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Comment by philfrasty | Hacker News Reader

I have used Pocket for the last five years or so. 99.5% of the articles I bookmark every day I never actually read. Probably should make me think why I use it at all...

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I read A LOT on pocket (they sent me an email that I was one of their top 1% readers, with having read 1.7 million words).

For me it's a great time saver, I see some interesting article during work, but instead of wasting my time on it during work, I save it for later. Granted I get no signal during the subway where Pocket becomes a really useful app, but it results in me being a lot more efficient with reading.`

Same here.

I see Pocket as the place where I put incredibly interesting things that I will never see again. I absolutely love Pocket and I have So Many interesting things in there. But I never look.

I started putting things in Google Inbox, and I found that I like the reminders to read things - but I don't look at those either. I just keep pushing them back, and eventually, during a less busy week, move them over to Pocket, where I can truly stop reading them.

One day, years from now, I'll read everything I've put into pocket over the years and finally understand the universe.

You are not alone, but I just use bookmarks for that. Is using Pocket any different from that, e.g. does it save pages internally so if the original site goes down the page will still be available in Pocket?

Yes, Pocket saves a snapshot of the original, as well as a slimmed down version that's ideal for reading (akin to a "readability" version - maybe exactly that).

The mobile app also syncs the slimmed down versions so you can read them while offline. If you're using it for that, be sure to open the pocket app once in a while as it will stop syncing if you haven't opened the app for some [undetermined] amount of time.

I am in the same spot. I bookmark a TON of stuff and I never visit it again.

I do sync pocket right before a flight but find myself engaging with it rarely.

I find my use of bookmarks akin to liking something on facebook (or even saving it for later, which I never go back to).

All the latest e-readers from Kobo come with Pocket integration (hopefully also going forward) and I can testify that it helps a lot if you get the reading material off the LCD display and off the general internet where I would otherwise also just browse around and bookmark stuff without actually reading anything.

Neither do I, but it's invaluable when I remember something in that 0.5% and need to search for it.

I use Pinboard for organized reference bookmarks, and Pocket as a dumping ground for anything that seems interesting. Some of it gets moved to Pinboard or deleted, but otherwise I like keeping it there as a record in case my brain decides something from the past is important again.

First: I'd love to have stats on material indicated within Pocket.

1. Total articles saved. Archived. Rread.

2. Counts by tag.

3. A "times read" count. There are hot articles I hit a lot.

4. Numbering of items on page.

The lack of ANY user-focused stats or reporting on virtually any Web-based tools is ... kind of creepy, actually, given the extent user data is sliced, diced, marinated, and skewered on the provider and advertiser ends.

Back to the matter of what's read: Pocket is effectively my "vetted web". Content I've found and found at least worth a second look. The biggest problem(s) I have presently are that I cannot effectively mine that archive. Pocket's tools for searching, ordering (or unordering -- there's a strong argument for randomly accessing a stratified sample) are a hugely increasing friction point.

That's me as well. I've used Pocket since it was called Read It Later and probably have opened my saved list only a handful of times.

What I've started using some time ago, though, is Reread.io – it sends you emails containing random articles from your saved list, on specified intervals. I have it set up to send me a couple each week, that way it doesn't feel "forced", and better than having them forever forgotten.

My Pocket usage increased significantly if I'm out of the house often. I use very little mobile internet to keep my phone costs down - using pocket offline works out great.

I don't read all of the articles I have on there, of course, but that's OK. It still works for bathroom or on-the-road reading. Admittedly, games get played during toilet visits more often than articles getting read.

This is why I created a IFTTT action to add the item to todoist if I have given it a tag ('read', in my case).

This way I can go back and read the articles that I really care about, while still saving low priority stuff that I only go through when I'm bored.

I did the same thing. Then I bought a kindle and use calibre to download my reading. That's made all the difference. Much more comfortable to read and I can catch up on an article or two before bed or when I've got a few minutes.

I Pocket a lot of stuff that I don't read, but in the end, I end up reading more stuff thanks to Pocket anyway.

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