One thing I look out for when I blog hop is to see what other people are reading. Its a bit of a voyeuristic pleasure. Its like entering someone’s home and sneaking a look at their bookshelves. If I see books of a genre I read, I know I’d probably be able to get along, or at least start a topic of discussion. But if I don’t, then I’ll know we have different tastes in literature. Doesn’t stop me liking the person, just tells me we may be on different wavelengths which can avoid misunderstandings sometimes.
So I do the same when I visit blogs. A blog is like your home and your blogroll or links page is to me, like your bookshelf. I like to scan other people’s blogrolls or links to see what blogs they are reading and if we have anything in common or if I might discover a new and interesting blog because there are about a billion blogs out there!
But now and then, I come up with a dead link and it bugs me.
Sometimes blogs die. Its something that happens. People get bored, they move on, they no longer have an interest in the subject matter or they just want to shut their blogs down for whatever reason. When that happens, the link goes nowhere.
If I know for a fact a blog is being shut down, and I have it on my blogroll, I will remove it. I don’t want others coming by and getting a dead link because I don’t like it too. If I check my links (periodically) and find a blog that hasn’t updated for months or years, I remove the link too. Perhaps if they make a return, I’ll update my link page again. I make exceptions for friends because most of the time, I know its temporary.
I also discover new and interesting blogs along the way, and I add that into my blogroll too. If I find them interesting, I’m sure others will too. My link page isn’t quite comprehensive and doesn’t reflect my Google Reader feed subscription. I subscribe and read way more blogs than I have on my links page for various reasons. Mostly because most of the blogs I read aren’t related to this blog at all 🙂
There is another benefit to having a blogroll, other than sharing your reads with others. It may allow the blogger you link to to discover your blog! If I see traffic come through from another blog, I do usually go back and see who linked up. I’ve discovered new blogs and friends that way. So, even if you are feeling selfish at having to share, it could actually benefit yourself too because blogging after all relies on a community to keep it alive and face it, its only fun when you blog in a community 🙂
If you are a reader, do you enjoy scrolling through blogrolls too? If you have a blog, have you taken some time to set up a blogroll or links page; or to update your existing blogroll or links page? If not, perhaps now is a good time to do so 🙂
Paris B
I love reading people’s blog rolls too! Mostly when people have the live updated ones on the side of their blog and then I just read whatever seems interesting. Sadly, I haven’t gone through my list in a while, but thanks for reminding me to do that!
Hi Sheila 🙂 Glad the reminder to check your blog roll worked 😉 thanks for coming by. Now I have a new blog to stalk 😉
Drats, I haven’t been updating my blogroll for a while. Thanks for the reminder, it’s time to check the links 😛
It’s probably the one part of a blog I think is most neglected by bloggers 🙂
I love going through blogrolls… It’s how I’ve discovered quite a number of fantastic blogs 🙂 My feed subscription has reached rather epic volumes now, especially after adding a bunch a nail blogs too.
I’m glad I cant get into nails. The face is enough for me hehe! That said I follow a couple of nail blogs simply for their gorgeous photos. In fact I follow some blogs just for their photos 🙂
I do have a blogroll, and it’s sorted out by update date, so all of it r Pretty current ^.^
I do jump here n there when reading blogs, that’s how I got to, er, follow more n more bloggers ^.^
I do like how Blogger has that updated facility so blogrolls can be shown by updated status. Those on WordPress probably need a plugin for that 🙂
I am always on the hunt for good beauty blog reads. I love checking out the blog roll of others, that was how I found your blog. Thanks for the reminder though, I am going to run through mine and update it. Cheers!
Thanks for coming by Jacqueline 🙂 I’m always checking out others’ blogrolls too. You never know what gem you may find 😉
Oh yes! I love to check out other bloggers blogroll too! And true, this way I came across some very interesting blogs. Also don’t like dead links aswell, so it’s about time to update mine! Thanks, Paris! 😉
Time to cut off the deadwood! Im always checking to see what other people are reading 😉
I am a religious blogroll stalker! I found several of the my favorite blogs by wading through hundreds of them on other sites’ blogrolls, LOL. 🙂
Blogrolls are such a great way to find new blogs to read and follow aren’t they? I like making sure mine are up to date as much as I possibly can 😉
Sometimes instead of blogrolls, I go for the comments. But not the ones who put their blog links after commenting cos I feel that’s asking for attention. *goes up to check if anyone did this before posting*
To tell the truth, my fav blogs aren’t on my blogroll cos I keep them in bookmarks instead of following( u can’t follow if it isn’t blogspot, right?). Same goes to the ones I read through emails. Time to update my list then!
