Question Of The Day – RSS Full Feeds Or Excerpts?

rss.pngToday’s Question Of The Day is one that was posed by Ryan in our internal email discussion group and we would now like to throw the question out to our readers.

When reading RSS feeds, do you prefer to see the full post inside your RSS reader or do you just want to see an excerpt?   Why is one better than the other?

Let us know in the comments what you prefer!

Tagged: •

Mark O'Neill

Mark O'Neill is the managing editor of MakeUseOf.com

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  • RK

    Full. I practically live on my feed reader. Going to the site requires opening another tab.

    • amzz

      True, i always prefer full feed.

    • Boris

      Same here.

  • http://www.teklicious.com Nacho

    Full feeds. It avoids loading lots of pages.

  • http://jaycersworld.blogspot.com Juan Carlo Rodríguez

    It’s better to have the whole post in the reader, because most people want their whole info on one page. Half-posts are a sign they’re after the extra clicks.

  • Renato Gomes

    I prefer to receive just excerpts as it is faster, give me an overall view of what’s goin’ on and I can choose what to go deeper.

    • 187

      same here!

  • AndyK

    Mark,

    Shouldn’t there be a poll for this kind of thing? :)
    I prefer reading the full news within my newsreader. NewsFire.

  • http://www.theJEMgroup.com James Malanowski

    Just had this same conversation on another site I frequent … I don’t mind excerpts, just make sure your into is compelling if you want folks to click over and participate (the goal is community building, right?).

  • me

    full !!!
    I actually unsubscribe from sites that make me go to them to see the full post. Why should I spend more clicks ?
    I use Google reader, so if I don’t feel like reading the post right now, I star it, it then waits for me in the starred list.

    • i0nC4nn0n

      i do exactly the same.

      • http://card.ly/sefcug sefcug

        Me too!

  • http://www.michaelwales.com/ Michael Wales

    Full feeds – if I wanted to visit your site, I would do so. The *only* reason not to enable full feeds is to force the user to come to your site and view your advertisements: 1) quit being greedy; 2) RSS users are techno-savvy and installed AdBlock Plus a long-long time ago.

  • Dave

    FULL all the way. I’ve gotten ride of the majority of my feeds that only give excerpts and take out images. Google Reader gives you the option to truncate everything so those that like excerpts can get it. Thank you Make Use Of for having a full feed.

  • Marie

    I prefer the whole post to be shown in reader.

  • http://www.geneabloggers.com Thomas MacEntee

    Full feed – my mobile phone readers really appreciate this it seems and this is the feedback I’ve gotten from readers.

    It does mean more work for me to fight the splogs and other scrappers who try to steal my content but it is worth happy readers.

  • dan

    Full lists please.

  • Marcus

    FULL POST, Like others mentioned, I unsubscribe to feeds that do not post the full content in the feed.

    However; If a post is unusually long, I think it might be good to post 1/2 of the content then require the reader to go to the site to read the rest. It is annoying to scroll through a 6 mile post of content I don’t wish to read.

    Keep up the good work, love the site.

  • John

    I prefer whole article

  • http://cainmanor.com/ Greg Cain

    Full. I unsubscribe from sites that make me click to see the article.

    Well, that’s not always true. Some truly exception or useful sites I do (like my local newspaper), but that’s the exception. Even then, the content needs to be more interesting than normal.

  • Parkylondon

    It’s a tough one this. I really like the whole article but it’s a PITA when it’s a loonnnnngggggg article and it takes ages to scroll down it. Doubly so if it’s of no interest.

    So. What to do?

    If it’s a small article then all of it please.
    If it’s a long article (1 side of paper equiv.) then extract will be fine.

    • Madieta

      If using Google Reader just press “J” and voila! you are on the next article. I’m sure in the Feed Reader of your choice you have a key for doing this.

  • http://www.ihatefun.net AndyNJ

    I like the full post when possible. I live in my Google Reader and hate having to actually go to the web site I’m reading content from. It also allows me to use the search, share, and email features better in Google Reader. Not to mention that it cuts down on the amount of tabs I have open.

    But that only holds true for me for about 95% of sites. There are a handful that have such insanely long posts or so media heavy that this becomes a nuisance, especially when viewing from my iPhone. I think it’d be nice if all sites provided two feeds, an abridged version and a full version.

  • Eloise Pasteur

    Whole page please!

