Lately, I’ve begun to wonder if these “courtesy links,” as I call them, are adding to the cruft of unnecessary information on my site and the time that I spend reading web content on a daily basis.
In order to help reduce the amount of time I spend daily reading blogs or other sites, I’ve removed a number of sites from my list because the associated content was dissatisfying. Yet those which link to me I’ve loyally continued to read. I find this hypocritical, seeing that I am not interested in anything more than asserting a courteous reputation by linking back.
Obviously, this means that I’m reading and linking to a number of sites for all the wrong reasons. After some thought, my conclusion is to remove sites which are of no interest to me (specifically, personal blogs), even if they link to me. It is more important to be honest than to be courteous, especially when that courtesy only exists for personal gain. In addition, I feel that it is most responsible for me to point out the reason why a link from my site to yours may disappear, rather than to remove it. This way, I can maintain my courteous appearance more honestly.
Now, I mentioned that, specifically, I’m no longer reading personal blogs, but before you yell, “I’m reading your blog, and your blog is personal!” realize that my blog is not exclusively personal. There are topics that I write about (and attempt to write about most often) that are of interest to a number of people, so I am not worried if people do not read my personal entries, because those entries are useless. The entries which are of interest to people — the entries that give something (usually information) to the reader — are the main focus of this blog, and the personal part is just a side dish for anyone interested in learning more about the author and his day-to-day life.
This is also the reason why I’ve stopped reading some extremely popular blogs such as Binary Bonsai, Jason Kottke, and Airbag Industries — sites that, evidently, a large number of people find most gratifying. I’ve tried to understand the worthfulness of the content of sites like these by reading them often, but have found no interest in what they have to offer, since these sites rarely address topics that are interesting to me. Over these blogs, I prefer more straight-forward and insightful sites, such as 456 Berea St. and Signal vs. Noise.
These role-models are what Slightly Remarkable is shaped after, and my zero-tolerance for hipocracy policy is a forthward step in making this site more informational and useful to those interested in the topics addressed herein.
Now, to evoke some reader response (assuming I’ve not scared you all away at this point). What do you think of my newly established policy? Do you courtesy link? Why or why not?
I’m interested in reading a wide variety of material, however sites that contain no personal entries can get a bit dry. Talking about the technologies behind sites is all well and good, but sometimes I don’t want to learn something new, sometimes I just want to read and perhaps gain some insight as to the writers personality.
I also only link to sites that I read, there are only 6 of them, one of them isn’t even a blog, but I check it every so often all the same. I think I could do with a few more links, though preferably not to webdev only sites, I’ll have to have a scout around for some.
November 24th, 2005 at 2:01 pm
I prune mine now and then. I started with a common grouping and have explored those blogs and sites since. Some I keep because they have a nice mix of interesting content and educational material. Others I have removed because the content always seem to be about some silly thing. They have lots of readers, and get tons of comments (about the most mundane things), but don’t seem to offer any depth. Maybe at one time the content was different which is maybe why they got popular in the first place.
November 25th, 2005 at 1:20 pm