Reader Readers Read...

The last few days during my blogging adventures, I've frequently come across discussions about the Google Reader. There seems to be a common concern about the use and the users of this particular service, and I thought I'd take the opportunity today to express my own concern to the people who may or may not be reading my blog by way of Google Reader.

Google Reader is a great service. One I use myself, and which has made my blog-stalking all that much easier. But, I - like others - worry that many people are not using it in the correct way. So let's have a look at that today, shall we?

First of all. The Google Reader is there to keep all your favorite blogs at one easy access location, from where you can see whether or not a blog has been updated, and where you can read it... aha! That's were things are going terribly wrong.

You do NOT read the blog post from Google Reader itself!

You click on the post title link. This will bring the related article up in a new pop-up window. Or even better - you click on the blog name link (which is what I do). This will bring up the blog site in all it's glory in a new window... allowing you to see the post the way it was meant to be seen!

Why is it so important that you read the post from the correct web site and not within Google Reader?

1. Google Reader does not update any edits you made after posting. This means that you will be stuck with humongous spelling errors, wrong information, and messed up formatting - all things we may have missed as we hit "Publish Post", and have later corrected so that you get the best possible blogging experience.

2. Google Reader does not keep the formatting and page coloring that has been selected by the blogger, and as such you do not see the post the author intended for it to be seen.

3. You cannot comment on the post from Google Reader, and you all should know how much we love to read your comments. It is, after all, what makes a blog tic!

So, what I really want to tell you all is this:

Google Reader readers read my blog at my blog, and not in the Reader, dear reader!