Chapter XXI: Blogospheric Pressure

What would you think if every Albertson's supermarket in the country installed a magic portal that would instantly teleport you to the nearest Ralph's? That would be pretty stupid, right? I mean, if you've got customer through your door, you certainly don't want to give him a path to your competitor, not until he's bought something from you first, anyway.

And yet many people who would agree with that fail to apply the same logic to website design. You might have noticed this blog contains relatively few links to other websites. I want to keep you here, reading my ramblings, and having a plethora of external links would give you chances to escape and get caught up in someone else's ramblings.

Thus, I only link to pages that have very little content--such as an image or short article--so your attention won't be stolen away. Indeed, linking to a website that is superior or more interesting than my own would be the height of foolishness, in my mind.

And of course, we have all seen the blog that has a thousand links to other blogs in an infamous 'blogroll' that isn't relevant to the reader at all. These blogs also tend to have bright wallpaper against which the text is unreadable (but then again, it is usually unreadable even if you could read it), as well as cacophonous background music. One might even click one of those links, hoping to find a page with something intelligent on it, only to encounter another awful page full of links.

It is like those devious porn sites which have hundreds of alluring thumbnails, all of which are merely links to other pages covered with thumbnail links. If you follow this path all the way to the end of the rainbow, and you are lucky, there is nothing but a few disappointing pictures, whose only saving grace is that they are of appreciable size. At least, that's what I've heard.

In any case, a couple people have linked to my blog to theirs, and I feel compelled to return the compliment. It really is a compliment since these blogs are better written and more frequently updated than mine. So at the risk of losing what meager readership I have...

The Little B Journal - Inspiring and/or (usually 'and') amusing blog of a recent graduate of Western Washington University.
Andrew - Who? - Insightful musings of a young Canadian father.
Black Eye Sunrise - My brother who used to write poetry, but stopped after becoming a cog in the corporate machine of a mid-sized technology firm.
Real Stories of a Railroad Cop - Personal blog of a Michigan police officer. I was randomly directed to this blog by blogger.com and it really humanized law enforcement for me--more than any TV show can.
Random Thoughts - Somewhat existentialist (read: boring) daily journal of a UC Irvine undergrad.

In other news, I've been having really wierd dreams the past few days. But more on that later.

Image of the day: Bestickered Trash Can in Architecture Building Stair Court