how do you read?

a dear friend and i were chatting on the phone today and we were talking (natch) about blogging and blog rolls. a while back, forgive me for not searching, i posted a question about how important it is to be on one's blogroll. i am reposting this question:

(1) how important is it to see your name on someone's blogroll?
(2) are you offended if you are not on someone's that you feel a kinship with?
(3) if you are not and once were, would you stop reading that particular person's blog?
(4) how do you visit your favorite blogs? via blogrolls or bloglines?

i'll be the first one brave enough to answer -

(1) not so important
(2) offended is too strong. there is a blogger i read on a pretty fairly consistent basis whose blogroll i was never on. i often commented but he never responded (sort of how i can be if i am pressed for time) so i felt nothing i ever said resonated with him. until one day he emailed me and called me "sister." i just noticed a short while ago, i am on his blogroll now, and it's pretty cool, but it didn't stop me from reading or responding to something he wrote.
(4) i am a blogliner, all the way. which is a bit unfortunate, b/c if someone makes great changes to their blog, i won't know unless they say "hey, i made great changes to my blog, take a look!!" so yeah, that's me.

i would clean up my blogroll, but i don't want to offend anyone i haven't read in a while to think they are not my pallies any longer. i keep up with most through bloglines and am always a bit shocked to see what has happened to my blogroll blogs when they switch domain names. ooofah.

(spring cleaning??)

9 comments:

Laura H. said...

1. Nope. It's just always an honor when I am... a nice surprise, if you will.

2. I'm with you: offended is too strong. It makes me question whether or not it's mutual..

3. NO! Not at all... I only read blogs I like and my status (or yours) on their blog wouldn't keep me from reading.

4. I have all of my favorite blogs in a bookmark drop-down. (And no, not all of the blogs in my blogroll are in that drop-down.)


There ya are. :)

Rodney Olsen said...

(1) how important is it to see your name on someone's blogroll?

It's important in as much as it means that someone cares enough about what I have to say that they want to let others know about it.

(2) are you offended if you are not on someone's that you feel a kinship with?

I wouldn't say offended but I do wonder at times why some bloggers who I interact with on a semi-regular basis choose not to add me. I guess my blog just doesn't fit into their idea of a great blog or maybe they don't update their blogrolll very often.

(3) if you are not and once were, would you stop reading that particular person's blog?

It'd make me wonder if I did something to offend them but I'd keep reading them. There are a lot of other blogs around and if someone chose not to read or link to mine anymore I can live with that.

(4) how do you visit your favorite blogs? via blogrolls or bloglines?

Bloglines. I keep up with around 170 feeds including blogs and news through Bloglines.

Erin said...

Since I started using bloglines, I have no idea if I'm on someone's blogroll or not. I wouldn't know if someone put me on or took me off, so it hasn't much affect on me.

The unfortunate part of using bloglines is that I find (in general) that I comment less than I used to. I'm trying to break myself of that habit!

And I'm very, very slow in updating my own blogroll. Sorry. And I tend not to take blogs off, because I don't want to offend. I just keep adding blogs to the blogroll, and taking them off bloglines where no one else sees. Cowardly, but honest.

Anonymous said...

I enjoy being on someone's blogroll, but I don't get all angry or upset if I'm not. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised to find a new referrer in my web stats and find someone enjoys my writing enough to recommend me.

If I'm taken off, I'm not upset either, and I'll continue to read weblogs I enjoy, regardless of my blogroll status.

I don't "trade links". If you like me, blogroll me. If I like you, I'll blogroll you. That's it.

Anonymous said...

(1) how important is it to see your name on someone's blogroll? Not important to see myself on them, unless I saw myself on, then off again. That hurts my feelings 'cause bottom line is I don't know why they took me off or even why them put me on.

(2) are you offended if you are not on someone's that you feel a kinship with? Not offended, curious, but generally I figure they just haven't updated -- although if time goes on and I'm still not on their blogroll, then I'm hurt -- 'course, I'm presuming "feel a kinship with" means that I've been commenting back and forth with them about stuff.

(3) if you are not and once were, would you stop reading that particular person's blog? Not on purpose..I mean, not to be spiteful...but I do try to visit/read the blogs of those blogs who reciprocate with me first before I circulate to "the outer limits". I have so many to read and not enough time to read and comment.
(4) how do you visit your favorite blogs? via blogrolls or bloglines? Via my blogroll. I like seeing the blogs. I get ideas from their designs and also most of them don't have the full post in bloglines. I check both bloglines AND my blogroll though -- but mostly my blogroll. That's what it's for: me. No one else uses it, I presume.

Anonymous said...

1. it's always surprising when someone adds me. it's nice. but it is not a mandate, just as it isn't a mandate for me, so if it happens, it happens.
2. nope, not one bit. kinship is not always shared by the other kin. :)
3. i stop reading when people stop writing, and even then I still stop by to check on them. witness my worry for biblemike, who was gone for a year.
4.i use feedblitz. or i just visit via my own blogroll. or sometimes i read other people's bloglines and find great new stuff! :)

Just so you know M2, you live on my blogroll...because often you sound a lot like MMMe. :)

Tim said...

1) I like to be another's blogroll. Especially if I've posted to their site a few times and if they've posted on mine.

2) Not offended, dejected maybe....

3) No, just go on feeling dejected.

4)Blogrolls- haven't mastered the art of bloglines. Tried it once but nothing happened. I am an intuitive, I need things to work for me without a lot of studying up. Which service is most user-friendly?

Thanks for putting me on your blogroll....

Unknown said...

1 - doesn't matter at all
2 - nope; not everyone maintains their blogroll timely, or they put it together initially and never update it. no biggie.
3 - not at all
4 - I go through my favorites, or down the blogroll links from my own blog. I've tried using various blog-readers, but I like to see what the blogs look like.

Kiwi Nomad said...

I read quite a few Catholic blogs, but I wouldn't expect them to put me on their blogroll. Who knows, if I knew the 'rules' I might well find I was a 'heretic'. I don't keep a very long list on my blog itself: mainly I use a favourites list on my bookmarks.