Ouch

I am walking along Tandang Sora Avenue when my eyes catch a glimpse of a large green road sign that reads: “Walang Tawiran: Nakamamatay” I stare at it for a moment, then a memory about this same place flashed into my mind. I smile to myself, almost giggling. I see a newly-constructed overpass where people, among which students, vendors, and street children pass by each other.

I then remember what happened to me at this same place no more than a year ago, almost as exactly as it have been…

The January sun had been shining mightily and dominantly, surrounded by the cotton-like cumulus clouds. It was apparently rush hour. People of different faces and dresses were in each and every place our eyes could land on; people were as busy as red ants unceasingly preparing food for an upcoming calamity.

“Yes, a disaster seems rapidly approaching us, approaching me,” I thought dreamily. As a matter of fact, a friend and I were standing on the length of Tandang Sora Avenue, just after our least-liked afternoon classes. We were preparing to cross the wide road before us (as there was obviously no nearby overpass or flyover yet that time), without a clue what consequences lie ahead.

Most suddenly and most unfortunately, before I knew it, my feet have brought my body across the street, without my slightest command; I could even be almost certain that it might have been an undiagnosed nervous system disorder of mine, or perhaps a push of the devil whatsoever. Whichever the case, it happened. There was a bright orange vehicle blocking my left-side field of vision, making it impossible for me to see or foresee any fast-approaching vehicle. It was also too late for my friend to grab my arm and to pull me back into the side street….

“AAAARGH!”

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Does RSS Rob Your Blog of Visitors?

“Won’t RSS Feeds rob your site of traffic? Matanong lang. nyaha.”

This was an interesting question brought up by Choldmhist which he left as a comment on my post “Setting up RSS on Your Blog”.

RSS has proven to be a really helpful and useful feature to bloggers over the past years. Instead of scanning through your blogs for updates, RSS makes a life easier by automatically sending all the content of a reader’s favorite blogs to a feed reader of their preference.

(Don’t know what I’m talking about? Learn more about RSS and Feeds here!)

There is only one slight drawback in using RSS, however. Readers are less inclined to visit blogs because they already have the content being sent to them automatically. In other words, they have no other reason to visit your blog anymore.

So regarding Choldmhist’s question, yes, RSS does rob a blog of its visitors.

Aha! So it was you who has been robbing my blog! To think that we trusted you!

So, why are other blogs insisting of having RSS when it has a negative effect on a blog’s visit rate? Why is Pinoy Blogero still offering those free customized feed buttons when he already knows the harm that RSS can bring to blogs?

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