    If I want to keep it, support it somehow or similar I’ll click it into a different tab or copy and paste out of my RSS reader into my main browser. But mostly I want to read it all and move on.

  • http://www.livecollarfree.com James NomadRip

    Full feeds. Unless I really want the content bad, I just unsubscribe. There are too many good sites to bother with the extra windows opening up to see something I don’t care about 100%. A partial feed will be the deciding factor in unsubscribing.

  • http://www.bidmodo.com Toby Schwartz

    Full. No question. I rarely follow a teaser, I’ll just move to the next article. I’ve actually unsubscribed to some feeds because of too little info in the reader.

  • James

    I prefer full feeds.

  • ArnoG

    I read my feeds online…. I want the full package

    • ArnoG

      Offline

  • Mat

    Full feed. I have a few sites behaving strangely on my work computer, so I’d rather not go anywhere else beside my google reader.

  • http://www.bekolay.org/ Trevor

    I can pretty much just repeat RK’s comment verbatim: “Full. I practically live on my feed reader. Going to the site requires opening another tab.” I use google reader, btw, as I’m on three or so different computers throughout the day.

  • Will Robinson

    Full feeds are better. If the post is irrelevant to me (Mac based, for example), I can just skip it and move to the next. No big deal.

    I’d begrudge having to open every post in my browser that ‘was’ relevant as that could take some time (“,)

  • Saiva

    Full Feed is best.

  • bill

    full feeds. they are more convenient.

  • asiji

    Full entries! If we just wanted partial info, we can change the settings on our RSS readers. If lost ad revenue is an issue, the ads can still be embedded in the RSS feed.

  • Anomaly

    Full feeds for sure. Excerpts defeat the purpose of a feed reader. Having just the excerpts means you need to go to the site to see the full feed. The whole point of the feed reader is to bring the info to you. If I have to go to the site to read the full feed why bother subscribing in the first place?

  • sigurd

    I prefer full feeds.

  • Walter

    Full feed thanks.

  • Tyler

    Full feeds. It’s easy to skip to the next article if I’m not interested in it

  • Saravana

    Full content … would have been better had you got a Poll

  • Rob G

    I prefer full. I tend to go to sites less these days and love the feed reader aggregation. I even accept in-feed ads just for the luxury of full feed.

  • Chuck

    Full. I live in my reader. With very few exceptions excerpt-only feeds don’t last long.

  • http://artclubcaucasus.blogspot.com/ Hans

    I prefer full article !

  • Richard

    Definitely full feeds! Like others have said, I live in my RSS reader (Google Reader & Byline on the iPhone). Having to leave the reader to visit the site is cumbersome and one extra step I would prefer to leave out unless I’m choosing to visit the site. I shouldn’t be forced to.

    I will say that partial feeds or excerpts have been deal breakers for me in the past. If a site goes from full to excerpt (which some do), I immediately put them on the chopping block and reassess why I am really reading their site in the first place.

  • http://dangarion.com DanGarion

    It all depends on the content of the article. If it’s something I want to read then I want the full thing there, but if it’s something I want to skip I only want the excerpt so I don’t have to waste scrolling through it.

    What? I can’t have it both ways?! :)

  • http://jamesmilazzo.com Jim

    I strongly prefer the full feed, I’m less likely to read the article if I have to open a new tab. If on my phone, it becomes impossible to read if i’m going through offline saved copies of feed items.

  • http://www.tankboyprime.blogspot.com tankboy

    Full.

    If an RSS uses excerpts, more often than not I unsubscribe.

  • http://shreemandadi.com Shree

    Full Feeds. Anything less than full are teasers, and I generally unsubscribe them. The reason why I like my RSS is for a reason (Not to open 160 Tab’s)…

  • menem

    full- having to open to read the full post most of the times results in me not reading the post.

  • http://www.marktastic.com mark

    full. less clicks and time.

  • Peter Badolas

    I think you should give the option of choosing between the two of them. No one would be unhappy then.

  • linkopinko

    FULL POST. I find it very annoying to open another browser tab for each preview post.

  • http://nrrd.de/ housetier

    I also prefer FULL feeds, with images and all.

  • http://leisureguy.wordpress.com Leisureguy

    A full feed, with images. I generally drop sites that give only an abbreviated feed.

