OCD much?
Besides the new look Google Reader now has the option to hide the number that shows how many unread items a folder or feed has. I haven't really made up my mind if I'd want that or not, however someone pointed out in a comment I'm too lazy to look up that it could end the frustration and forced reading of feeds you're not really interested in just because you have a Reader backlog.
It's a valid point. My news folder usually bloats to 1000+ unread in matters of days. Even though I usually just scan the headlines for interesting bits of information. I also have a hard time keeping up with Sorozatjunkie: the parts that interest me are accompanied with a lot of completely irrelevant noise.
On more than one occasion I forced myself to read, or rather scan through, feeds I ignored for days just to make the unread number disappear. I can be very obsessive-compulsive about things like that. I'd also feel guilty about removing the feeds that I only rarely check. On the other hand I don't have a problem using "Mark all as read" to clean things up.
Trends report that I have a 100% reading rate of - among others - MacRumors, Yummie, isolde, Neil Gaiman and xkcd.
Do you use Reader? If yes, would you hide the number of unread items?