To Blogroll or Not To Blogroll?

Like Lauren, I read this post of Shelly's a few weeks ago and have been thinking about getting rid of my blogroll.

I hardly use mine anymore, preferring instead to use RSS readers. The only thing keeping me from dumping it is my belief that some readers may be using my blogroll to surf and discover new blogs. However, lacking any empirical evidence to support this notion, I feel my theory may be without merit.

Therefore, I'm soliciting feedback.

Comments

[PSoTD]

I think there are some seriously good reasons for people to retain a visible blogroll on their blog:

There are the occasional link-thrus from blogrolls from site visitors, but that shouldn't be considered the main reason.

There's a billboarding impact for blogs. If I see the same "new to me" blog on multiple blogrolls of sites I visit, I'm much more inclined to find and visit that site.

There is the link advantage. Google and other search engines use a formula that includes the quality and quantity of links to help determine the output of searches. In theory, if bloggers start removing blogrolls, then blogs will lose that link value.

Some blogrolls show which blogs have been most recently updated. VERY valuable to me as a visitor to a blog, such as Suburban Guerrilla - I'll look for blogs I don't have blogrolled that have updates to see what I'm missing and whether I should add it to my bloglines roll (for personal viewing).

There's no doubt, the original value for visible blogrolls has diminished, but there are many other reasons to retain them.

[Amanda]

My blogroll is, like James Wolcott said, a sacred trust. I read those blogs everyday. But I also keep it short on purpose. It kills me to have to shoot down more requests for blogrolling for that reason, but since mine is short, people are more likely to use it as a resource.

[PSoTD]

A couple of comments about the original article. I agree with the point about the "Top 100" and "what's hot" and all that - they are hurting the individual voices and outlooks. And here's another one to add to the pile - Memeorandum. This kind of site give incentives for bloggers to write about the most popular stories of the day, because if they get selected as a link for such a story, it delivers traffic and visibility. And some bloggers then center their writing about a Christopher Hitchens article or "When Columnists Cry 'Jihad'" piece, rather than looking for what interests them.

Web-published blogrolls will eventually become irrelevant because people won't use them to visit sites. I think Amanda's point about the "sacred trust" is a good one.

[Elisson]

PSoTD makes several excellent points.

I discovered most of the blogs I read regularly by seeing what was on the blogrolls of blogs I liked. If you keep seeing a certain blog's name frequently, it's usually for a reason. That, plus comments, is how people discover other blogs.

The issue of links is also important, for the reasons PSoTD points out.

I use the Bloglines RSS aggregator to keep up with my blogroll, so many of those sites may not see many visits from me...but they have the subscription stats and the comments I'll lob in.

My recommendation is to keep the roll.

[C.B.]

I don't know about all RSS feeders, but the one I use (bloglines) will make a sort of blogroll-type thing for your site.

I think that blogrolls are useful for both the site owner--who you link to says a lot about you!--and to the readers. Um, as long as the blogroll is current.

[michele]

I made my blogroll private because I just couldn't take any more emails asking to be added on or wondering why a certain blog wasn't on the list. I had people send me emails claiming that their lack of presence on my blogroll was keeping them out of Technorati, Ecosystem and other ranking lists. I don't have what it takes to respond to people and tell them "you're not on my blogroll because I think your blog sucks." So I'd just add them on out of guilt. To make it easier on myself, I just took it off the site.

[C.B.]

Michelle,
You're under no obligation to be polite to people who demand that you add them to your 'roll. According to Emily Post,
"the proper response to a demand to be linked is a simple "piss off". No more than two exclamation points are needed."

[PZ Myers]

Keep it. I don't use mine as a starting point for browsing anymore, either -- I read 'em all through the newsreader -- but it is an acknowledgment that there are all these other people who are informing your opinion.

I think it is a kind of 'sacred trust', but part of that is the responsibility to keep it current. I do a weekly flush and update on mine, which, fortunately, my newsreader makes fairly easy. A static blogroll is not a good thing.

[Terry]

All the blogs I currently read I discovered on other people's blog rolls. They're a great browsing resource.

[Idyllopus]

I slowly make my way through the blogrolls of the sites that I religiously visit, and via them and who they link I get to some unexpected, great places.

[Rich]

I posted this at Feministe, and it's shameless self promotion, but I've written a fairly lengthy article that addresses the question of blogrolls (among others):

http://adonismirror.com/05022005_leader_killyourblogs.htm

[norbizness]

As long as you keep Charles Nelson Reilly's blog, it's all good.