  • http://www.electrictoolbox.com/ Chris

    I prefer full feeds. I’ll often click through to the website and read it there anyway but prefer to have that option rather than being forced to click through to read it.

  • SS

    Got to have full article. It takes too long to click and load a page for each article.

  • Simon

    I dont care either way, I go to the site from my reader regardless

  • Estu

    I’m no fool, make the fine and fancy feed full. Fank You

  • Purple Tentacle

    Full. For feeds that have only excerpt I use http://fivefilters.org/content-only/.

  • IT Guy

    Full Please

  • http://grzglo.jogger.pl Gregory

    Full.

  • http://www.golfarcade.net Greg

    Most of the time I like to see the full feed so I don’t have to click into the article to read it. I’m much more likely to read the article if I don’t have to click into it.

  • JECN

    Full.

    Actually, I tend to unsuscribe from sites that show only the header or a few lines instead of the full. I catch the headers in the reader list, so if something is worth reading I have it right there.

  • tecben

    FULL PLZZZZZ

  • ffs

    Without any doubt FULL.
    I directly unsubscribe when the feed is not full.
    For some rare cases I use Yahoo Pipes to get the full page from a excerpt feed. But this extra work has to be worth it.

  • etescartz

    Full .. Thank You Very Much.. Like someone said earlier.. i unsubscribe from sites that are making me click more or open extra tabs

  • Adrian

    Full feed all the way. Like someone said previously, excerpts are for people looking for ad clicks and specially in tech related blogs most of us use adblocking to avoid that.

    So in the end, enforcing to visit the site might mean someone who might otherwise visit a friendly ad say goodbye forever.

  • Stephen

    Definitely full. That’s the whole point of an RSS reader in my opinion – so you don’t have to visit the tens of sites you track everyday.

  • Web monkey

    Excerpts. If a teaser promises to answer my questions, I’ll click through to the website. If it’s not my cup of tea, I won’t have to scroll for ages before it ends. Source: 5 years of RSS consumption.

  • http://www.rickety.us Rick

    I want the full feed. I usually delete a newly added blog from my feed reader when I discover I do not get the full feed. For really good blogs I sometimes make an exception. Oh, and I give the full feed from my blog.

  • scott

    Full feed, thanks.

  • Kai

    Definitely full feeds.. Although I have no issue with excerpts as long as they’re a decent length (none of this 1 or 2 sentences rubbish – I usually don’t bother with feeds or sites that do that..)

  • http://macphotographytips.net/ Bakari Chavanu

    Full also. I can’t imagine the number of clicking I do on a daily basis. One less click the better for me.

  • Abubaker Shamlan

    Full of course

  • http://obugs.net 第三眼

    sure full. i have no patience when i have to read so many articles throught rss feed subscribe

  • Lori

    Full article in the reader. Saves me a click.

  • http://gaelyne.com FlitterbyG

    Full, definitely prefer full. Thanks.

  • anon

    Full, please.
    Thank you :)

  • Bob

    full

  • Leandro Toledo

    FULL!!! Please!!!

  • Nicole

    Full. Wish everybody did this.

  • http://timmyjohnboy.com Tim

    Looks like “fulls” have it! I prefer full, too. If you’re looking for me to come to your site, you’ll need me to WANT to, don’t MAKE me come just to read the article! I like to read the article in a reader, and if I want to comment, I’ll click through.

  • Ryo

    Full only! I read things in my Feed-Reader. If I can’t, I don’t read the article at all.

  • prashant

    FULL TEXT PLEASE!!!

    i receive lots of updates in feeds daily i dont want to open each of them.

  • http://archipixture.tumblr.com/ sityu

    full with good title and lead text (like makeuse always did)

  • http://www.wintonhouse.com Cotswolds BB

    Always full. Unless your strap line is compelling then you risk the loss of someone not reading the full article.

  • http://www.webupd8.org Andrew

    Definitely full. I almost never read excerpts, you don’t get an idea on what the post is about from just a few lines of text…

  • http://www.thws.cn thw

    I prefer to see the full-text feeds,and here are 5 ways to Expand excerpt feeds to full-content version!
    http://www.thws.cn/articles/build-your-own-full-text-rss.html

  • Robin

    Full Feed please.

    Everyone wins, here’s a more eloquent description than I can make:

    http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070813/014338.shtml

  • Arvind

    Full post Please, easy to handle and read..

  • ew

    I prefer excerpt, and open feeds of my interest in a new tab.

