Do you put out food for stray cats? Does it seem to help matter or make them worse?

I was putting out food for awhile but then realized there were too many strays and ferals around to even try to care for. And animal control told me it's not a good idea anyway, since they should be living on rodents and such.

A few strays are actually now sneaking into the RV i Live in and eating the food i keep in here for my own cats.

I always fed my cats inside. If you feed stray or feral cats, they will keep coming back. Once they think they can get food from your place they get very stubborn and will not give up.

I had cats climbing my window and patio door screens looking for food -- sometimes even in the middle of the night -- and crying (demanding) to be fed. This was when my daughter was a young teen and felt sorry for the stray cats, so fed them. It can take forever to get these cats to stay away. One thing I tried was to take some food way out into the woods behind us and left it there. A whole bag of it. That kept them away from us. For a few days.

The cats eventually stopped coming around after several months.

My sister was feeding a stray, she had kittens
To make a long story short other cats came by to eat the left over food before she knew it cats were fighting over food
hurting each other it became a big mess
winter came the cats depended on her for their food
We went to the mspca for traps so the cats wouldn't starve and be cold
After bring the cats to the mspca she was told never to feed stray cats

Thanks for the advice, guys. I have been trying to keep the strays out, but since they sneak in at night now I have no idea if they are still coming in.

The last thing i want is for strays to wake me up demanding food, so maybe this is for the best.