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Radio X with John and Whitters

Web Geeking
August 26th, 2008, 8:00 am
By John

I remember when I first opened up a website, a real website with it’s own web space and my own domain name. Not a hosted site, not a subdomain at a friend’s site, not a Geocities page.

My own f’n space.

I went to all the blogs I read, all the pages I liked, and I linked them. I didn’t want to do link exchanges, I just felt that I should link the pages of the things I like, good reading, good content, or something else that I liked.

Of course this lead to drama, with some of my friends who came to my site realized they weren’t linked. Tired of hearing “How can you link them but not me?” I created a separate section for friends. I kept my other section of stuff I liked.

Then other people I spoke with once or twice wanted to exchange links. At the time, I figured that if they wanted to link with me, they’ll send traffic, my site will grow, so why not? One link turned into four links, into ten links, and eventually into a separate links page where all my link exchanges were held, along with all the links to all the other sites I liked, my friends, and so on.

This lead to those on my friends links to ask why they were no longer on the front page. So I added a couple of links back, and then more drama, so a new layout and DAMN IT GO AWAY.

Eventually I realized I was caring more about the links than I was about the site, but I didn’t want to offend anyone, so I didn’t really know where I wanted to go with it.

I left.

When I came back, I chose a couple of sites that I liked, some entertainment sites, some fun game links, and some blogs that were still around that I still liked. The link list grew, the people I adored grew, and then I started seeing my links list grow to a point where… yeah.

I recently cleared out some links of people who never update their site, or that no longer interest me. I had gone through all the older links that I had originally taken down, to see if I should re-add them, and I found a lot of personal blog websites that have turned into faux-advertisement dumps. I don’t want to watch infomercials, so why would I go to your all-ad website?

I tried it for a bit (one entry) and realized that as a writer, it stole my soul. And if I didn’t like the product, how could I possibly endorse it?

So… how many of you actually read this whole thing?


Filed under Internet Garbage.
[ Comments: 7 ]

7 Responses to “Web Geeking”


  1. Mary
    Posted:
    Aug 26th, 2008
    9:07 am
    1

    I visit this website daily, mainly to read your entries, but from time to time I visit others on the blogroll. I enjoy surfing through the archives too :-)
    Hope all is well in your world!!
    oxox

  2. Stefanie
    Posted:
    Aug 26th, 2008
    7:50 pm
    2

    Luckily, I don’t have to deal with the drama of linking my friends. I only have one friend that maintains a website, and she doesn’t seem to care if I link to her or not, lol.

  3. Joey Michaels
    Posted:
    Aug 27th, 2008
    6:11 am
    3

    I read it and I come by here at least once a week, usually more, because I likey your writing, big boy.

  4. Mary
    Posted:
    Aug 27th, 2008
    12:53 pm
    4

    …uhm, i really want to make a site i think….no i dont. but i read this whole thing. woo hoo.

  5. Gill
    Posted:
    Aug 27th, 2008
    5:37 pm
    5

    I read the whole thing. :)

    I never had that issue of butthurt friends when it comes to linking. It was all pretty chill. And most of my friends didn’t have domains or sites or even blogs, so I didn’t have to worry about that too much.

    I went through some of my old links too, and a lot of them have disappeared off the ‘Net. I wonder what they’re up to now.

  6. Crys
    Posted:
    Aug 27th, 2008
    8:54 pm
    6

    ME!!!! I read it. I occasionally go through my links and add/remove them, but the last couple months I have been so unmotivated to do anything online.

    I don’t believe in linking sites I don’t like to visit. Thats just a waste of space. Nothing against the owners of those sites, but If i’m not interested in what you are writing, why would I link to you?

  7. jen
    Posted:
    Aug 27th, 2008
    9:12 pm
    7

    omg i read the whole entire thing!!! I was also pleased to see that even though i had been internet-less for the past 2 months, you still had me linked.
    I only link sites that I actually like to read. I don’t like sites that simply want traffic. i guess i’ll never understand the blog popularity contest.
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