How do I use the Connect section?

Lantian
May 11, 2007, 05:08 AM posted in General Discussion

I've been trying various RSS readers but haven't found anything I really like. Google's interface just isn't fun. Yahoo's seems too time delayed. Others I just stop clicking over to. So now I'm back to Cpod's Connect

These days I just click on the All Conversations RSS link and then read the latest posts. I don't really like this though as it doesn't show who posted, and the comments are not within a thread.

So then I look at the Connect list of My posts, Watchlist, Everyone but all I see are listing of podcasts, I have no clue about what is actually being said. I guess I could click on each and then hit 'back' and click another, but this seems like a big hassle.

Am I not using this right? How are other's using this Connect page? 

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lostinasia
May 11, 2007, 07:55 AM

I'm not using the Connect page--I've found the V3 interface far too click-intensive, and now I use a feed reader (Net NewsWire Lite, which may be for Macs only) to read all the latest postings, to find the latest lessons, and so on. I actually almost never "click through" anything on the ChinesePod site now because it just takes too long. (Other shortcuts: I've bookmarked the different lesson levels, instead of going through "Explore"). So I don't have a suggestion for you, but I can say that you're not alone in wondering how best to use this function. Mind you, I'm not sure what a good solution would be with regards to the comments. A page listing all recent comments, with the comment text? I didn't pay that much attention to them in V2... although perhaps that did increase time spent actually studying!

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rich
May 11, 2007, 07:58 AM

I know we all have our own tastes, even when it comes to software (I actually finally fully switched to FireFox after being an IE supporter for reasons I don't even know), but I must say that I am really satified with Google Reader, especially since it has a good Mobile Phone interface.

What did you find hard about using it? I made http://reader.google.com my home page and after adding the ALL conversation feed and then feeds from particular people to watch for (Jenny, Amber, etc.), when I go there it immediately tells me how many posts those people have made (Jenny's average is way down to about 1-2 a day now and John is around a whopping 0.... where is everyone?) and then the overall, which is what I usually look at. You can rename the feed names and easily change the addresses. Not sure what "Fun" is to you, but it is informative, quick and mobile. -R