I’m trying to get better at just getting posts written, and saving the editing for end. I find it hard not to get caught up in checking for typos and the right wording, but I try to remind myself that my readers probably don’t care much about those things.

Shortly after I left my comment above, I started using Google Reader. However, I still don’t understand why someone would unsubscribe because the author isn’t posting enough. Where it says “Show: updated – all,” I select “updated” so instead of being dimmed, blogs without new posts just don’t appear. I can understand wanting someone to post more, but if they don’t post enough for you, unsubscribing will result in even fewer posts.

I know exactly what you mean about your inbox being cluttered. One of my upcoming posts is going to be about why RSS readers are the best way to stay on top of our favorite blogs.

Every time I have a chance, I come to your blog to catch up on your older posts. This was another good one.

The scenario you wrote about, “striving for perfectionism”, reminds me of a saying I heard years ago…”you can analyze until you paralyze”. For me, this stuck. It taught me to be more gentle with myself, realize I will make errors, know that I am not perfect, and all of that is O.K.

Even with blogging, I often make a typo, or word a sentence wrong, but I have learned to “let it go”. I have way too much fun blogging to worry about the small stuff.

With regard to Shaun’s visitor, unsubscribing, I use Google reader, and if one of my favorite blogs has a new post, it shows (1), and the name is “brighter” (for lack of a better word). If I have “marked all as read”, the name is “dim”.

Up until a few weeks ago, I didn’t subscribe in a reader, but had tried email alerts. Then my inbox got so cluttered, I unsubscribed (via email) to all of the blogs.

Barbara’s last blog post..Stop The Press – I’m Dying To Share

I learned the concept of diminishing returns in ECON 201. They illustrated it with glasses of water. If you’re really thirsty, the first glass is fantastic. The second is not quite fantastic, but great. The third glass is merely good. The fourth glass might be hard to get down, and the fifth might make you sick. So you have to take that into consideration when you decide how much to drink.

I understand that person’s reason for unsubscribing better now after reading your explanation. I’m new to the blogging world and have no idea what a feed reader interface actually looks like. I thought that if you didn’t post he simply wouldn’t be notified; I didn’t realize he’d keep seeing the same post over and over again.

Anyway, I’m glad the loss of a subscriber had a silver lining for you.

Thanks for linking to my article at LifeReboot — I’m glad you enjoyed it, agreed with it, and expanded it. I’ve heard of diminishing returns before, but never fully understood what it meant until I read your explanation here. Thanks for laying it out so simply.

Regarding your question “Can someone explain to me why a low posting frequency would force someone to unsubscribe?”, I think he had a legitimate reason to say what he did. Maybe he was “forced” to do it because he would prefer not to, but he was tired of being disappointed seeing the same latest post in his reader day after day.

To be honest, I’m grateful for his comment. He helped me get back into the habit of writing.

Cheers,

~Shaun