  • Martin

    Full feeds are very comfortable to the reader. The problem with that approach is that sites like Make Use Of only exist because of their advertisement. If everyone would read the full articles in their feed reader a site like this would cease to exist because it could not pay its authors anymore.

    I think it’s really funny that some say that the websites should not be greedy or that advertisement can also be displayed in the feeds. That’s a stupid argument.

    Usability is the only real argument for full feeds but the site owners do not gain a lot by this. Sure, some feed reader users come by and leave a comment every now and then but the majority does not benefit the site at all.

  • Beth

    Full read in RSS, love it!!!

  • http://www.michaelwales.com/ Michael Wales

    It seems as if the only reason people want the excerpts is to minimize scrolling… why not spend 30 seconds to figure out what the “Next Article” key in your feed reader is?

    I personally use Google Reader in the “minimized” view where only title’s are displayed. If a title grabs my interest, I click it and read the story (in my reader). If I want to comment, I’ll gladly hop over to the site to do so.

  • michael

    full! i also unsubscribe from sites that dont provide full info. It’s perfect. when i want to read the article later i open it to a new tab and read it from there.

  • shle896

    Definitely the full post, otherwise it defeats the purpose. I don’t like to see a story and have to click on a link and be directed to yet another tab in my browser.

    I use Google Reader so that I can view all my favorite websites and blogs in one place.. kind of a “one stop shop”.

    Plus I often share or email stories and posts, so I like that my recipient will get the full post in the body of thire email message, as opposed to just a link.

  • Lou

    Full. I use my rss reader every day

  • http://volstate.edu Mary

    I prefer full feeds- so much easier to scan for details and stay current.

  • Simon Worth

    Full – I can’t stand it when I only get the first little bit of a post and have to visit the website in order to read the rest. It drives me crazy.

  • http://awesomewallpapers.wordpress.com/ Ben l Awesome Wallpapers

    Definitely full feeds.

  • http://twitter.com/btocher Baxter Tocher

    Full feeds only. I unsubscribe again immediately if they’re excerpts.

  • Raed

    Full feed. I don’t have to open a new window/tap.
    and the best part is that I don’t get annoyed by the websites popups or ads if any.

  • http://chrishunter.blogspot.com Chris Hunter

    Full.

    Full!

    FULL!

  • Anish

    full

  • tmh0

    I suggest making a pole would be a good thing. In my opinion an excerpt is better so I can focus on useful information (for me).

  • http://www.diaaeldin.wordpress.com diaa

    i like excerpt

  • http://www.samjho.co.cc Abhishek

    Full,
    I belong from India. Here, we have limitations on bandwidth. Using your feed in feedreader, It’s just one time downloading of photos and others. Text don’t kill bandwidth. But, if i want to refer again to some articles published few days back. I can search offline. But, if it’s just excerpt, may be i will fail to find exact info. Like info in cool websites sections.
    But, yeah you may earn less by less visits by us.

  • http://saitodisse.com.br Julio Makdisse Saito

    Full, always.
    Google Reader – Firefox
    ByLine – IPhone/Ipod touch

  • http://po-moemy.ru Артем Андреевич

    Only full

  • salman

    Full or at least with detailed description.

  • http://www.kantinenblogger.de/ Kantinenblogger

    Full!

  • Christine

    Full feed, so that I can read it later even when I’m not connected

  • http://www.ignitingtherevolution.com Jeremy Epstein

    Long time reader, first time caller. I’m all about full feeds. Never click through on the partials.

  • http://openskymedia.com Jason

    I’m a big believer in full articles in the RSS feed. i don’t want to have to click to a dozen different sites. I subscribe to close to 100 different feeds in Feedly and to have to click through to different sites every time I want to read the content is not going to happen. I have unsub’d from several sites that did that.

  • Bill

    Excerpts.

    1. Full defeats the purpose of RSS
    2. Full takes more bandwidth
    3. If the article is actually interesting anough from the title and the excerpt, then I will go and read it on the site.

    • http://twitter.com/btocher Baxter Tocher

      @Bill – the Wikipedia entry about RSS says that the feed can be either full or partial:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS

      So how do full feeds defeat the purpose of RSS?

      • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

        good point!

  • Sev

    FULL

  • Vishal

    Definitely full post is preferred as I don’t have to open a new tab/window and I go through almost every post completely.