Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

So there is a new feature with Google Reader wherein you can share your favorite items with your “friends,” only these are not people you specifically select in. No, Google just uses your chat contact list and automatically shares the feeds you share with those people. The only way to keep people from seeing your shared items is to delete them from your contact list. I noticed this when I saw that I had shared items from my only ex with whom I don’t have good relations. I’m sure he didn’t mean to share those with me, and I’m sure I don’t want him to see things I share. In order to keep him from seeing what I share, I’m supposed to delete him from my contact list. I don’t think that’s ideal, because what if there is a reason I need to have his email address? So I went in to do that anyway, and I saw that I had already deleted him. So he’s in the share list no matter what. I can’t tell why, and it’s pretty hard to get Google to respond to one individual’s issue. I think the upshot is that I won’t be using this sharing feature. I’ll keep my sharing limited to the blog, Twitter, and sometimes Facebook. To me, I don’t have enough control over this feature for it to feel secure enough for me to use it. Perhaps they will eventually make it where I can deselect all then add in only those people I would actually want to allow access to my shared links.