Paul Jacobson

Truncated posts, or not?

Roy wrote to me after he took a look at one of my new blogs, Dharma Reiki, and suggested that I not truncate my posts.  It didn’t occur to me that some people prefer not to read blogs that have truncated posts and prefer to read blogs where the full post is presented on the page at first glance.

You all have been doing this longer than I have.  What are your views on truncated posts?  My thinking is that if I truncate my longer posts (and some of them are pretty long), a visitor to the site will see more posts on a page to choose from than if I have half a dozen long posts.  In addition, there are days I can publish quite a few posts and if a visitor doesn’t subscribe to my feeds, he/she is likely to miss some of my posts.

What do you recommend?

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Comments

  1. avatar
    Anonymous

    I cant begin to tell you how much I hate truncated posts, why force a reader to click through?

    Reply
  2. Rich...! avatar
    Rich…!

    I cant begin to tell you how much I hate truncated posts, why force a reader to click through?

    Reply
  3. Rich...! avatar
    Rich…!

    I cant begin to tell you how much I hate truncated posts, why force a reader to click through?

    Reply
  4. Rich...! avatar
    Rich…!

    I cant begin to tell you how much I hate truncated posts, why force a reader to click through?

    Reply
  5. Rich...! avatar
    Rich…!

    I cant begin to tell you how much I hate truncated posts, why force a reader to click through?

    Reply
  6. Martin avatar
    Martin

    Don’t I know it. Rich…! nagged until I eventually gave in…

    But seriously, if your readers are tech-savvy, they’ll really appreciate full feeds. It saves a lot of time and effort on the reader side, even though (in principle in my mind at least) truncated feeds evoke a sense of sleek efficiency, because you’re “notifying” someone of an update with minimal bandwidth usage.

    In practice though, the bandwidth usage ends up being pretty equal, because with full feeds, people aren’t downloading all your site’s headers, backgrounds, etc etc nearly as much.

    Full feeds are definitely the way to go!

    Reply
  7. Martin avatar
    Martin

    Don’t I know it. Rich…! nagged until I eventually gave in…

    But seriously, if your readers are tech-savvy, they’ll really appreciate full feeds. It saves a lot of time and effort on the reader side, even though (in principle in my mind at least) truncated feeds evoke a sense of sleek efficiency, because you’re “notifying” someone of an update with minimal bandwidth usage.

    In practice though, the bandwidth usage ends up being pretty equal, because with full feeds, people aren’t downloading all your site’s headers, backgrounds, etc etc nearly as much.

    Full feeds are definitely the way to go!

    Reply
  8. Martin avatar
    Martin

    Don't I know it. Rich…! nagged until I eventually gave in…But seriously, if your readers are tech-savvy, they'll really appreciate full feeds. It saves a lot of time and effort on the reader side, even though (in principle in my mind at least) truncated feeds evoke a sense of sleek efficiency, because you're “notifying” someone of an update with minimal bandwidth usage.In practice though, the bandwidth usage ends up being pretty equal, because with full feeds, people aren't downloading all your site's headers, backgrounds, etc etc nearly as much.Full feeds are definitely the way to go!

    Reply
  9. Martin avatar
    Martin

    Don’t I know it. Rich…! nagged until I eventually gave in…

    But seriously, if your readers are tech-savvy, they’ll really appreciate full feeds. It saves a lot of time and effort on the reader side, even though (in principle in my mind at least) truncated feeds evoke a sense of sleek efficiency, because you’re “notifying” someone of an update with minimal bandwidth usage.

    In practice though, the bandwidth usage ends up being pretty equal, because with full feeds, people aren’t downloading all your site’s headers, backgrounds, etc etc nearly as much.

    Full feeds are definitely the way to go!

    Reply
  10. Martin avatar
    Martin

    Don't I know it. Rich…! nagged until I eventually gave in…

    But seriously, if your readers are tech-savvy, they'll really appreciate full feeds. It saves a lot of time and effort on the reader side, even though (in principle in my mind at least) truncated feeds evoke a sense of sleek efficiency, because you're “notifying” someone of an update with minimal bandwidth usage.

    In practice though, the bandwidth usage ends up being pretty equal, because with full feeds, people aren't downloading all your site's headers, backgrounds, etc etc nearly as much.

    Full feeds are definitely the way to go!

    Reply
  11. Roy Blumenthal avatar
    Roy Blumenthal

    Hey Paul…

    It’s just occurred to me that the thing you’re doing is being generous to NON-followers of your blog, at the expense of those who are loyal to it.

