Sunday, February 03, 2008

Because I'm B.A.D., ya know it!

By Carl

Today is the anniversary of a dark day in Blogtopia (© Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo).

One year ago, Atrios (also known as Duncan Hunter), proprietor of the feebly-written (except for his co-bloggers) blog, "
Eschaton," decided to trim his blogroll for...well, his own reasons. He offered what in Newspeak was called "Bloroll Amnesty Day," which of course makes it sound as if he would throw open the doors of his blogroll and let anyone who asked be added.

Turned out,
it was more all about him. He blew up his existing blogroll, then decided that he would blogroll anyone that interested him.

Nothing wrong with that, of course. It's his name on the site and if he feels that people might get the wrong impression by having an inordinately long blogroll, filled with smaller blogs (like mine, altho I was never on his roll), that's OK.

Of course, then, it becomes a little disingenuous for him to lay claim to some form of authority in Blogtopia(©), and has of course, come under fire from some of the more (truly) progressive bloggers who have noted that by stifling access to smaller blogs, a movement tends to risk losing a diversity of thought.

Studies have shown (and this was PRE-BADay) that "A" list bloggers tend to link to other "A" list bloggers nearly exclusively. This sets up an echo chamber of thought, one that resonates and creates a feedback loop that makes it hard to sort reality from a rumour that's shot around the world three times.

Worse, other blogs, like (I'm ashamed to say)
Jesus' General, then PZ Myers and Pharyngula followed suit, until the Great Orange One himself, Kos, pulled his blogroll as well. This was, for many, the last straw. The unintentional (or perhaps intentional) consequence of BAD was to eliminate an awful lot of blogs from an awful lot of exposure.

If you look at the large blogs on the right wing (I won't mention names because there's no point in looking and getting ill), you'll see blogrolls that extend well into the hundreds. Indeed, one challenge in winning the Weblog Award last year was that one conservative contestant had his blog on Captain's Quarters AND Michelle Malkin's blog, and was not ashamed to ask for votes there.

A movement arose that truly gave Blogroll Amnesty to people who needed it: smaller blogs. Led by such heavyweights as
Jon Swift, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (you know, CNN's favorite blogger, at least according to Jon Stewart), Joe Gandelman, and Kevin Hayden,

I have been approached by some of these guerrila bloggers to add my voice to the protest. Unfortunately, I owe some small sums of money to at least three of these heavyweights, and they have hinted that ThumbPer's name may have to be changed to "Per" if I don't comply.

So I'm making this announcement, altho to be honest, it's never really been necessary: if you've asked, and promise a return link, I've added you to my blogroll.

But as a special promotion, if you ask now, you'll get your own window with each link... free!

You can't beat an offer like that, now can you?

I don't get many hits, maybe 150 or 200 a day if I'm on a roll, but I have a loyal readership, one that doesn't mind exploring a little. Too, links mean more to me than hits.

As a small (but I hope influential) blogger, I can understand the value of hits and links and I confess I do get a thrill down my back when I check out my Technorati listings and see I have one more link, particularly when it's unexpected. I hope by formally announcing this policy, I might encourage other bloggers whose voice gets lost in the shuffle to soldier on, not get discouraged, and know there are people out here who want to help.

So, in the spirit of Blogroll Amnesty Day, I am linking these five blogs who deserve more notice. Anyone of them could and should be A-listers. Some are smaller than even this little outpost at the far left of the radio dial, some are bigger. All deserve your attention:

Mr. Doggity. The Dogg always writes about politics from the perspective of a blue voter trapped in a red (but turning purple) state, Kansas. Always interesting and informative.

Connecting.The.Dots. Bob Stein is a former magazine editor/publisher (including Redbook), journalism teacher, and media critic. He reminds me every time I read him of my J-school 101 classes with William Burroughs at NYU: gets the facts, lead with the biggest fact and make the story interesting. If Izzy Stone was still alive, he'd blog with Bob.

Guys From Area 51. You know most of these fellows if you spend anytime at the snarkier blogs (including my own). A daily stop on my path to avoiding sanity...I mean, INsanity.

The Impolitic. Libby and Cap't. Fogg are co-bloggers with me at Michael J. Stickings's The Reaction, but here, they post stuff that's even more in-depth and more thoughtful than they do at TR. Give them a try.

Adgita Diaries. I was embarrassed to find out two things: 1) Mandt, who comment here fairly often and whom I run into regularly on other blogs, is actually two people (M and T, get it?) and 2) They have a blog of such aching beauty that, well, I almost quit blogging. OK, that last bit is not quite true, but...

A Poetic Justice. You know him, you love him. The Poetry Man's blog.


UPDATE: Well, it looks like I could stand a lesson from Izzy Stone myself! I misspoke when I said PZ at Pharyngula scrubbed his blogroll. He did weed out links that were "dead", and has a fairly generous blogrolling policy. My apologies, and thanks to Kristjan Wager for pointing out my error.

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14 Comments:

  • i get less hits than you- but i too have a loyal following. i haven't read any of the 'first tier' or wannabes in years. they are just as bad as the politicians- paying lip service but wanting to hog the limelight. i recently put all of my links in rss in my google reader.

    By Blogger billie, at 11:09 AM  

  • I am one of your loyal readers with a truly tiny and insignificant blog; one note singer that I tend to be. But I have long listed and you and I don't really give a good damn what the "big guys" think. Go you!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:29 AM  

  • One correction - PZ Myers of Pharyngula did not follow suit. He actually opened his blogroll for others, rather than purged it. I've seen that mistake before, and I don't get where people got that impression.

    PZ's blogroll is one of the most inclusive I've seen, and he is quite willing to link to small blogs as well.

    By Blogger Kristjan Wager, at 11:36 AM  

  • Thanks for the shoutout Carl.

    By Blogger Libby Spencer, at 1:43 PM  

  • Nobody's better than M and T. If I could write half as well ...

    By Blogger Fixer, at 4:49 PM  

  • Well, you asked for it. You did! I'm over at La Casa de Los Gatos and CultureVultures, where I post as ThePoliticalCat.

    Thanks for keeping the Blogosphere open and be-thumbed!

    PS: I'm getting visitors from you all day today - and I haven't even linked to you yet. What gives?

    By Blogger ThePoliticalCat, at 5:16 PM  

  • Excuse me while I prise my foot out of my gob. Turns out I got here from Memeorandum, which is where I've been getting hits from all day. Neverthebless, I add you to my roll. (Wouldn't it be a great help if I could actually, you know, read, or think, or something? Don't answer that.)

    By Blogger ThePoliticalCat, at 5:22 PM  

  • Link me! Link me!

    Thank you! Thank you!
    (I added you to my blogroll so just sit back and watch those hits roll in.

    By Blogger eRobin, at 7:47 PM  

  • I've added you to my blogroll as well. Keep up the good work!

    By Blogger Dyre42, at 1:16 AM  

  • erobin: You're already in our blogroll!

    By Blogger Michael J.W. Stickings, at 1:40 AM  

  • Based on Kristjan Wager's comment, I have updated this post to correct PZ's policy.

    By Blogger Carl, at 9:46 AM  

  • I've added you to my blogroll. I'd love a sidebar link, and or a link to this:

    http://theartofpeace.blogspot.com/2008/02/hard-part-of-blogroll-amnesty-day.html

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:36 AM  

  • David: done.

    You, too, Political Cat. Both of your blogs.

    You, too, Betmo. Sorry, I've been meaning to add you for some time!

    By Blogger Michael J.W. Stickings, at 1:22 AM  

  • very nice a site

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:29 AM  

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