On Blogrolls — the Good, the Bad & the Ugly numericcitizen.me
@numericcitizen I agree completely. Blogrolls are and always were a popularity contest. All we can do is create a curated list that shows diversity of scope and background, as well as genuine quality that will rope others into reading (and eventually writing) blogs. Just like 15-20 years ago.
@numericcitizen I'm glad it's been added as a feature but I don't go out of my way to look. If I click through to an interesting post I'll usually check to see if they have added a blogroll and then I'll look. But too often I just see the repetition of bigger name bloggers in which case it's not a tool of discovery and a waste of my time. The most interesting and helpful blogrolls are those that list bloggers I've likely never heard of, even better if they offer a description or category of some kind. The worst are those that give weight to voices that are already prioritized.
I don't care if I'm listed in folks' blogrolls. I don't view myself as a "content creator" and recoil at that phrase. I keep a blog as a way to stay involved in the world. Simply put, my motivation is to write, share, read, engage, learn. My contribution is a drop in the ocean and irrelevant to me beyond it being my tiny contribution to the collective whole. Like a democracy on large scale, the single voice is somewhat irrelevant, but the collective whole is meaningful.
A last thought on sidebars, coming from the old days of blogging I always liked having a blogroll in a smaller column on the side as it makes for easier discovery.
@numericcitizen good points there to think about. Ive been dragging my feet regarding this new MB feature.