    Your argument is that people who view the blog irregularly may miss out on a post if it gets punted into archives due to the frequency of your posts.

    So? If they don’t wanna read your blog all that frequently, they’re probably missing out anyway.

    I, on the other hand, read your blog pretty much whenever you update, so I’m not missing out on anything. But when you force me to click through, you’re almost guaranteeing that I WON’T click through. Some blog entries I skim read, simply to see if a keyword catches my eye. When you’re truncating, I don’t see those keywords. I only see your opening words. Not enough for me to form an overall impression.

    I vote for non-truncation.

    Blue skies
    love
    Roy

    Reply
  12. Roy Blumenthal avatar
    Roy Blumenthal

    Hey Paul…

    It’s just occurred to me that the thing you’re doing is being generous to NON-followers of your blog, at the expense of those who are loyal to it.

    Your argument is that people who view the blog irregularly may miss out on a post if it gets punted into archives due to the frequency of your posts.

    So? If they don’t wanna read your blog all that frequently, they’re probably missing out anyway.

    I, on the other hand, read your blog pretty much whenever you update, so I’m not missing out on anything. But when you force me to click through, you’re almost guaranteeing that I WON’T click through. Some blog entries I skim read, simply to see if a keyword catches my eye. When you’re truncating, I don’t see those keywords. I only see your opening words. Not enough for me to form an overall impression.

    I vote for non-truncation.

    Blue skies
    love
    Roy

    Reply
  13. Roy Blumenthal avatar
    Roy Blumenthal

    Hey Paul…It's just occurred to me that the thing you're doing is being generous to NON-followers of your blog, at the expense of those who are loyal to it.Your argument is that people who view the blog irregularly may miss out on a post if it gets punted into archives due to the frequency of your posts.So? If they don't wanna read your blog all that frequently, they're probably missing out anyway.I, on the other hand, read your blog pretty much whenever you update, so I'm not missing out on anything. But when you force me to click through, you're almost guaranteeing that I WON'T click through. Some blog entries I skim read, simply to see if a keyword catches my eye. When you're truncating, I don't see those keywords. I only see your opening words. Not enough for me to form an overall impression.I vote for non-truncation.Blue skiesloveRoy

    Reply
  14. Roy Blumenthal avatar
    Roy Blumenthal

    Hey Paul…

    It’s just occurred to me that the thing you’re doing is being generous to NON-followers of your blog, at the expense of those who are loyal to it.

    Your argument is that people who view the blog irregularly may miss out on a post if it gets punted into archives due to the frequency of your posts.

    So? If they don’t wanna read your blog all that frequently, they’re probably missing out anyway.

    I, on the other hand, read your blog pretty much whenever you update, so I’m not missing out on anything. But when you force me to click through, you’re almost guaranteeing that I WON’T click through. Some blog entries I skim read, simply to see if a keyword catches my eye. When you’re truncating, I don’t see those keywords. I only see your opening words. Not enough for me to form an overall impression.

    I vote for non-truncation.

    Blue skies
    love
    Roy

    Reply
  15. Roy Blumenthal avatar
    Roy Blumenthal

    Hey Paul…

    It's just occurred to me that the thing you're doing is being generous to NON-followers of your blog, at the expense of those who are loyal to it.

    Your argument is that people who view the blog irregularly may miss out on a post if it gets punted into archives due to the frequency of your posts.

    So? If they don't wanna read your blog all that frequently, they're probably missing out anyway.

    I, on the other hand, read your blog pretty much whenever you update, so I'm not missing out on anything. But when you force me to click through, you're almost guaranteeing that I WON'T click through. Some blog entries I skim read, simply to see if a keyword catches my eye. When you're truncating, I don't see those keywords. I only see your opening words. Not enough for me to form an overall impression.

    I vote for non-truncation.

    Blue skies
    love
    Roy

    Reply
  16. Armand avatar
    Armand

    It’s frustrating if you’re reading blogs offline and you find truncated posts.

    Reply
  17. Armand avatar
    Armand

    It’s frustrating if you’re reading blogs offline and you find truncated posts.

    Reply
  18. Armand avatar
    Armand

    It's frustrating if you're reading blogs offline and you find truncated posts.

    Reply
  19. Armand avatar
    Armand

    It’s frustrating if you’re reading blogs offline and you find truncated posts.

    Reply
  20. Armand avatar
    Armand

    It's frustrating if you're reading blogs offline and you find truncated posts.

    Reply

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