Opt out of ranking!
I don't have time to comment right now, but I do want to make a suggestion that I haven't heard anyone make thus far in the take down the blogroll discussion, to which Lauren, Prof. B., PZ Myers, Krista, and many others have responded. I'm not planning on getting rid of my blogroll; as I said at Prof. B.'s, I'm not really convinced by the arguments to get rid of them. Some people have said my site is a little confusing because it's got a lot going on, and I want it to be reader-friendly, so I might put my blogroll on a separate page one of these days.
Anyway, here's my suggestion: If you don't like the hierarchy and rank of the 'sphere, how about opting out of the ranking systems? I just did: Go to the Truth Laid Bear's Ecosystem, search for your blog, under "Rank" click "request a change to this blog," then check the radio button that says "Remove this blog from the Ecosystem." It will then give you some code to paste into your header tags.
This seems a more appropriate way to protest hierarchy than getting rid of one's blogroll, IMHO.
- Clancy's blog
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Comments
why?
just why are we opting out of ranking again? I've read their arguments, but I don't really see the point. the only times ranking matters is if you think the norms behind rankings matter, elsewise, they are just another way for people to find your blogs.
To be clear
More this afternoon, but for now I want to clarify: I don't mean to say that everyone *should* opt out of ranking systems (I can see why you'd think that given the post title, but I meant that to be more of an attention-grabber. :)). That makes it all compulsory-ethical, and I don't mean it to be. I'm just saying that if, for whatever reason, you don't like the idea of ranking blogs (maybe you think it makes the whole process too exclusionary and competitive, disadvantageous to women, etc.), opting out of the ranking systems is preferable to getting rid of the blogroll.
Rank ranking
2 Board Alley
I post anyone I want to on my blogroll--academic, writerly, feminist--because I want to. I want to avoid in a very big way doing anything competitive or hierarchical or patriarchical. My personal blog is my space to write and to post people and places that interest me and may interest my readers. I don't care how many people read the blog or comment there--it functions as a place for me to write.
I, too, read other people's blogrolls--Clancy's, Bitch Ph.D's, Red Bird Rising, and have found some great bloggers that way.
Bottom line: blogging should be what you want to make of it, not what someone else decides for you.
suggestion for more "reader-friendly"
Here are some suggestions that might help. You can use the menu module to add items to and organize the main navigation menu generated by Drupal. That would change the site to having only one main menu block. Then I would consider switching to a two column theme with the blog roll near the bottom.
signifying nothing
This seems like it's being made more complicated than it needs to be. First, I found this blog through others' blogroll. If you don't want a blogroll, you don't need it. If you want it, don't let anyone tell you it's wrong for you to write what you want to write.
A format like some wikis, with the tabbed pages, seems like it might be useful. Blogroll in the back, other content in the front. If you want to read someone's blogroll, it's there, it's just not taking up real estate.