Over on There Is No Cat, Ralph takes the aggregation-pet-peeve thing I'm having lately to a broader discussion of community -- or the lack thereof -- and the role of aggregators in further separating us from one another.
I resisted using a feed aggregator for a long time. I tried and abandoned them a number of times. Only in the past month or so did I give in. I find it makes it easier to keep up with a wider variety of weblogs. Right now, I think that's important for me to do. I used my blogroll as my primary means of keeping up for a very long time, and enjoyed taking a leisurely stroll among my neighbors in Blogistan, but lately find I need the time I used to spend doing so for other pursuits. Aggregators make that possible. But I have to remind myself to leave comments, and even to read the ones others have read, because they don't show up in most feeds.
I met the REAL Ralph at SXSW - a pleasure indeed. Aggregate that!
Tags: aggregators, community, sxsw, comments, blogging, tech, social what?, RSS = Powered by Qumana
