Link Policy

Links are one of the currencies of the internet, and regardless of whether articulated or not most people have some sort of perspective on how links should be distributed. Many sites have hundreds of outgoing links–veritable stacks of categorized blogrolls–while other sites carefully jockey their page-ranking to work out “link-exchanges” with complimentary sites that have a similar or better rank. You’ll find others who link to all their favorite sites, including huge sites that everyone knows about.

My policy so far has fit none of the molds above, and was bordering on complete incoherency. I have never liked the idea of having a huge blogroll, because the truly important links tend to get lost in the crowd. I also don’t like linking to large sites that everyone already knows about. The end result, then, for me was that I ended up with a small hodge-podge of links, some there for sentimental reasons (i.e. I know this person and like them, even though their blog is infrequently updated or lacks good content), some there due to ill-logical feelings of obligation (i.e. this person links to me and they don’t have to, so I should repay the link-love). Finally, a few of the blogs I linked to were solid, consistent blogs that fit the vein that my blog had found itself in more often than not. That last characteristic is one that I want to favor more heavily, so with that in mind I announce my first ever articulated Link Policy.

Sites linked to from the “Links” section must have the following characteristics: a) Updated consistently, b) quality writing/thoughtful analysis c) not considered a mainline blog (i.e. an industry favorite like Engadget or Lifehacker) d) finally, I have to like the blogs I link to and feel that they present my readers with worthwhile and relevant content.

This is a bit of sea-change for me, so my links may not totally reflect the ideal above right from the get go, but I did make several changes last night and I will continue to be proactive in this regard. I do believe that this change will benefit my readers and will benefit this blog and the plan is to pare down and refine links on a (hopefully) regular basis (perhaps bi-monthy?). Feel free to pass along links to me that you feel may meet the criteria above. If you have any thoughts or suggestions drop me a line or leave a comment.

In Summary: links here are limited, and to get one of them you have to write fairly well, fairly often, and have content that is relevant to readers of this blog. In addition, I have to like your blog.