A Question of Blog Etiquette
All good things come to an end.
People post on their blog diligently every day, and then the interest wanes. The time between essays grows longer and longer. Brief flurries of activity give the impression that the author has rediscovered the spark, but it is just the twitching of a dying hobby. Eventually the blog just lies there, unupdated, the last thoughts of the author unrefreshed.
And so one of the great time wasters is relegated to the overgrown edge of the Internet.
The problem is that an abandoned blog is much like a fly preserved in amber. If the author paid for a host of some kind, then it will eventually wink out of existence when their subscription is unrenewed. But if the blog is on one of those free blog websites, then it can stay unchanged for years. Maybe even decades!
So the question I am presenting to you, my dear readers, is one of good manners. How long should you leave a dusty and inactive blog on your sidebar before you delete it from your blogroll?
This is actually a troublesome issue. Almost all of the blogs in my ‘roll have a link to Hell in a Handbasket in their own sidebars. As long as the person who was kind enough to link to my own unworthy scribblings is still blogging, then I want to make sure that I show the same courtesy. But if the author has discovered the joys of a real life, then it would be best to erase their URL in order to keep things nice and tidy.
So what is the cutoff date? How long should a blog go without any new material posted before it is officially a dead link?
March 10th, 2010 at 7:20 am
Two lists - blogroll and legacy blogroll.
It’s like flossing - nobody blames the dentist for pointing out they haven’t flossed in 6 months.
March 10th, 2010 at 7:27 am
I usually make my date six months. If no update after that, it usually isn’t coming back.
I have written on this subject before - there are, I would imagine, thousands of blogger blogs (and others) that are sitting out there for infinity, even the owners are dead. Pretty sad, but not much anyone can do about it. But it is sort of like electronic archaeology, so it fascinates me.
March 10th, 2010 at 7:41 am
I know that there’s one LJ on my friends list with a dead owner.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Since I’m the only one using the blogroll, I remove it as soon as I’m tired of hitting a site that doesn’t update. If I find later that the blogger has resumed, I’ll add it again.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:54 am
6 months sounds about right. You could e-mail the blogger at 3-4 months and ask what’s up?
March 10th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Eh…what’s the harm of leaving it? After 8 years of this, I’ve seen some come roaring back to life long after 6 months. Not many, but enough to keep them around as long as the site itself doesn’t say ‘adios forever, muchachos, and delete me from your links’.
It’s also one reason I use a feed reader — it’s a nice surprise to wake up to a new post from a long-dormant somebody.
March 10th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
I have a son in the active reserves who was assigned to Afghanistan. In his other life, he’s a teacher, so had many he wanted to stay in contact with. A blog was the easiest way to do that. I doubt his blog was on anyone’s blogroll, but had it been, it would have been active only for that time when he was overseas. He has been back for about 4 years, and returns to Iraq in about a month’s time. I asked him if he intended to renew his blog - he hasn’t decided. It’s an easy way for him to update many people on what’s happening.
But in such a situation, you’d be aware of same. I followed the milblogs for a long time, and was disappointed when some returned and “real life” removed their impetus to continue their blogs. Sometimes the blogs were very well written and it was regretful that the writer stopped; sometimes it was “just” an eye on the events going on.
I guess I’m with Dusty - blogroll and legacy blogroll. Periodic check for dead/changed links. If you thought they were worthwhile, then from an historical view, their stuff is still worthwhile - just not current. I like Dan’s idea too - “electronic archaeology” sounds like a college course…!
March 10th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
read Ecclesiastes. …this too shall pass…fret not. forget your troubles and just get happy…life is a cabaret old chum…shit happens…miss a bus? another on the way…all these nuggests will salve your concerns, and if not, get meds unless there is a pre-existing condition.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
My blogroll was a list of blogs I read … not a link trading service. If a blog went inactive and I stopped visiting it, it dropped off my blogroll.
If that meant I didn’t get traffic from some folks, so be it.
Have two lists … your real blogroll, and your link-w*****g list.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Hey, Fred Lapides! What happened to that Zuckerman guy you were living with?
March 10th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Give ‘em a yank after 6 - 8 months or so, whenever you get bored of checking their site. When they go active again, the first thing they’ll do (like the other thousands of us do) is hit your site for some great new reads! When they comment or link to one of your posts, you can add ‘em right back to the list.
March 10th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
One year sounds about right to me. You can always check back and add them again later, but if they’ve been gone for a year - that’s more than enough courtesy for a mostly dead link. Hmmm, is ‘Zombie Link’ a good term for describing the nearly dead? Anyhoo, if I were a blogger and they’re someone I really enjoyed reading on a daily basis, Kim du Toit comes to mind, then I’d be happy to see them blogging again and would even write a short note on my blog to welcome them back and steer readers to them.
March 10th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
I say six weeks. If you no longer want to blog just say so. I don’t like when some really good blogs just stop.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I’d say 2 months, unless the person has expressed that he or she will return within a certain time frame.
My blogroll is more of acknowledgment of bloggers with whom I would like to be associated. Most of my actual contact with blogs comes mostly through my Google Reader account.
You can always make use of Blogroll Amnesty Day.
March 11th, 2010 at 7:52 am
Fred Lapides! Wow a good troll is hard to keep down, eh? I gotta admit I miss some of his drunken rants. Always good for a chuckle.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:45 am
“Fred Lapides! Wow a good troll is hard to keep down, eh? I gotta admit I miss some of his drunken rants. Always good for a chuckle.”
I’m still not convinced that he isn’t a 16-year-old guy living in his Mom’s basement.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Wow. Yall are a harsh, highly-disciplined lot. Veritable webSpartans, trimming, trimming, trimming.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:50 am
“Veritable webSpartans, trimming, trimming, trimming.”
It prevents chafing if it is smooth and well groomed.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Or, you could have a list titled “Apparently Stopped Blogging” with the date you noticed that status, and drop them a year from that date.
March 13th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
I don’t have a blog, but keep all the blogs I visit daily in my ‘favorites’ folder. If a blogger hasn’t posted in a month, I delete the link.