Randominity

- Ok, did I finally come up with a version of "random" that hasn't already been done?

- Why, oh why did I do NaBloPoMo? If I still have my other gig, please let me know that I am a complete idiot if I try again. And, although the Ning site was very cool with all the groups and networking and whatnot, I had no time to participate. Boo!

- Question of the Day: Why do some bloggers (i.e. the more well-known ones) treat links like they are some sort of golden coin to only be handed out once a year? I got to thinking about Dooce and how many damn people link to her, and does she even have a reciprocal blogroll? I mean, why do people link to someone who will never, ever link to them, and most certainly will never, ever read their blog? Is it like high school where people just want to associate themselves with the popular kids? And why are some of them so popular anyway? I happen to think a lot of them are not that great, and it isn't just sour grapes.

- All right, I am calm now.

- Never mind getting toys for Mr. P over here, for two days he has been enamored of a cardboard box a bit smaller than a shoebox. He has turned it into a "raisin/marble dispenser" whatever the hell that is, and has spent hours modifying it to his exact specifications. I think I've got an architect on my hands.

- And the boy? Apparently he can effortlessly throw spiral football passes. My dad, BIL, and Hubba-hubba are already planning his career in pro football.

- Finally, I am SO taking this weekend off, people.

Comments

Anvilcloud said…
I gave up on the blogroll a while back. I simply didn't want to keep adding newcomers and deleting dropouts. But I do pay reciprocal visits. Seriously, I don't know why some people get to be such a big deal. Just peeked at her blog, and what can I say?
Cherry said…
Just today I changed my blogroll entry for Dooce, and changed it to Heather to match with my little naming convention because I had left it as Dooce so people would know who it was. And I had the same question you are asking today.... why do I have her and Maggie on here?
- Are they there so people know who I read so we can possibly connect on that commonality?
- Are they there because I am a little star struck and it's the cool thing to do?

I keep up the blogroll to do a little advertising for the people's sites I enjoy or want to support, and to let those people know I support them.

So I guess my reason is.... YES, I want to look like one of the cool kids. Must you call out my low self-esteem so publicly?

Clearly I am thinking about the world of blogging too much right now and have been too engrossed by NaBloPoMo and need to go lay down.

Have a great weekend full of cardboard and perfectly thrown spirals!
Laura said…
I have never been to that blog, although I have heard people talk about it a lot of times. In the beginning I spent a lot of time surfing the blogrolls of others and rooting out those I enjoyed reading and adding them to my own. I also reciprocate when someone blogrolls me. I do think it is a "cool kids in high school" table thing a lot of the time. There are a couple of bloggers that I refuse to visit based on that premise...which is kind of like the nerdy girl,"I don't care, I'll ignore them" response, I suppose. I have found my 10-20 favorites and I visit them daily, for the most part, along with those I've gotten to "know" through their wonderful and caring responses to me. Blogging (and this makes me lame) has been my one escape when the pain crashes through. I am sorry, Gina for taking up so much comment space. This isn't blowing smoke and/or kissing butt but you have been so wonderful to me and I appreciate the support you have given.
Megs said…
I link to Dooce because I like Dooce, just like I link to you because I like you. It's an awesome added bonus that you link back, but I don't expect reciprocal links in the blogging world. My blogroll is half for my own benefit (easy navigating) and half for my readers who, if they like me, may like what I like.
Sunshine said…
I don't read "big time" blogs and keep a blogroll of people I actually like reading. I do swap links with people because I have gotten emails from bloggers who are new and they are just trying to find their way in the blogosphere, so I'm happy to link them to get them a little start, it doesn't cost me anything but a few moments of time.
But otherwise, I don't read the big timers, there's enough other reading material and I guess I haven't found a "popular" blogger who I find all that appealing anyway. I read Dooce a couple times too and I guess I just don't get it. Maybe I would be more impressed if I'd been reading when she used to be crazy or whatever the deal was.
Awesome Mom said…
If I really like a blog I link to it with no thought to getting a link back. My blog roll is a list of my super favorite blogs and not even close to the number that I read.
Liz said…
My blog roll is small and exclusive. Labeled "blogs we read" because they are ones we read every day, isn't accurate because I read lots more. It's just that I can't be bogged down by all the reciprocity. Besides, I don't have all that many readers so really, what difference does it make if they are on my blog roll?

I agree about Dooce though. I find her tiresome and full of herself. It irks me a bit that she had to make a big production of her re-design. I mean really, she went from small side bar ads to full on, in your face ads. Big deal. But that's how she makes her living now so she must be doing something right I suppose. Rant over.

By the way, don't take the whole weekend off...I finally wrote something that wasn't a caption to a picture!!
Anonymous said…
Don't sweat it babe. It's all good. And hey, my son used to carry around a SHOE and a jar of SAUCE for Christs sake. A box is fine :)

As for Dooce. I read her once. Didn't understand what the fuss was about. I prefer the real bloggers, the ones that you know read your comments and comment back. Like conversation, not a race to see who can comment first on a post. Blech.
Someone actually said to me today 'Don't become like Dooce' cause I *takes a bow* debuted in the top 200 Aussie blogs. I have read a lot of the bigger blogs in that list and they are all real people. That is what I want to read, real people.

Thus end the rant and I need to go to sleep. It is late here on the other side of the pond!

