Sunday, February 3, 2008

Blogroll Amnesty Day


While reading through some of the blogs I've subscribed to through Bloglines, I came across this interesting post by Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata of Scienceblogs.

Now I'm subscribed to more than 200 different blogs and often scan through what others are saying, with more than half of them MS-related. I've also created a huge blogroll as an attempt to organize sources for myself and for readers who stumble across Brass and Ivory.

Until today, I was unaware of the now famous Blogroll Amnesty Day story as retold here by Jon Swift.

"The idea that links are the capital of the blogosphere seems so obvious that you would think an economist like Atrios of Eschaton would have realized it long ago. And as he is a progressive who has accumulated quite a bit of link wealth, you might also think he would be in favor of redistributing some of that wealth instead of just letting it trickle down. So when he announced last year that he was declaring February 3 Blogroll Amnesty Day, and other bloggers followed suit, I assumed he meant that he was opening his blogroll up to the masses. I sent him a polite email pointing out that his blog was on my blogroll and I would really appreciate it if he would add my blog to his. I never heard back from him.

When February 3 rolled around, many bloggers discovered to their horror that instead of adding new blogs to his blogroll he was throwing many off, including some bloggers who were his longtime friends. Blogroll Amnesty Day, it turned out, was a very Orwellian concept. Instead of granting amnesty to others he was granting amnesty to himself not to feel bad for hurting others feelings. Though Atrios has stubbornly refused to acknowledge that he made a mistake, some bloggers who initially joined him, backtracked."

In addition to encouraging the 'small' bloggers to liberally blogroll their comrades in the blogosphere, I'd like to request any readers of Brass and Ivory to consider adding me to their blogroll.

I have only ever requested two 'big blog' patient bloggers to add me to their patient-focused blogrolls. One accommodated me (thank you Trisha) and one never responded.

So I will ask here: if you are someone with MS or if you discuss patient-related issues, I ask that you might add me to your blogroll. And I suggest that you might want to subscribe to my feed through Bloglines to keep up with the growing community here.

Thank you.

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11 comments:

  1. Hi Lisa, thanks so much for reading and linking! I hope that it was okay for me to add B&I to my blogroll.

    As a cancer researcher, I do a fair bit of posting on behalf of cancer patient advocacy groups. Please let me know if there are any MS-related issues that you might wish for me to publicize. I'm still a "small" blogger but we can all help.

    Thanks again!

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  2. i have thought a lot about how some folks have a large following and the secret is...

    talk about sex! just kidding.

    seriously...maybe at some point a newsletter or e-zine might be the way to go. stu's view's for example, has thousands of subscribers.

    also forums and on-line groups can attract hundreds of folk.

    i find that the people who are blogging about health topics...they are already doing pretty well with things in order to blog about it. the people to reach with information and support who generally need it the most are going to be in the forums and groups.

    i have lots more thoughts...i will write you.

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  3. MS MAZE has added you to the blogroll.

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  4. I thought I asked you, anywho you are on my blog roll. At one point I had blog links to other blogs I read, but I took that link down.

    I prefer to keep my blogroll MS related or people who live with chronic illness.

    When I do see that I am linked to others blog that I read I definitely link them back. I am always honored when I see my blog is linked on another blogger blog especially when they are not all MS'er :)

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  5. OMG! I've been writing (can it really be called that? It seems using the word "writing" sounds as though I can form sentences!) a blog for two years and have no CLUE what a blog roll is!! That's not something I'm going to stumble upon in the woods, is it?!?

    (I keep a link on the side bar of my blog with over 100 MS bloggers listed in it...I hope this is similar to what you are talking about)

    Linda D. in Seattle, Dumber than a post

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  6. Merelyme and others who are interested:
    I'm working on a post with sex as the topic....just in time for Valentine's Day don't you know. I will submit it to the carnival.
    S.

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  7. Brainchesse,I am more clueless than Professor Plum in my blog with a post! I have wanted to add some of your listed blogs to an "Event" I'm planning, from your blog roll..but didn't know if that was polite..?? Oh heck, I can't even spell cheese..sometimes words don't look right...oh H with it-you know who you are.

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  8. Linda, your list of now 109 MS blogs does indeed bring you much good blog karma (and yes I'd say it's like a blogroll.)

    Diane, I'm not exactly sure what you are asking, but I'd say that adding links to other MSers on your sidebar is an excellent thing to do, although I know that you do have such a list going.

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  9. I have not learned to understand how blogroll works LOL. But thanks for the update. :)

    Jim

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  10. My understanding is this - we can all add links to blogs we admire/read/visit on the sidebars of our own blogs in the way most readers here clearly understand.

    A blogroll is a third-party service whereby you list your links and then add a piece of code to your blog (like the code you get for your stats counter and other services). The blogroll will appear like magic and others can be invited to subscribe too.

    For what it's worth, I do the former not the latter. Anyone who visits me a few times and whose blog I admire, gets a link - and can always ask me if I forget. I have a separate list for MS bloggers.

    Blogging carries information around the world far better than smoke signals, carrier pigeons, telegrams, notes in bottles floating on the ocean, Air Mail, telephones and (even) emails ever did!

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  11. ooh...yay! I've been blogrolled. I consider those links on the sidebar which lead to your preferred blogs or resources to be a 'blogroll'. I don't really know much about third party services, unless we're talking about things like Google Reader or Bloglines. In any case, being generous with those sidebar links is a great way to further build an online community and give each blog listed a 'vote of confidence.'

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