I'm checking out this thread as such a newbie that I cannot figure out how to remove the fr***ing background without the same jagged effect. While this does give me ideas to go about correcting my issues, it seems that this most recent response from firstdefence takes the initial poster right back to where the question began - to get rid of the feathering effect.
How about background removal without any effects? I am presently (probably because I'm an idiot!) having issues with using the node tool. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - as in, it will not allow me to make any adjustments to the selected image. It remains outlined in blue, but no matter of clicking will add another node. That being the case, I've used another insufficient program to remove the background, which now requires a feathering effect (such as the first poster does not want) to correct it, which would actually work very well for this particular project).
Why can't an "expert " user simply post the parameters for making a clean removal of background? I know that images differ, but seriously - a baseline would be of great assistance to those of us who don't have time to experiment around.... (Agreed this offers a solution to feathering my image, but I'd rather it be clean to begin with, thus allowing me to decide what to do with it thereafter....)