Kelley

http://magnetoboldtoo.wordpress.com
Hi Gina!!! I like a girl who speaks her mind! :)

My blogroll was created once...and I've not been very good at keeping up with it. When I find someone I really like, I add them to my Google Reader, but I sometimes forget to add them to my bloglist.

The dropouts -- I often forget about them, and thus don't delete them. It's hard to keep track of those. I only really delete the ones that I at first enjoyed, and then come to realize don't quite mesh with me and my own idiosyncracies.

I don't really read any of the 'biggies' either. I read Dooce ones or twice, but she didn't *floor* me the way others have. Like yourself! :)

Have a GREAT weekend.

Heidi
Patois42 said…
Enjoy the quiet weekend. Sleep in. Read. Oh, wait, you've got kids. Have fun!
Mrs. G. said…
I'm with Megs. My blogroll is more about having one spot to put all the people I like to visit. I'm certainly not Dooce, so I don't think my blogroll is going to change anybody's life.

I've posted before that I don't know how some bloggers pull in so many readers without expending any energy on communicating with them...never visiting or commenting on anyone else's site. I wonder if it isn't a strategic move to keep themselves scarce...like how Disney only lets certain movies be available during certain years...to keep the interest high. Hard to say. I'm new to the blog world.

Thanks for thirty days of wonderful posts. I so enjoy your blog.
Heidi said…
I tried to visit Dooce at work once an it was marked as 'porn' so the filter wouldn't let me visit!
I promise I am still planning on linking Teeny and blogrolling the site! Have a fun weekend off, you deserve it1
Granny said…
My blogroll isn't exactly reciprocal because so many people don't have blogrolls.

The rule? If I receive a second comment (or sometimes even one), you're there once I work up the ambition to do it.

Dooce was on my blogroll when I first started the blog along with a couple of other "famous" bloggers. No offense to her but I removed her. My blogroll is composed of my online friends.

Having said that, I'd better double check and make sure you're there (lol).

I do try to respond to comments and visit most of the blogs although sometimes I find myself behind once again. Like now.
J said…
I don't use an RSS feed or anything to read blogs...I click over to them from my blogroll. So for me, it's my bookmarks to the ones I go to often. Sometimes I pull someone, or put in someone new, but I try to keep the size manageable.
Nance said…
Ditto what Megs said. Except for the fact that I don't link to Dooce although I find her writing engaging and funny. I wander over there every once in a while to read, but she's become so commercial and such a corporation that it's a turnoff. Also, she's too one-note for me, i.e., all about her daughter. I'm just not interested in that stage of life anymore now that I'm not in it.
dgm said…
My blogroll is infrequently updated, but I basically list blogs I read frequently. I never expect people to link back to me (it's nice if they do) and I've never really understood that mentality (not to offend here). In the real space, if a total stranger said, "I like your [x] and I'll tell other people about it if you tell them about mine," that would be ... strange, no? I would think it would dilute one's credibility to trumpet the site of everyone who trumpets their site. I'm not saying it's wrong; I'm just saying I don't get it.

As for Dooce, I go through spurts where I read her fairly regularly despite the fact that she's popular. It has nothing to do with wanting her or any of the popular kids to know that I link to her. I don't spend any time even thinking about whether others will think I 'm cool if I link to certain people. I don't need for anyone to think I'm cool. I think Heather has some writing skillz even thought I'm not always interested in (or don't always agree with) whatever it is she's writing about.

Concerning more important matters, whenever we get any cardboard box my kids will try to climb into it and sleep there. We've currently got a huge one stuffed with pillows in our family room after a run to the furniture store.

It's the little things...
Enjoy your R&R
Bammy said…
What the heck IS a dooce? Am i the only one who has not even heard of it?
My blogroll is for those people I read.. just cause i like em.. and its easier for me to link from my blog than to have them all in my favorites or something.. ehh Im just lazy...
Bammy said…
ok.. so I went and found a blogroll that had a dooce on it.. and i read it.. and I am thinkin.. thats like 5 minutes of my life i will never get back.. and I am slightly pissed about it.. ya know.. sorry if i hurt anyones feelings..
karla said…
I'm terrible about keeping up my link list, but I prefer to link to blogs that I like. I think it depends on your intent, too. Some people link for relationships, some people link to sites they enjoy reading. No strings attached.

I don't pay too much attention to reciprocal links. If someone links to me, great! If not, I'm not going to worry about it.

I used to try and comment on everyone's site who left a comment on mine, but that became very overwhelming. And then blogging wasn't fun anymore. I've found that letting commenting go by the wayside a bit has taken a huge pressure off blogging and it hasn't affected my readership at all.

Now, I write purely for the enjoyment of writing.
dr sardonicus said…
My blogroll is simply various sites I like to read, and since I read all kinds of different stuff, it looks like it's all over the place. Also, I don't like to keep a lot of bookmarks on the machine at work, as that would draw suspicion from the powers that be. I don't worry about reciprocal links. Kos and Atrios are never going to link back to me. I do tend to pay a bit more attention to those who have blogrolled me in return, though. Some people use their blogroll as a means of giving out rewards and punishments, but I can't see that.
Heather Plett said…
I was going to throw a piece of cardboard from Maddie's room into the garbage and she protested "that's not a piece of cardboard! That's a spaceship for Joe Banana!"

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