Update: WordPress staff have since added a word count at the end of the sample in the Reader. If you click on the word count at the end of the sample, it will take you directly to the blogger’s website, rather than opening the post in the Reader.
What’s the advantage of doing this? That way, you won’t have to click twice to read one post. Some bloggers allow you to read the full post in the Reader, others set it so that you can only read part of the post in the Reader. In the latter case, if you click once to open the post in the Reader, you’ll need to click a second time to visit the blog and read the rest of the post.
So just clicking the word count to visit the post on the blog, rather than in the Reader, saves a click. If you have hundreds of posts in your Reader, this can save a lot of extra clicking.
(This post originally had a suggestion for allowing readers to go straight to the post on your blog from the Reader, but now that WordPress has added the word count link at the end of the sample in the Reader, that work-around is no longer necessary.)
chrismcmullen 
Thanks! I’ve only really got into blogging this year and I’m still developing my blog and following. These changes are awful.
Hopefully they are followed up by some better changes… 🙂
Thanks for keeping us updated about this stuff. I’m not sure what exactly WordPress is trying to accomplish with the new reader right now.
It’s a real mystery. 🙂
If you click on comments at the top left next to the X there is a place that says, “View Original.” That’s how I have been getting to the blogs easily.
It’s a shame that this requires so many extra clicks (first open the Reader, then click to leave the Reader, then you have to close the Reader pop-up window in addition to closing the new browser window). The idea of the link up front is to let readers click straight to the site and eliminate a couple of the middlemen. 🙂
Great idea!
Am I losing my mind or am I seeing blogs in my WordPress reader that I do not currently follow? Has it always been like this?
I haven’t noticed that, but now I’ll be thinking about it when I use my Reader. 🙂
I know I don’t follow them because there is a follow button on the bottom with the like button! Let me know if you find anything out. Thanks!
If I see it on my Reader or hear about it, I’ll let you know if I can find out what’s up.
On a related note, someone else complained of blogs missing from the Reader… http://disregardtheprologue.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/really-wordpress/
I wouldn’t know that unless I was sure someone posted. It’s very frustrating though to have to scroll through all that to get to the ones you follow. There have been some interesting ones come up though. May get some followers! LOL!
Have you looked through the list on the Blogs I Follow / Edit option at the top right of your Reader? I wonder if those new blogs got added to your list or not.
This is the strangest thing! They are now gone, Just like that – poof! Earlier they were there and at the bottom of each one there was a follow, reblog, comment, and like button. That follow button is what tipped me off plus the fact that there were lots and I mean lots of blogs that I probably never would have followed. So strange – wish I had pictures! Sorry to have been such a bother about it but you always seem to know the answers! 😉
That’s good. 🙂
With WordPress’s recent updates to the Reader, especially considering how many different changes they’ve made, it wouldn’t be surprising to experience a few different kinds of glitches over the next several days.
I love when they “fix” stuff.
Especially when it ain’t “broken.”
hard to know what to say about this. thanx for posting~
Maybe a moment of silence would have been more fitting… 🙂
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Hi Chris,
I stumbled across this article again while trawling the web for something else and thought I’d better point out that the link to the page on my blog will be broken because I have removed the page. I had a massive problem a few months ago with people (mostly facebook users) stealing photos from my site so I had to take it down, watermark and downsize 2000 images and then re-publish the pages. Sadly I only had time to do the Land Rover related content so everything else got binned.
I see that WordPress still have not resolved the issues we raised in that long forum debate, so much for them listening! However I now access all the posts from the reader using the time or the wordcount links which was their workaround.
Regards,
Ian
Thank you for the update, Ian. I’ll go in and update this post now. Yes, that word count at the end of the sample in the reader is helpful.
You have an amazing site! It’s a shame about the photo stealing.
Kindly,
Chris
Thank you. I have created a private members area on my site to house all the full size high quality pictures and lots of extras too in order to compensate my regular readers for the loss of items on the public site. The problem, as I’m sure you are aware, is that maintaining the blog itself is time consuming and having to maintain two sites is even more taxing.
It is such a shame that a growing percentage of internet users think that they have the right to pilfer whatever they like. I have even come across several websites recently that have not only stolen an image from me but their entire website, every picture and every word of text has been stolen from other sites including large chunks of text literally copied from wiki!. These pretend to be genuine enthusiasts but in their sites cointain no original material so I assume they are simply setting the sites up to earn advertising revenue. My site doesn’t have advertising but every one of these fake sites is plastered in adverts.
I must have a good read through your site as I am contemplating writing a book 🙂
Regards,
Ian
Unfortunately, we have those plagiarism, book copying, and pirating issues when publishing books, too. Good luck with your book if you go ahead with it.