The ghost of GFC

Google Friend Connect. That little button on blogs that gets everyone all in a frenzy. Many of us use it to easily subscribe to blogs that we like. Or, as an extra entry for a contest. (Admit it, you do it). Then, after a few months we get buyer's remorse. For whatever reason, the blog we've subscribed to isn't cutting it anymore. (Or, we joined for superficial reasons as mentioned above).

So, you go to your google reader, and unsubscribe. The end.

Then, a few weeks later, you recognize the posts manifesting themselves again. You think, "I unsubscribed from that, I swear I did." But, you do it again, thinking you must have been mistaken.

They pop up again.

I'm going to show you how to once and for all get rid of the phantom blogs.

First, I will tell you that in the future, don't click the GFC button. It's a fair-weather friend, and it will be going away on WP blogs very soon. Instead, use the little radio icon in the address bar. Or find the RSS feed icon on the blog. (If they are a blogger worth their salt, they'll have lots of ways for you to subscribe).

Unsubscribing from Google Friend Connect

The first way I'll show you will work whether or not you have your own blog, but you will have to actually visit the offending blog in order to unsubscribe. Unlike just unsubscribing from the blog through the easy Google Reader way.

So, head on over to the blog that you want to unsubscribe from. In this example, I'm using Squeaky Books. This is an extreme example, because I would never want to willingly unsubscribe from her blog.

You will see your follower icon. If you don't see it, you may need to sign in first. Then, click the Options drop down menu.

Then click Site Settings. This will open up a pop-up menu.

 The magic button you are looking for is Stop following this site. Click it, and the blog will be removed from your following list.

And, now that you're here, I would also suggest taking a look at the Sites you've joined link on the left hand side. If you click on that, it will allow you to unfollow any other sites you may have joined that you no longer want.

So, go try it out. (preferably not on my blog). Report back and tell me how it feels to be free!