However, I do think that you should tweak the color of the logo you graciously designed for me so that it shows up a little better. I mean, I could change the overall template, but that would be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

[Mark Gisleson]

My blogroll is my backup in case Bloglines goes down, and Blogbridge and Newsfire both break at the same time. But mostly it's my list of Norwegianity-approved blogs. Every day I attract a few new readers who are new to the blog thing, and I think that for them the blogroll is essential. Also, it's a matter of letting about 200 people know that I respect them and the work they do in posting a daily blog. I think the blogroll is an integral part of blogging and I'd never get rid of mine. Rare is the week when I don't add at least one blog to it.

[Screwy Hoolie]

I use others' blogrolls to discover new places, and with the exponential growth of the blogosphere, blogrolls will become the only way to find your way to the quality sites.

I've been cutting mine into segments, so readers can navigate the roll, rather than just having a list that's hundreds of titles long.

Long live the Blogroll!

[folkbum]

My blogroll is primarily my list of daily reads. For a long time, I just linked everything and everyone, but that became unwieldy fast. I think just linking what I like and what I read is more honest than linking everything--especially since sometimes I feel that some bloggers link to some other bloggers just to look cool.

Another strong reason for blogrolls, which I haven't seen mentioned, is building community. You get groups like the "Liberal Coalition" or "The Progressive Blog Alliance" or somesuch designed to build relationships and connections among people who might otherwise not be reading each other. Plus, I have been building (sloooooowly) a local bloggers section of my blogroll, trying to link to most people of my political persuasion in my state and and some of the least offensive on the other side, plus links to local media outlets, trying to build a bit of local blog community-ness.

I don't currently use an RSS feeder, and if I did, I can't say for certain that I would drop the blogroll or not, or how much, if not all of it.

[nina]

I never would have discovered so many great blogs, including this one, if it weren't for someone else's blogroll. Don't take it down!

[Bruce Arthurs]

I've found some interesting sites thru the links in your blogroll.

I think there's probably an effective limit for how long a blogroll can be, though. Over fifty, I'd make a guess, and one starts to get a MEGO effect. This can be helped by breaking the blogroll into subcategories.

[mr.pepys]

Dont take the blogrolls down. Without them, we the unenlightened and pressed-for-time would have no way to see who else to read!

[Travis]

Pretty much all the blogs I read have come off of either your blogroll or someone whose site I was visiting from here.

I try to keep adding and adding to mine as a way to remind myself to keep expanding my horizons and sources.

I should actually have taken the time before now to say thanks for the list of great resources and blogs. Keep up the great work.

[Amanda]

Fred at Stone Court pointed out that a lot of people relied on the blogroll at Mouse Words for recommendations. MW still gets 700 hits a day, mostly from people using my blogroll. I still use MW's blogroll sometimes, too.

That or they are gazing on my lovely visage. I'm torn between which I prefer.

[Jami]

Absolutely! I just used blogrolls yesterday to create my own RSS feed list. Additionally, whatever Google's algorithm is for picking up important websites, I'm pretty sure it depends on the number of times a site is linked. You bet your bottom dollar every rightie numbskull with a laptop is linking NewsMax. We lefties need each other.

(Shyly...) You're in my blogroll, Rox.

[alphabitch]

I like going through others' blogrolls, and I try to keep mine more or less up to date with what I'm really reading (and especially what I'm quoting from). I think mandatory reciprocal blogrolling or whatever you want to call it, is kind of silly & I don't especially care if people put me on their lists, as alphabitch is still fairly new & I don't post every day (though I admit it is still kind of a thrill to go somewhere and find that someone has linked to me). I don't link to folks hoping they'll link to me, but to direct others (especially the non-bloggers and non-regulars that I know are out there reading) to the information I find interesting or amusing.

[dr. b.]

I was my RSS reader to create my blogroll so I don't have to update it and I think that it gives my readers to see what blogs I am reading and what might be influencing my thoughts. Keep the blogroll :-)

[carla]

Your blogroll is how I managed to find the really great women writers I've come across.

I personally think it's a great thing..promoting all these folks.

Besides...I like coming here and seeing my blog listed. It makes me smile.

Is that sappy or what?

[Darryl Pearce]

...without you, I would not have found Shakespeare's Sister.

...and right now I'm still ignorant enough not to know what an RSS Feed is, although I could "google" easy it enough.