Blogger Spam (Or is it?)
Category: Navel Gazing...
Posted Monday, June 30, 2003 at 01:04 PM [GMT-6]

If you're a blogger, it's possible that you received an email over the weekend from Kevin Aylward, proprietor of the blog called Wizbang. He was notifying folks of his new Movable Type site and new URL. He also asked email recipients to consider linking to his site.

I'm not sure how he got my address. It's especially odd that his message came to me at an email address not associated with my blog. I don't recall ever having visited Wizbang; he doesn't have the Gazette on his link list, nor do I have him on mine.

Note: I popped over to check out the site, and it is a nice new design. (Another blog topic possibility: the phenomenon of having professionally designed blog sites. Kevin's quick to point out that Joni Mueller at WebJones did the job, and her price list shows some very reasonable rates if you want a design to set your blog apart.) It's a table-free CSS design, so it takes some risks with older browsers, but it degrades well in them. I'm not wild about the link action (changing from plain to bold in the hover state; this is generally not recommended as it essentially requires a re-draw of the entire page) but that's a subjective call.

But that's not really the point of this post. I'm more concerned about a scenario in which this sort of activity becomes the norm for "administrative" announcements by blogs. With the number of blogs moving into the "millions" range, such activity has the potential to become a real burden. Imagine getting even scores (let alone hundreds) of emails each week announcing address or hosting or format changes... or requesting reciprocal links. [Well, I suppose some of you already experience this, due to the popularity of your offering... but it's a problem I certainly don't face!]

I don't and will never have a problem with people who read my blog and contact me directly to request a link. I do have a problem being part of a mass distribution list where such a request is made, and I'm not sure about the value to the blogosphere; that is, the value of blogrolls that are built upon blind reciprocity.

Boy, I just think it would be great if we let blogs do what they do best: alert us in an organic fashion of changes that merit our consideration or investigation. How does this work? When you make a change like Wizbang made, notify the folks who have you blogrolled. Those folks are already advocates of your site, or they wouldn't have br'd you. Many, if not most, will then actually post about that change (I've seen it happen already for the Wizbang announcement). Then let the viral marketing thing take over.

Whaddya think? Am I just overly sensitive? I'd really like to hear some additional opinions about this.