Deleted faster than you can say “link exchange”
If there’s one thing about blogging that I find even more annoying than spammy press releases, it’s requests for link exchanges.
I’m not talking about individual bloggers. Most personal bloggers know better than to ask for a link exchange: “I’ll link you if you link me, okay?” It’s just not the way it’s done. We link who we like (and just because we don’t link someone, doesn’t mean we don’t like them).
Link exchange requests are another testament to the fact that the folks who shotgun press releases don’t understand blogs. The blogroll is just as sacrosanct as the rest of the blog – totally under the discretion of the blogger him/herself, and not for sale or trade.
If I can’t manage to update my blogroll with links to people I actually read, why would I pollute it with links to sites that I don’t care about? Or am I supposed to care enough about those sites to link them, purely because they’re offering to link to me?
Yes, I do consider link exchanges to be pollution. Personal bloggers pride themselves on honesty and transparency, or at least I think they ought to. The people I like to read do so.
Even with spammy press releases there’s an opportunity to capitalize on them, to create a relationship. A link exchange is no more than quid pro quo, a potential bump in your Technorati ranking (which, frankly, I haven’t checked in months).
So I’ve updated my Who Me? page to address link exchanges, because I delete those even faster than I delete those spammy press releases. PR professionals and small business owners, you’ve been warned.
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The Parental is Political – I’m all for honesty and transparency. But tell me, why is it a “smear” to be mischaracterized as a Muslim?
June 18th, 2008 at 5:53 am
It kind of reminds me of the old “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” LOL!
Marias last blog post..Food for thought… the power of girls.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:06 am
I hate those things too. It is always for something totally unrelated to my blog – like worldsbestcarpolish.com or something.
Being mischaracterized as a Muslim is only a slander because about half of the US population hears Muslim and thinks “terrorist.” If it weren’t slander, why would so many emails being circulating saying he IS? They wouldn’t bother if the idea of being a Muslim was acceptable to those people.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:19 am
Suebob, I hear you. But by including a refutation of that “accusation”, he unwittingly gives credence to it as a negative. Plus, anyone who cites that as a reason for not voting for Obama probably won’t vote for him regardless of his religious beliefs.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:07 am
I’ve been unsettled by the Muslim denials myself… but I guess SCORE to the strategists who know, as pointed out by previous comment, that in many American minds, certain of my own in-laws included, ‘Muslim’ = ‘terrorist’.
As much as I support him, I would appreciate in this, his campaign of hope, he would address these ‘accusations’ differently. Not as slander, but as merely inaccuracy. Defuse as opposed to deny.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:20 am
I always waste way too much time on those link requests … waiting to read about the benefit to ME, which never seems to appear.
mayberrys last blog post..I am doing the unthinkable
June 18th, 2008 at 7:57 am
I’m thinking this must be a record week of emails about such things for me- and then the follow up emails and the follow up emails to the follow ups… gah!
Steph
Adventures In Babywearings last blog post..Near Life
June 18th, 2008 at 9:29 am
I just got one of those the other day! I was surprised, I hadn’t seen one in a while.
It is just bad manners.
Sarah, Goon Squad Sarahs last blog post..What the Hell?
June 18th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Sing it, Sister.
Nothing makes me hit the delete button faster than those damn link exchange emails. Except maybe offers from Indonesia to make my d*ck bigger.
Chicky Chicky Babys last blog post..Because I didn’t have enough to do
June 18th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
i can always tell that i’m not a very popular blogger when i read about all the offers all you “cool kids table” bloggers have to deal with. link exchange? seriously? i’ve never received any such email – kind of makes me glad to be unpopular.
Laras last blog post..Rented Space – Weight Struggles
June 18th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I’m not big on link lists, anyway. I prefer to find new blogs via the comments. I figure, if someone comments frequently, they must blog frequently, and that’s the kind of blog I like to check out. Also? I WILL occasionally click through via a personal blog list, but only rarely and only if I have tons of time to kill (i.e. NEVER)
traceys last blog post..Ah, Summer…
June 20th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I used to get those from two people at a certain PR company. A third person from that PR company contacted me to do a review. I ended up saying something nice about the product but not so nice things about the PR ageny. All of that nonsense then stopped – at least from them.
Motherofbuns last blog post..What do you do when…
June 21st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I’ve only had one request for a link exchange and I thought it was so strange that I just deleted it.
Heathers last blog post..Holy Blog Posts Batman!
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
I can’t believe companies still do that! It’s just so 1999…
Average Janes last blog post..Average Jane’s Weekend Plans
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:30 am
I pulled down my blogroll last year after I had so many stupid link exchange requests, followed by people harassing me because they weren’t on my blogroll.
I want to put my blogroll back up again, but I also don’t want to deal with the hassle from them again. I love your rotating blogroll – is it a Wordpress widget or something that you can use with Blogger, too? (Yes, I really need to get my site moved off of blogspot and to my shiny, pretty domain.)
Christinas last blog post..No More Swim Dresses
June 28th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
The best is “I just posted about you on my company’s blog and if you’d like us to keep it, simply add a link to us in return and send me the link.”
Um…what?