I read all blogs through a feed reader. I actually don’t know how “following” a blog on blogspot works lol! If you use a feed reader like the Google Reader, you can “follow” any blog in one place. Perfect really 😉 If a comment interests me I check their blog too. The commentluv login that inserts the last blog post after a commentator’s comment is very useful even if sometimes some people abuse it 😛
I am the total opposite! I couldn’t understand Google Reader at all so I just gave up =_=”
Btw, what’s this “Confirm you are a valued contributor” thingy???
Oh I just figured it out after leaving it unticked *facepalm*
Haha I had to get rid of the spammers 😉 Google Reader is easy! Well easier previously than now anyway. What it does is put all the feeds of the blogs you read in one place so you don’t have to go hopping all over 😀
great post ms. pb!:)
oh yes i’m with you when it comes to dead links, if a blog is like that or not updating anymore, i simply remove it from my blogroll..
i do admit that me myself can’t update everyday but i try my best to really update and share something!:)
Hi Jen! I’m glad you enjoyed this post and found it useful 🙂 updating a blog takes a lot more effort than we are given credit for but regular updates are good to keep people coming back!
First of all I have to comment on Bill Bryson’s At Home- good read, I enjoyed it thoroughly 😀 Anyway, yes, I do love checking other blogger’s blogroll- it’s a good way to discover new blogs 🙂 I, too, simply remove the links to a dead blog from my blogroll, and add new ones that interest me. Apart from blogs, I also read webcomics 😛
I got At Home a while ago but haven’t dug in yet. I’m not sure what I’m saving it for. It’s not as if I have that long a flight to take anytime soon 😛
Oh yes, I cruise blogrolls!
You and me both!
Ah.. are you a Bill Bryson fan too? My sis bought me some of BB’s books from India, cheaper there it seems. About rm30-35. I look more at blogrolls when there are pictures attached. Now I also look at the list of online makeup shops (what else? 😉 that the blogger likes.
Yep! Big Bill Bryson fan. He whinges a lot in his travel books but I love it because he’s just so funny!
I’ve read all the books in your pic bar the fantasy ones! I like blogrolls, you find some great reads that way. One of the things I feared the most when I had my computer issues was the loss of my RSS feeds!
I’d better go check the blogroll on my blog 🙂
Lol! Why am I not surprised you’ve read all those books? 😉 I enjoyed most of them but there were a couple that were a bit slow too.
I love to check other’s blogroll too. That’s how I discovered your blog from Beetrice’s. Her blog was the first I read 3 years back.
That’s great to know how you found me 🙂 I’m always curious how people get here 🙂
Squee! Since when was I upgraded to blog roll status? 😀 Thank you for including/reading my blog. I’m all smiles!!! Now I’ll have to check out people’s blog rolls to see what they read. I love it when I see relevant posts by other bloggers linked to an entry.
I spy lots and lots of Terry Pratchett! I love Terry Pratchett x Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens.
Ekes! Terry Pratchett x Neil Gaiman Good Omens is my all time fave!!! And I don’t do nails but I love your photos and we seem to “click” so tada! Blogroll! 😉
Thank you for having me in your blog roll, Paris 😉
I’ve realized that lately I love looking through life style/fashion/design blogs a lot. By the way, I would like to discover a good blog about films.
I am also more interested in perfumes these days, so I try to read about them, too.
And thank YOU too, Marina 😉 I read some food blogs, photography blogs and blogging blogs lol! Less about films so I’m no help. I only know about Now Smell This fragrance blog because I come across it every time I do a search for perfumes.
haha, this hits the bullseye.
Initially, I only put up blogroll as a form of “bookshelf” for myself, so that I can read my favourite blogs through my own site (I don’t like flooding my subscription roll). But subsequently, I learned that it can be a very good tool for others as well, just like the way I find all my reads from other people’s reads.
I like to click the links from people’s comments as well, since it is “on the way” when I scroll down to type my own.
That said, thanks for the reminder! My blogroll is very current because the authors are all considered high profile bloggers, so it probably wouldn’t change or go stale. But I just updated and plump up the collection of reads.