Blogrolling In Our Time

It was pretty clear at last week's WNBC Blogger Shrimp-o-rama that the vision mainstream media has of bloggers isn't so much the pajama-clad loser of legend as the young, universally attractive, six-pack-abbed, huge pneumatic hootered boyz & grrls of MySpace and Facebook.

That's why it's such a shame that lately some of the most Alpha of the Alpha Dogs of progressive blogtopia have succumbed to the time-honored tactic of Kool Kids Klubs everywhere -- deciding who will be allowed to stay and who will be kicked out of their Klub.

Marc Maron has talked on the air and in his stand-up act about how having a MySpace page has reinforced the old anxiety of judging himself based on how many friends he has -- something I admit to doing on the rare occasions when I start realizing that someone in my life simply uses people for selfish purposes and wonder whether it's worth it. And it's easy to do the same thing with blogrolling.

There was a time, I'm ashamed to say, when my blog ambition was to be included on Atrios' blogroll. That's one of those admissions that are akin to showing people your old prom picture -- you shake your head and wonder, "What was I thinking?" Here I am, at the computer by 6:30 AM, trying to get up to speed on what happened in the world while I slept and still get to work on time, and my ambition in life is to get listed on a blog the last five entries of which are either one line long, a short quote from somewhere else, or an open thread? Oh, sure, Atrios appears on the Sam Seder Show, and for some reason people like to comment at Eschaton even when there's no post to speak of. But the reason I'm leading in with Atrios is that he decided this week to update his blogroll to only include blogs he actually reads:

As I wrote earlier, one of the big complaints by new bloggers is that it's impossible to get onto blogrolls because established bloggers tend not to add them. They're right. A big reason for that is that everyone feels a wee bit guilty about removing blogs from their blogroll, so they're hesitant to add new ones to an ever-expanding list.

I long ago decided that my blogroll should consist of blogs I read. I want to grow it again naturally, adding blogs I find myself wanting to read on a regular basis.

This is not an opportunity for people to send me an email saying "please check out my blog!" That's the worst way to get someone to check out your blog. There's nothing wrong with the fine art of blogwhoring, but it is a fine art. If you have something specific on your blog you think I might be interested in send me that.

Now I'm not laboring under any illusions that this modest little blog of a mere 2-1/2 years of age, written by a middle-aged, female Cold Fusion developer from Jersey who thinks she's Web-literate, is going to make the cut. I've never been part of any Kool Kidz Klub (unless you want to count the Cinemarati), and I'm not about to start lurking around the edges of the Heathers in my second half-century (unless going to Yearly Kos counts).

But this business about alpha dogs updating their blogrolls is getting contagious. The esteemed and highly entertaining Skippy, who boasts an honor that neither Atrios nor Kos has achieved -- mention on The Daily Show, and who honors US by being kind enough to link to us, seems to have been eliminated from the blogrolls at both Eschaton AND Daily Kos. Now if SKIPPY, who has been featured on CNN and Comedy Central, doesn't pass Alpha Dog Muster, then what on earth does that mean to the rest of us?

I'm not saying that ALL of the Alpha Dogs are snobs. Digby, who is the rare blogger whose reputation really IS based upon the quality and insights of the writing rather than which politicians she gets to schmooze with, linked to our Brilliant 20 of 2007 list. Watertiger, who occasionally posts the "Face the Snark" series at Firedoglake, also links here when the occasion warrants. To those bloggers, along with others like ShakesSis whose work I respect and I admire, I say a heartfelt "Thank you."

But since we aren't all well-connected people with unlimited time to devote to our blogs and to expand our influence, I think it's high time the rest of us showed some solidarity and mutual support. I'm always on the lookout for blogs to add to my blogroll, and while being blogrolled at B@B doesn't have the prestige (or the traffic-driving potential) of the Big Boys, I hope that at least some of our readers have found new and fun places to hang out as a result of our carefully-culled blogroll. Yes, we do include some of the Big Boys, because often they are a starting point for finding out what's going on. But just as free air time wouldn't mean a hill of beans (so to speak) to Taco Bell but it might to Tinga, I think we lesser lights of Blogtopia (® Skippy, not ANY of the Alpha Dogs) should support each other's efforts. Because we're #2. And we try harder.

UPDATE: Once again, Great Minds Think Alike. Spiidey has pretty much the same reaction.