Changes are good, right?
First off, I changed to a different template, because I'd messed up the other one so much trying to make it do what I wanted, and failing. This one doesn't do everything I want, but I'm liking it OK. Comments welcome.
I also added a thingy over there on the right, underneath the archives, that is a widget I agreed to beta-test. It's that AutoRoll box, and you can learn more about it at their website. Maybe it's totally bogus, but we'll see, I guess. It accumulates links based on the other sites that my visitors visit, and ranks them according to how frequent the visits are. Or something. I have it set to only display one link at a time, until it accumulates a little more data. It will only ever list other AutoRoll members, though, so I guess it's one of those "join us" type deals.
And another thing is I'm still on the fence about having a blogroll. I got kind of soured on the whole idea back during a recent skirmish in the ongoing feminist wars, where some bloggers didn't want to be on the same blogroll as other bloggers, and then I lost the password to my blogrolling account, so it was a major pain in the ass to keep up with that kind of thing, as well as with keeping links up-to-date and adding new stuff, etc. And then there's been some discussion about blog rankings, and how they're based on links and how it's all just a big old popularity contest out there, plus I know that ad revenue depends on rankings and links and so on. And ad revenue is important to a lot of folks. So I don't know what I'm gonna do about it.
I'm certainly not going to police the blogs I link to in order to make sure that I agree with everything they say and that they're all getting along with each other. And if people want to de-link to me on account of my potty mouth or my occasional patriarchy-blaming or they don't like my recipes, that's cool. I don't have any ads, and won't be adding them any time soon. It's not like this is a really high-traffic site anyway. In fact, I accidentally deleted my site counter a while back (like, sometime in December, apparently) and just noticed that it was gone a couple days ago when I checked to see if there'd been any amusing search strings lately. There hadn't.
And the last thing is that a couple people have asked me lately where's my tip jar and whether they could advertise something or another on my blog. There is no tip jar, and no, I won't advertise your products. I also don't want review copies of books or CDs. If you feel I should be showered with gifts, my wish list at amazon.com might help you choose something.
Labels:
grumpy,
technical details
2 comments:
purty! I'll take yer review copies.
I think your site looks very nice. Of course, I have a new computer with a new (used) monitor, so everybody's site suddenly looks very nice, and because I'm not using Windows '98 anymore, I can actually load whole pages with photos and widgets and everything within my lifetime now. Yay.
The blogroll situation you report is depressing. People telling other people whom to put in their blogrolls -- bah, I can't think of a nice way to express what I think of this type of behavior.
Here's what I do, which I'm only telling you in case you find it useful/helpful/generally supportive of you doing your own thing: I have two lists of external links on my not especially well known blog. On one side, I keep a list of resources for amputees, including everything from support groups to natural food and nutrition stores. On the other side, I have a list of blogs I enjoy reading. I do not use any automatic, cookie-generating blogrolling service. Both are lists I have compiled myself, that I maintain myself, and about which I take absolutely no crap from anyone.
You can't pay to get on the resource list; I have to genuinely like your product, and I ensure my own honesty by not taking any kind of remuneration for my blogging. Similarly, you can't get on my "good reads" list by asking or by linking to my site. You have to write coherently and engagingly, and I have to be interested in what you have to say. Period. To get on this list, you don't have to agree with me about politics, you don't have to have a lifestyle I understand, and you don't have to constantly police every word that falls from your keyboard on the off-chance it might offend someone. I understand that we are all evolving. I respect the process of other people's evolution, and enjoy watching it, and if you write well about it or at least show me something beautiful or hilarious or diverting while you experience it, I will be thrilled to put you on the list.
(Naturally, I don't mean you personally, Alphabitch. You made the list a long time ago.)
I think if more people did this, just put what they like on their own blogs and let other people do the same without bullying or other nonsense, the blogosphere would be a much nicer place. Not everyone's here to make nice though, I realize.
That rant over, I recently came across two sites I think you'd enjoy, if you aren't already doing so:
1. 025.431: The Dewey blog -- "Everything you always wanted to know about the Dewey Decimal Classification® system but were afraid to ask..."
2. From Francis Strand's beautiful blog "How to learn Swedish in 1000 difficult lessons," Literature-Map,, "the tourist map of literature."
Enjoy!
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