Before & After & Inbetween

...because they recently changed their service / upped their prices, etc.

1. Feedly (www.feedly.com)

my current plan (Pro) is 6$ a month and maintains its features because I'm a long-time client despite some of these features having been used to a new plan (Pro+ for 8.5$), which also brings Newsletter & Tweet-curation, and some nifty AI-filter automation on topics.
I'm currently staying put, but I'm tempted, because it's a service I use frequently and daily and the additional features would be useful. Also, so far they always did a lot of testing, also community-testing on their features, and so far got it right. There are a couple features in Pro I didn't use so far, but I'll probably give them a test / shake up, to see if the upgrade would be worth it.

2. IFTTT (www.ifttt.com)

goes pro (for at least 1.99$ a month if one takes it before October) or way more expensive later (think 10 bucks a month). Free accounts get limited to prefabricated applets and three self-made ones.
No. Fucking. Way.
Yes, they are easy to use and know a ton of services, but most of the services can already be GAssted or automated via smartphone / Tasker, and it often takes ages for an applet to trigger. Definitely not worth the money, even if they allow multiple triggers now (again - GA & Tasker are way more granular than they could hope to be). Their service ought to be good before becoming expensive!

No, my lunch break is by far not long enough to actually sit down and type my opinions about these three items (or banes) of fanfic authorship. However, it was long enough to stumble upon these essays by Rhiannon Shaw, who - most likely - said it much better than I could have. :)

In Defense of Original Characters
How NOT to write feedback
and constructive criticism