[Warning] Google Reader no longer reads RSS feeds unless force refreshed

So apparently in the midst of changing Google Reader for Google+, they stopped Google's auto-checker for RSS feeds. Now, it appears that Google Reader only checks RSS feeds when a user force refreshes them (Bug Reports [1], [2], [3]). For popular feeds, this isn't a big change since so many users are refreshing the feed that all items get caught by Google Reader (which archives the feed). However, if the feed is less popular, some items might pass through the feed between force refreshes, which means Google Reader never sees the item. These are common for forum post, craigslist search, and custom reddit stream feeds. So if you have a reddit feed for your own subscriptions, be warned that Google Reader will now likely miss many items that pass through the feed. This also apparently affects academic aggregate feeds since they are update continuously but only refreshed by a few people during the day. To clarify: It previously wasn't a problem because when you didn't have the Google Reader window open, it would just auto-check the feeds for you and archive the new items so they would show up unread for the next time you opened Google Reader. However, this new behavior means that Google Reader only checks/archives feeds when you have the window open and refresh the feeds. So if you close Google Reader and go to bed, you'll effectively miss all of the items that pass through the feed overnight (if no other user refreshes the same feed). [1] - http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/reader/thread?tid=2863171aa7229dab&hl=en [2] - http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/reader/thread?tid=1840691c4a4f3004&hl=en [3] - http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/reader/thread?tid=1ebb324fc70aa1f8&hl=en