I've cleaned up the PA Poliblog roll. Weeded out those on "hiatus". If your PA Poliblog isn't on the list, let me know. I tried to leave comments or send emails to those that were deleted, asking them to let me know if/when they reactivate. But, some of you have turned off comments and don't list an email.
I never ask anyone that I put on my blogroll to reciprocate -- I figure that if they want to, fine, if not, so be it.
I've only asked two bloggers to put me on their blogrolls -- one because THEY asked readers to submit their blogs, the other because I am a big fan, fellow traveller, and we seem to overlap coverages. Both turned me down -- the first because they were fronting for a candidate I was bashing and they were too weak to take the hits. The other gave me an explanation that didn't really fit the facts, but that was their right and I just slunk away.
So, my rejection rate is about the same as it was in high school . . . . Having rejection issues, I don't ask. I'd say at least 75% of the blogs I keep on the roll don't list me. I'd love it if they did . . . . But the PA blogroll is intended to be a resource, not an endorsement. With one exception (the spineless blog), every PA poliblog I have come across is on the list. So I don't really see it as a quid pro quo thing.
Should I ask? Do you? Do you expect reciprocation?
I never ask anyone that I put on my blogroll to reciprocate -- I figure that if they want to, fine, if not, so be it.
I've only asked two bloggers to put me on their blogrolls -- one because THEY asked readers to submit their blogs, the other because I am a big fan, fellow traveller, and we seem to overlap coverages. Both turned me down -- the first because they were fronting for a candidate I was bashing and they were too weak to take the hits. The other gave me an explanation that didn't really fit the facts, but that was their right and I just slunk away.
So, my rejection rate is about the same as it was in high school . . . . Having rejection issues, I don't ask. I'd say at least 75% of the blogs I keep on the roll don't list me. I'd love it if they did . . . . But the PA blogroll is intended to be a resource, not an endorsement. With one exception (the spineless blog), every PA poliblog I have come across is on the list. So I don't really see it as a quid pro quo thing.
Should I ask? Do you? Do you expect reciprocation?
NOTE:
WE ARE MOVING!!! For now, the old Blogger address will bring you to the new location -- but that can change at any time. Please update your Blogroll, Links, and Bookmarks NOW:
4 comments:
Reciprocation is nice but not required. I don't list Republican blogs for any reason (except for GrassrootsPA which I see as more a news resource than blog).
I see a blogroll as a conveneince for the readers, it's also an endorsement from me that I like the blog. I just added a bunch of blogs that I enjoy and it's hat tip to them for doing good work.
I don't mind listing Republican blogs. Conversation and cross-talk came be fun and imformative.
When I started the blogroll, I only listed the blogs that I visited routinely (some of them were on the right). But then others started listing mine and I felt like it would only be fair to list theirs.
Then I noticed that, after they finished with whatever scraps I offered, many visitors were clicking off to other blogs.
So I began to try to list as many PA political blogs as I could. It took a while to find them all -- but I do think I have got all of them.
I try to get to all of them a couple of times a month, and it is interesting to see the varied takes on an issue, as well as the really well-done local blogs.
I've never outright asked -- maybe its a girly thing but I just wouldn't feel comfortable doing that. What I have done once or twice is email someone introducing myself and the blog. Then they can acknowledge the email without adding me or add me as they wish but no harm no foul. I've been asked to add someone to my blogroll about 5 times in over 2 years. Some I added some I didn't. One wrote a really nasty note back to me complaining about it. Some people have written to me just to let me know their blog was around, as I have done myself. Some I added some I didn't.
My blogroll is intentionally very small, primarily other blogs that cover the same geographic area I do, often with the same sort of coverage, event descriptions, campaign coverage, etc, and usually with the same laid back tone. Some have changed focus and I've kept them on as "legacies" assuming they'll go back once the next election season is upon us. One or two are on because we had worked together on a group online project and I kept them on as keepsakes, like one would keep a letter from a friend. If a blog is on my blogroll I read it regularly but there are many more I read regularly that I don't have on the blogroll. If something is "not safe for work" I tend to leave it off the blogroll but might read it myself.
Going by sitemeter stats being on my blogroll doesn't send much, if any, traffic someone's way, so the worth of the link is very questionable.
More than you wanted to know.
Thanks for the contribution, Jane. You've got more experience at this than I do, so I appreciate your insights.
I have received about a dozen or so requests to be added to the 'roll -- most of them since I began inviting PA poliblogs to alert me to their existence.
I read about 18 or so blogs on a regular basis, about half of them the PA ones and half on the other lists.
When the blogroll began, it was for my convienence -- just a gathering of daily reads in one place. This blog also began as a single issue one -- promoting Chuck Pennacchio over the lame alternatives offered.
But, when the Wall Street Journal picked it as one of the two blogs in PA to go to for senate race coverage, a few things happened.
The readership ballooned and, although it backed off directly after the election, it is still about three times what it was before the WSJ noticed.
Along with that, I noticed that people began checking out the links. So I began to expand the blogroll coverage.
After the election, I had to decide where to take this thing. I am trying to offer a mix of local, state and national stuff. Soon we hope to be adding contributors (applications welcome) to expand the coverage.
About two months ago, I decided to try to gather as many of the active PA poliblogs as I could, to that I added as many PA news sources as I could find. The idea was to serve as a resource list. I have compared my blogroll with those of the others on the list and, as far as currently active PA blogs go, I think I pretty much have all of them.
As a result, I have included quite a few on the blogroll which were not of the quality that would have placed them on the 'roll before.
Next up, to segregate the blogs & newspapers by region. But that is a massive project, for someone with a real job at least. I suppose and even more useful breakout would be to list the blogs by subject matter -- local, state, fed, etc. -- and by leanings. But the matrix is a little too complicated to work out for my pea sized brain right now.
Thanks, again, for playing, Jane.
Post a Comment