When One Unsubscribes
02. Dec, 2007 
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I have recently came across a situation where I unsubscribed from a blogger I highly respect. I have never had a beef with said blogger, but their content has recently taken a turn towards an area I no longer have interest in.
The reasons I unsubscribed are:
- The blogger started talking about making money. I already have blogs I subscribe to for that purpose, and felt that I didn’t want another.
- The blogger had insulted values and other fellow bloggers I looked up to.
- I felt the blogger had lost touch with what the readers really wanted.
- The blogger expressed views of treating readers as expendable items.
It took me a while to actually decide to unsubscribe from this blogger’s content, but it happened with one post. I gave myself a criteria for unsubscribing, and gave the blogger an internal ultimatum. When the blogger didn’t meet what I had originally subscribed for, I broke the contract; I unsubscribed from the blog.
Does Unsubscribing Mean I Don’t Like the Blogger Anymore?
Not at all. If the blogger started another blog, I would probably check it out. I would also continue e-mailing and instant messaging the blogger. But would I have the strength to tell the blogger, “I no longer have interest in your content”?
And if you were on the receiving end of that statement, how would you feel? Would you still value me as an online friend if I told you I want nothing to do with your blog anymore? In other words, is the online friendship solely dependent on me reading your blog?
Can I Be Your Friend Without Reading Your Blog?
A while back I wrote about giving readers guilt trips. The point of the post was to not have unrealistic expectations of the readers.
Is it an unrealistic expectation that a reader will always read or be subscribed to your blog? Should a reader make a certain number of comments per month or be discounted? Should the reader (through e-mail or IM) always talk about your most recent post as a pre-requisite?
Wouldn’t it be ideal that a reader is loyal to you as a blogger beyond your blog? So if I stop reading your blog, can I still be your friend?
Conclusion
When I stopped reading a particular blog, I stopped with the idea in mind that I could still be friends with the blogger. I didn’t think the friendship relied exclusively with me reading the blogger’s content.
If you are a blogger, what do you think of the reader that no longer reads your blog? Is there still a relationship there, or is the contract with the reader now null and void?
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Author Info
I once made the mistake of contacting a blogger and telling them they were posting too many posts a day for me to handle. When I had subscribed, they wrote once every couple of days, maybe once a day at most. Then they qualified for some paid posting programs and the post count went to 6+ posts a day. I was overwhelmed and unable to keep up and I thought the right thing to do was let the blogger know. It did not go down well.
Tip to all, just quietly unsubscribe. Learn the lesson from me, don’t do it yourself.
Unless it is me who you are reading, because I will take any feedback or constructive criticism well..
Cheers,
Snoskred
I know my blog isn’t for everyone and as my interests tend to change, I know that I will lose readers. That’s fine. I don’t get my nose bent out of shape anymore over someone removing me from their blogroll or their reader. I have to thin out my feeds every few months as well and I hope no one takes it personally.
Snoskred,
– I once told a blogger I would unsubscribe if they didn’t turn on full feeds. The blogger actually honored my request. So I guess it depends on the character of the blogger. If a blogger is pumping out posts after suddenly being paid, it makes me wonder.
I can safely say I didn’t unsubscribe from yours so no worries there
Jayne,
Very true. Readers come and go from blogs. I was wondering if there is any possibility of a continued relationship after a reader moves on from a blog. For example, I am in touch with a few people from this blog, but what if I decide to stop writing for this blog and move onto another? Will I have abandoned those relationships? I would hope I could continue them.
I think you can continue any good acquaintances you have. I have two very good friends, never met personally, but we chat once in awhile. I don’t read their blogs anymore as one is very technical, code and all that and the other is heavily political. A blog is only one small facet of a person.
Ronald, even though you stopped reading my blog, I still consider you my friend and wonder what the heck are you up to nowadays?
joking aside, that was quite a thought-stimulating post and questions asked were very reasonable. How would I feel if a friend unsubscribed from my blog, would I want to know or not? I’d like to say that – yes, I would like to hear the reasons, or the criticism, but then I’m not sure I would feel good about it. However, as a person I don’t like holding grudges for a long time, there have to be very good and solid reasons for me to break up a friendship, and unsubscribing from my blog is not one of them.
And how would I feel if I don’t read one’s blog anymore, and feel that it’s just a dead weight in my RSS feed. I think it would depend on circumstances. So far I have unsubscribed from blogs, but not the ones authored by my friends.
Hey Vivien,
I still am subscribed to your blog, so ha! If you start talking about making money from your blog, I think the world will end.
I personally think our friendship is beyond a blog and an RSS feed count given by some organization in the sky (aka, Google), so I am honored that you still keep in touch.