tedster - 4:28 pm on Mar 25, 2012 (gmt 0)

Well, this is just conjecture at the moment - certainly nothing is proven as far as I know. But a couple of thoughts do come to mind:

1. If you're not using Google's Feedburner service but only offering a direct RSS feed, I can't see how Google would have access to subscriber data.

2. If all you offer is a directory rather than a regular feed, then you do not really NEED that RSS feed anyway - you could easily offer it in another format.

My inclination would be to drop the RSS because it doesn't sound like it can do any harm in your situation. If by some chance dropping it seems to help, please share that information with us.