my friendsfriends view.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

Additional:
I may not bother to click through cut tags or read really long posts, and I primarily view with no images so I might not see photographs, new icons or really long posts. I very much appreciate cut tags being there when necessary.

[replyhazy.livejournal.com]

Everything she said. (Once again, acting as a model for TruFannish behavior, though she might not enjoy it!)

[davidcook.livejournal.com]

I have a spookily similar setup to yours - I have People, People2, Communities, and PhotoJournals filters. I try to read People and People2 every day (usually morning and evening checks), Communities every day or so, and PhotoJournals when I have time (and if I have even more time, I'll actually entabulate every cut-tag in PJs, rather than just admiring the "cover" photos in each post).
I used to just read the whole friends page, but I added cityscapes and behind_the_lens and some frequently-updated LJs and found I was missing posts from close friends in the noise, so I started filtering.

[amberite.livejournal.com]

Currently I am on-and-off but usually read my whole friendslist when I have time. Sometimes I filter, sometimes I catch up on journals individually.

[asim.livejournal.com]

For people I don't know in RL, I usually read on the "first line" rule -- you entry best catch my attention right out the block, or I'll bypass it. I'm seeing that a lot of other folks do the same thing...

[hfnuala.livejournal.com]

I don't filter for reading, only for posting. I try to keep up with everyone (which became much easier when I dropped the knitting community from my default view). but it would be a lie to say I read everyone, everyday. Somes I work when I'm at work :) So, if I realise I'm not going to catch up on myself, there are 10-20 people whose journals I will check directly to make sure I haven't missed anything.

[lilitufire.livejournal.com]

I'll qualify that - I skim read my friends list and if it's obviously a meme, I'll generally not click on the cut...

[nosrialleon.livejournal.com]

Sort of 'All of the Above', actually.
Depending how busy I am, I usually scan my friend's list for people first, skipping the longer posts; then if time allows I'll go read the longer posts, then if I still have time I'll read through the various feeds I subscribe to.

[kellibunny.livejournal.com]

i probably *should* do the filters or maybe even delete the ones that i don't ever read anymore... but right now, i just skim and read what looks interesting (or if i adore the person, i'll read it even if it's not that exciting) and only sometimes do i read the communities and feeds.

i'm certainly in the uninteresting drama filter. :) i should come up with some thoughts on universe...

[rainstorm.livejournal.com]

I never skip my friends list entirely. -never-. I have gone back two weeks before to find the important posts I know must be lurking there somewhere.

I skim a lot, though. Some people I rarely read, others I will read everything they post.

I forget about filters too much to use them.

[gomichan.livejournal.com]

I sort of glaze-eye through the whole thing as I'm waking up, and maybe slow down to read or reply if something catches my eye. Later in the day, if I'm taking a break from work or chatting online, I might do another sweep. I generally figure if I've missed something important someone will poke me in the ribs about it.

[rahaeli.livejournal.com]

I have my People read group and my LJ-communities read group, and I'll read the LJcomms one a lot more often when I'm on duty than the people -- since it scrolls at the rate of about 200 posts a day -- but I read everything. There are one or two people who aren't in my default view, mostly because I friended them so they could see my posts, but on the whole, I read every post that comes through my friends page, several times a day.

Of course, I skim a lot of it, if I'm not immediately interested within the first few sentences. But I think everyone does that.

(188 people, 69 communities, 7 syn feeds.)

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

I didn't read this post, I just saw a poll.

[tigrrgrr.livejournal.com]

I have a few communities that I read every post from and I at least skim the posts from real people's journals. Read them fully if there is time, but I don't have nearly the amount of people you do.

Most of my communities I skim to see if the post is anything I care about and then continue on.

[xquiq.livejournal.com]

I usually read every post when I can. If I can't, the first things to go are communities, then memes.

If I have to be really quick, then I'm sorry to say I skip some of the longer posts - which is sad because often they are very interesting and thought-provoking.

Generally when I have team I'll at least skim all posts and generally read them unless it's a subject that doesn't interest me / I don't have the knowledge or time to give the content much thought or comment.

[dapperscavenger.livejournal.com]

I don't read my friends list every day, but I try to catch up with previous posts when I do get online.

:p I post so rarely I couldn't possibly clog up anyone's frends page!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I have a 'core' group equivalent to your 'Important' group, and I have my full friends page. If I've been away for a day or two I'll catch up on core and then read the rest if I have time; otherwise I usually read the whole thing.

I moved all my non-LJ feeds off to bloglines. With them on my friends page I was getting too far behind/skimming too many--the content just appeared too fast! This way it stays there until I have some time to read it.

[opusfluke.livejournal.com]

EXPLANATION- I get Net access roughly once a month. This is an intermittent posting window right now. I post weird links and strange ideas. I rarely get any comments from anyone othetr than Andy (who kindly gave me this free account a couple of years back since we both know Dr. Evil's girlfriend Susan Sto Helit The Gothic Hobbit) and Dr. Evil himself. This is sad but then so am I. Not that I'm bitter or anything. Other than that I hardly have any friends on this thing so I have little reading to do. This is good as I only use this to prevent my flat from being totally snowed under with bits of paper...

[andrewducker]

Have you considered using http://del.icio.us for your links? That's how I put andyduckerlinks in place.

[opusfluke.livejournal.com]

Where's the fun in that?

[andrewducker]

I just find it handy because of the categorisation features. You can stick them on LJ as well, if you like :->