March 01, 2004 | View Comments (19) | Category: Our Thoughts
Summary: Blogrolls are signs of respect, not a way to increase your PageRank.
I have my own reasons for not keeping a blogroll on this site, one being that it just wouldn't fit in this layout. If I did start a blogroll on this site I wouldn't put your site up here if you asked me to do so. When a person keeps a blogroll on their site I see that as a show of respect. If you are on the list then cool, if not, well don't ask to be put on it. Work harder, write more interesting stuff, and nature will take its course and you will find yourself on people's lists. Sure I look at some site's list and I see I am not up there. For a second I wonder why and it hits me that maybe I just don't interest them. So I go back here and think of something interesting to write. If I get put on there cool, if not life goes on.
It would be majorly cool to be linked by every single design blog out there. To be honest it is a small goal of mine only because it shows that I might be doing something right. Blogrolls are there because people like to read those sites. They shouldn't be a means to increase the PageRank of another site.
My point is if I had a blogroll don't ask me to put you on it. For everyone who has linked to me thank you because it really does mean a lot to me. I try to put a lot of work into this site and that is the greatest joy that I can receive (besides all the brand new cars people have been donating to me). If you haven't linked to me I have to question what the hell you are thinking (that was a joke...no really, it was a joke). This is the end of this rant, which was not directed towards any certain individual. I am happy again.
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Whew! I was a little worried for a second there - then I went and checked and realized I already had you on my blogroll. :)
Sorry you're being deluged with link-requests.
Incidentally - did you know your comment preview form is still in the MT default style?
Ben Scofield (http://www.culann.com/)
Besides, it's not really worth the trouble dealing with someone who is obviously so clueless that they don't know they can get the same effect just by using their URL when they add a comment. ;-)
It's interesting to note that, as I have been adding more blogs to my daily reading routine (and am thus more likely to leave comments on at least one weblog per day) I have noticed a lot more refferals coming from Google to my own site.
KillAllDash9 (http://www.pulpblog.com)
KAD9: It is a great way to get people to come to your site when they see you in their referral logs.
Ben: Yeah, I know. I hate those things anyways ;)
Scrivs (http://9rules.com/whitespace/)
Aye, that whole thing. Some think that "link exchange" is a law on the net. It isn't. If you link someone, don't do it just in hopes of being linked back to.
By the way, you (and many others) will be added to my list whenever I mass the gumption to update it. At some point, I'm going to add a feature that automatically reads my links from an OPML file (exported from NetNewsWire, of course).
Chris Vincent (http://dris.dyndns.org:8080/)
well, if you ever add one, I sure as hell hope you don't add me to it. I never post on it, it'd make you look bad. :-)
And me, too, since all those thousands of people would come there on your recommendation and find... nuttin.
heh
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
Ok, you win. I will add whitespace to that piece of scrap paper I found at the bus stop today. :)
Ian (http://www.e-lusion.com)
Yeah, I don't have a blogroll either, and I don't plan on putting one anytime soon. Usually they end up being just an unordered list webring. Everything linking back to itself eventually.
Besides, I have a hard enough time getting people to come to my site, why would I want to give them a reason to leave (other than the crappy content;)?
Matthew Oliphant (http://usabilityworks.typepad.com)
One of the things about a blogroll is that there are so many talented people out there that it doesn't really do their site justice to lump them all into a list of 20 or so. They just get lost in a forest of links (just look at Zeldman's Externals).
What I plan to do for my new design is similar to Kottke.org's remaindered links or Mezzoblue.com's dailies. Just have a tiny handful of interesting URLs you come across in day-to-day browsing. Then the links get the attention they deserve. :)
Jack (http://boxofjack.com/)
To my surprise I noticed that I hadn't linked to you Paul. It's not like that I don't read your site and don't like it because I do enjoy your site. Linking to somebody has a myriad of reasons. And you can't really make any assumptions on why some are linked and why some are not.
