If you haven’t discovered it yet there is a little “new posts” link up there in the [size=65]right^H^H^H^H^H[/size] left portion of the header that shows you only the new posts since your last visit. If you are like some folks who are irregular visitors, cough ex-studentSarah cough, list could be quite long. If you are OCD the you sometimes see
Every time I see this result I get a bad feeling that Io-mber has programmed the server to filter out posts from vic-k.
[size=85]edited because I can’t tell right from left. [/size]
That is called “Wal-Mart” syndrome. Walk into a Wal-Mart and notice that everything is rather all over the place instead of in a very precise layout or order. This is done on purpose so as to make you “wander” throughout the whole store. Of course instead of zooming by everything to get to your destination you instead have to look at everything in hopes of finding what you are looking for. While you “wonder” with that confused look on your face you are supposed to stumble across things you didn’t come to the store to get but based on “emotional” buying you are more apt to make an emotional purchase, thus buying more than intended.
Apply that to RSS and maybe the idea is instead of scrolling right to what you want to read you instead must “wonder” through the list actually reading headlines and this of course should make you stumble across something you had no intention of looking for and thus wasting more time reading things you never actually set out to read.
Some marketing “guru” came up with this concept and many now think its “brillant” in that it makes the customer actually look at more than they intended.
I of course think these pople should be shot in the shins then made to “wonder” through the country side looking for a doctor.
The good news is there’s this function on the boards now, so I can abandon the RSS feed.
The problem I have with the RSS is that this happens:
On the forumns, this is the order of postings
User A posts a question.
KB responds
VicK adds a pithy nonsequitor
AmberV expounds upon KB’s answer
In the RSS feed, sorted by date (oldest posts to newest), I see the above in this order (interspersed with other threads of conversation):
KB responds
VicK adds a pithy nonsequitor
User A posts a question.
AmberV expounds upon KB’s answe
I think it has to do with the local time being the time associated with each post on the RSS feed, so sorting on date gives me things in an order determined by what the clock said on each person’s wall, instead of it translating all dates & times to one time zone.
Gah! How did I miss it all this time? The RSS has had me feeling like I reading one of those stories told out of sequence, by an author who doesn’t know how to pull it off.
Speaking of the Wal-Mart principle of disarray, my hometown puts out a weekly paper that has a non-classified section. Meaning the ads are in little boxes, but not grouped under headings. So if you are looking for an apartment or a used Mac, you have to read the entire section. I have seen amiable cocktail parties come asunder, arguing over whether that’s a good or bad way to organize information. For me, it’s a nightmare and I refuse to read it: imagine craigslist in such a jumble. But others seem to love it. This has led me to realize that some brains need categories and sub-headings (mine) and others wander in the shimmering cloud (spouse).
On RSS feed: I used to use the Safari version, which was irksome because it always displayed the latest posts, not sorted by topic. It led me to make cross statements to certain parties, which I have curtailed because they are in truth capital people and often quite helpful, and I need to be less of a stuffed shirt (I can see that coming back to me soon as a quotation). Then I switched to Google Reader, which only displays the headlines of posts. Much easier to skim and dip, I feel. Or to read sequentially, I use the J or K keys, which open the posts down or up. Lots of fun when reading illustrated feeds, like Engadget.
On the far far side of a [i]Writers Room[/i], not a million miles from where Im sitting, Vic K is mumbling to himself, something along the lines of, “Where the [size=85](rude word),[/size] is Mollys mum? If she was here, shed be asking, 'Just what the hell is this thread all about?' and I wouldnt have to.” Could one of the more erudite members of the crew give him an explanation. Obviously, it will need to be simple enough for his Lordship to understand. So, please, no geekisms. Thank you.
Do all take care
Fluff
