An Open Letter to Bloggers

Dear Bloggers of the World,

Hi!

I'd like to start with a little background, just so we're all on the same page.

I started reading blogs via google reader some time back when (once again) our home internets was on the fritz. While I can access the glorious internets from work, they've blocked pretty much anything related to blogging (except for Loki's World) or social networking (except for facebook)(go figure).

It was codejnki who finally nagged urged me to load the blogs I read onto google reader so that I can read them while at work. It's worked pretty well for about two years, now, and means I can keep up on the blogs I read while at work (on break, I swear), instead of spending time doing it at home.

Of course, there are still issues. Most photos don't come through, so I have to wait until I get home to check those out. Which is really not a big deal and totally not the reason I'm writing you today.

My issue, dear bloggers, is those of you who insist on only allowing partial feeds. I know, I know... You want your reader to click through to your actual blog and read the post from the blog directly.

I understand there are a variety of reasons one might want to do that - from more accurate reader statistics to potentially more profitable blog ads to a higher likelihood of commenting.

But, dear bloggers, none of that matters for those of us who can't get to your damn blog in the first place.

Sure, I can wait and read your blog at home. Will I? Maybe. Maybe not.

The funny things is that the blogs I deem worth reading while I'm work and have more free time with the internets are generally not the same blogs I am willing to waste precious family time reading in the evening when I'm home.

Yes, I do tend to flag blogs that I'd like to save for home reading - ones with photos I want to see, links I want to explore, or things I'd like to comment on when I actually have access to that feature.

Does it always get done? Not so much.

Once I'm home, there's a huge laundry list of things that need doing, and catching up on blogs is really not that high on the list. Usually, when I'm online at home, I'm catching up with friends, working on my blogs, or working on our business issues.

Basically, dear bloggers, my point is this: Do you want your damn post read or not? If I have to click through to your actual blog to read the full post, then the likelihood of my actually reading goes down pretty significantly.

While I might consider this just self-important griping, word on the street is that there are a lot of blog readers out there who happen to work day jobs that happen to have some sort of internet blocking going on. Blogs being among the most commonly blocked websites.

If you want your posts read, please help your readers out and make it easier for us to actually read your posts.

Easy enough, right?

Right.