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Google Reader provides stats on the % Read for each feed. The problem is that most of these(for me at least) are at 100% so are not very useful.
I use the 'j' shortcut key to flick through the unread items but this automatically marks the item as read even if I didn't actually read it.
How do I mark an item as 'not new' so that the stats provide an accurate view of my feed reading habits?
You're asking for an "ignore this post" feature. This does not exist so far.
I personally use n/p instead of j/k and mark all posts that I am not going to read again as "read" - no matter if I actually read them or if I just want to ignore them.
Things to read later are kept unread and/or starred. It's rather easy to organize Google Reader like this.
However, I agree that it may be difficult to measure which feeds consist of mostly uninteresting (thus "ignored") posts. You may try to use the "Like" feature instead, but this is a rather crude workaround.
Use the n (next) and p (previous) shortcuts instead of j/k to select the next item in the list view without opening it.
