RE: RE: knitting the web: we need interlinkers

Coyote wrote about Bubbles and how it’s a new way of recreating old problems, focusing on competitiveness, convergence, and the focus on popularity over obscurity. I wrote about Bubbles and its apparent hostility a few weeks ago and Coyote put it in a more diplomatic and developed way.

By combining blog feeds with an upvote button and the promise to reveal the best blogposts by popular vote, feed aggregator Bubbles has replicated problems with metrics-based recommendation algorithms. The expressly competitive framing of the upvote system has encouraged a competitive mindset, and the most-upvoted posts have ended up converging on certain topics more than others, running counter to the project’s original stated purpose. In light of these issues, the popularity of the project raises questions about what it might mean as an indicator of broader issues in the surrounding blogosphere.

Brennan responded to this with a suggestion that the web needs more interlinkers:

The web needs more hands on the loom. Every link I’ve shared in this post is purling a blog into being. And I am so thankful for other bloggers providing thread. I’m trying to cast it on. I would rather help make something whole and a little uneven, dropped stitches and all, than leave my length of yarn perfectly coiled up, admired only for a colour it never got the chance to become.

Olu agreed with the sentiment but perhaps not for all bloggers:

[…] i think a lot about loneliness as a writer/creator online, and i think whilst it’s easy to see this as a necessary part of creating, there are many ways around it in all types of solitary pursuits if people care to. knitters have circles, writers have groups, video essayists have a discord… i know a few people trying to start communities for bloggers and writers for the web and i think things like that can help with some of the issues.

Everyone had great points to make. I think from my perspective, I don’t understand the need for competition in a space that’s meant to be outside of the usual competitive avenue on the Web: SEO. As an SEO myself, I don’t want to bring my work home with me if I fancy writing down a blog on my random thoughts. Metablog rants seem very weird to me and if you feel the need to write them a lot, I recommend logging off instead. Newcomers, who are already intimidated by this stuff, can read all of these blog posts—especially since they’re upvoted more on Bubbles—and may get turned off by the whole thing. It’s less “what if nobody reads it?” and more “what if people read it and hate it?”

I also think bloggers can overcomplicate things. Your blog is your blog and telling people to write titles in your vision, for example, seems counterproductive. Write the thing, link to as many cool things as you find, let people know that you linked to them, and maybe they’ll email or link back. For example, I’ve been in touch with James for the last few months and it’s been awesome. It’s like having a cool email pen pal. All from adding some <a> tags and href’s. Hyperlinks are very simple but so damn effective when you take the deep thought out of it.

I agree that we need more interlinkers. I would just prefer if we didn’t have the hostility and an incessant need to reply to everyone to get it (emphasis on “incessant”). I read that Scholarch response where they used some quite frankly nasty adjectives to describe Robert Birming’s writing. There’s just no need. I wouldn’t want that kind of link back to my site. Those sorts of thoughts aren’t constructive or helpful and IMO they should be kept in the mental drafts never to see the light of day. Fortunately, I don’t think those kinds of posts are very common but they can stick with you (I can’t speak for Robert but it doesn’t appear that way for him).

So yeah, let’s pass more links around and talk to each other and enjoy what we do. Let’s not overthink it.

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