So all this gumph and hoohaa over blogrolling.
From my perspective (and I’m putting the ‘grumpy old man’ tag on) blogrolling is all very 2002. It’s feeding the worst of the vanity aspects of weblogging. Now, we could have a mass debate about the the pros and cons, but all I’m going to say now is that come the new software, I will be leading a small but dedicated team of guerilla fighters.
I will keep a blogroll. And if you want to be one of my gorillas Maquis, drop me a line.
and I’m putting the ‘grumpy old man’ tag on
No you can’t. I got there first. When my assistant learned that I had a neighbour called Mrs Warboys she almost wet herself. “I don’t be_lieve_ it!” she said.
So, you’re joining the resistance, Henry?
Actually, it’s going to be more of a capacitance than a resistance, I think.
Capacitance. Goes with thinning hair, prostate trouble and a preoccupation with the contents of one’s shed.
Gumph? I’ve been called worse.
I just don’t understand all these hang-ups about blogrolls. It’s the best and easiest tool there is thus far and for 95-ish% of the bloggers, it’s not a point of contention or controversy. I don’t want to learn 50 new web apps that are probably going to go out of
businessfavor in the next month. Grudgingly, I agree with you. Until something better comes along, blogrolls are the cat’s pajamas. The controversy surrounding the issue, I still don’t get.Anna, it’s that I don’t see the point. The only thing it shows is that you’re linking to other weblogs. The only thing it’s good for is increasing traffic to other sites.
If I think someone has an interesting weblog, then I’ll link to it in a post. If I want to read someone’s witterings, then RSS is much more efficient. Maintaining a blogroll that is current and useful is too much hassle. I’ve seen any number of bloggers apologize for out-dated blogrolls or actually write a post saying they’ve updated it. Whatever.
Richard – blogrolls are a two-way thing. Other people can link to you, and I suspect they’re more likely to if you have them on your blogroll.
Spread the love!
As someone who had never touched a blog with a bargepole (not a wise thing to do anyway) before joining NN, I don’t quite understand the fuss about blogrolls (apart from the appalling pun in the name, which makes it sound a British invention to me, as I didn’t think the US used the term ‘bog’ for ‘the bathroom’). All they appear to be is a list of blogs you like. Why are they so useful?
To appease your friends, and mutual linking is considered A Good Thing on the web.
True friends don’t need ‘appeasing’.
xx
Sorry – should have added, that I’ll happily link when someone says something interesting.
I just looked through all the blogs I’ve bookmarked over the years. About a third of them were discovered through clicking on blogrolls. I might never have found some of them otherwise. So other people’s blogrolls have been of use to me.
Dammit, Man! I was clicking over here to get the link to your blog to add to my blogroll – because evidently I was not conscious in 2002, and I just now discovered what a blogroll is, and I thought it would be an easier way for me to keep track of recent updates to my favorite blogs since I have had a little trouble figuring out how to organize RSS feeds – and realizing I have not visited here in awhile (see above), I thought I’d best see what you have been up to, when I found this post. Now I cannot decide if I should just delete my blogroll altogether or merely exlcude YOU from it!
I don’t play the link-to-me-and-I’ll-link-to-you publicity game, and I am more than a little disappointed in myself to learn that your opinion on this matter has even caused me pause. I think you should buy me a consolative beer for causing me this unwarranted distress.
Oh, seeing as you asked so nicely.
Friday?