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Down with Blogrolls

February 12, 2007

I have always disliked the concept of blogrolls. I find them to be either exclusionary in the worst way possible, or so over-reaching as to be pointless.

I was beginning to wonder if I was the only person on that bus, until yesterday when Chris Garrett posted Another Good Reason to NOT Have a Blogroll. Chris expresses a similar argument, and sums it up in very simple terms: The intention is not always to hurt but hurt it does.

I've never actively pursued being on anyone's blogroll, and the only time it really bothered me NOT to be on one was when I donated my time to develop a blog template (and an ebook cover, and an autoresponder) for someone and my name was neither on their blogroll nor on a credit link by the time it launched. That does suck, and it was hurtful.

Yes, I guess I am shallow and insecure enough to truly appreciate it when someone with a greater reach has the same opinion I do. But it boils down to this: if you want to link to someone, write a post about something they have said or done, and put the link into context. What's so hard about that?

filed under: Blogging about Blogging, Do the Right Thing

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