More importantly is that you're in my bookmarks. This is the type of list people should want to end up on. I see many links on other sites (link pages, comment etc.) and consider whether or not to bookmark them. And if I get out of bed on the right side I might put the link up on my site. I have a feeling that for many it could be that arbitrary. Maybe I should take better care of my content or maybe others shouldn't worry to much.
Egor Kloos (http://www.dutchcelt.nl/weblog/)
Dear sir,
I like your site very much and have added a link to you on my blog. If you like my site, I would be greatful if you could give me a reciprocal link.
:-)
Andy Budd (http://www.andybudd.com/blog/)
To Chris Vincent: That's exactly what I do. I wrote a PHP script that parses out an OPML file and then parses out the RSS feeds, then displays the content from their feeds. The people on my blogroll are the people I actually read. Whenever I add/remove a site, I just export and upload. Done.
Sooner or later, I'll make the code all nice and pretty, and make it available for the world to use. =)
Scrivs, I didn't feel that my layout would be a good candidate for a typical blogroll either, so I just created a new section for it. http://www.skyzyx.com/blogs/ . It's an idea, perhaps. Also, I like the new font. It's MUCH better than Arial was. =)
Ryan Parman (http://www.skyzyx.com)
I started learning HTML less than a month ago. I just started reading whitespace, took some notes, and now I think I'm gonna have to totally redo my site (good thing I barely started). The information and mood is real good here. Very impressed. F you pay me
nubian
carl (http://www.romulin.net)
Ok, I just removed Scrivs site from my blog roll after reading this post. It really urks me to see people I link tha don't link back.. those greedy bastards.
Ok, yes, by now you will have noticed the sarcasim in my words. I jest.
In all seriousness, I understand how you feel Paul. I can't say I get a lot of requests like that, but I do get a few.
Even more so, about 3 times a week I get requests from all sorts of people asking me to add a text link to their site... point blank an ad in the form of a hyperlink.
Now, if everyone RTFMed they would know we don't offer text ad links and for good reason... we don't want to promote the use of pagerank hijacking.
Note: our graphic ad links are not directly to the site, they are passed through a script and then sent on to the site, kind of bypasses the whole pagerank hijacking thing all together.
Maybe that's how blogrolls should work.
Nick (http://www.digital-web.com)
I decided to add a blogroll to my site from the start. At first, it was just a list of sites i frequent on a daily/semi-daily basis. Then I signed up for an account at blo.gs and began tinkering with the PHP script that pulls the contents of my favorite list from an xml file. Then Ethan Marcotte helped me out with it a little.
Its a nice little touch, i think. Helps me to see when sites get updated easily, and also kind of lets visitors to the site know what i read. It is also a way of showing respect for other designers and their work.
Jeremy Flint (http://www.jeremyflint.com)
Fine then I’m taking you off my site ;) (Just kidding!)
I just recently moved my “blogroll” (I hate that word, I call it my reading list instead) to its own page because it was taking up too much space. I don’t like the fact that it’s now “hidden” from the front page, but there’s still a link to get there if you really wanted to. A fair compromise I guess.
Vinnie Garcia (http://blog.vinniegarcia.com/)
Well, you are on my blogroll, don't worry. And I want one of those nifty scripts that show when sites were last updated (I use blo.gs) but none I have tried so far seem to work for me. Bummer. Anyone here who knows/uses/wrote an alternative script? I prefer PHP...
Ben de Groot (http://www.stijlstek.nl/codematters)
Ben, I've written a PHP script to do this for my site, and would be happy to let you borrow my code, if you'd like. It downloads the RSS file once an hour (the recommended time limit) and updates the links. Let me know if you are interested.
Ryan Brill (http://www.ryanbrill.com/)
Wow, Paul, you've hit the big time. Oodles and oodles of comment spam. Guess that means you're popular now. heh.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
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#1
Now that I have calmed down a bit, I can see how this entry comes off a bit harsh. There are tons of people I would link to if I had a blogoll (a lot of them comment here), I was just getting tired of people emailing me asking if I could provide them with a link to their site just so they could boost their rankings. That was all.
Scrivs (http://9rules.com/whitespace/)