It might not be the most original idea, but I thought I would write it down in words just in case I should forget what I am doing.
I have been trying to maximize the good information that I subscribe to. The first step I took was to try and let my bloglines account aggregate my “Library” tags for awhile. After about a week I examined the posts that bloggers had made. If I wasn’t interested in any of the 37 posts that the user had made I put a star in the description for the feed. I figure that if I go to put a star in a blog that already has a star in it then I can feel comfortable about unsubscribing.
The next step has been to start actively searching for likeminded users in del.icio.us and then subscribe to their feeds. Since I assume that they add tags in a similar fashion then I believe that this is a way to filter out the best information from the blogosphere.
To find similar interested users I first look at my own entries and see who as also tagged them.
I then examine the del.icio.us page that shows users comments about the tag post and how the tagged the entry.
If on first glance it looks like the use a similar structure and put effort into what tags they use then I will examine them further. I tend not to choose users who tag with this convention “library libraries librarae” etc… Even though this is how I started out I think it represents someone who is still learning. At least that is my own opinion. I think it is better to consolidate tags whenever possible (my own are still a scary mass of ideas) That is when I proceeded onto the next step which is to evaluate the user’s page I was astounded by this users small number of tags http://del.icio.us/amanda
Now if that same user had only a few pages of posts then it would mean that they were just starting, but since this person had over 10 pages of posting material under her belt then it proved significant.
So at the user level I look to see if the user’s tags are at least 75% interesting to me if not 100%.
I take a look also at their 5 latest posts for interest as well. If everything comes together then I add the feed for their page to my bloglines account. Currently I add them to the category that most closely describes their interest, Library or Technology.
However, I feel it might be more useful if Bloglines offered subcategories, but I might be wrong about that.
