Blogroll Amnesty Day - Updated

By Libby

Jon Swift and the guy who named Blogtopia, yes that would be Skippy, are throwing a blogging party this weekend in celebration of the great blogroll purge of 2007. Who would have thought we would have come to view that dark day as a happy occassion and yet somehow it turned out to be one.

The Art of Peace managed to dig up my original post and I see I was really angry. The funny thing is I didn't really care that much when it first happened. I was never on the Eschaton blogroll so I didn't suffer any pain from the cuts. It wasn't until the other A-listers got on board and they all started justifying the policy by suggesting lower placed blogs had no value that I started to get irritated. But righteous outrage didn't set in until I found out that my pal skippy had been cut. Nothing gets my dander up like an insult to a friend.

At that point I was furious. I pounded out that post. I delinked Atrios. I swore to boycott him and all his link cutting cronies and for a long time I did. But the truth is I can't hold a grudge. I'm back to reading Dr. Atrios regularly and have linked to him several times in the last few weeks. That's just how I am. I get angry. I holler. I get over it because eventually I remember that I'm not so perfect myself. Besides something wonderful came out of that bloodbath.

We smaller bloggers bonded and discovered our collective voice. We started linking more to each other. Friendships were formed that endure to this day and I find much reason to celebrate, not the least being that Cernig and I forged a relationship because of it. Newshoggers was born and grew into a collaboration that I'm just as thrilled and honored to be part of today as I was then.

So in honor of what inconceivably became a happy occassion, I would ask that all of you who chance upon this post link to someone smaller than you today and keep the spirit of giving a hand up to beginning bloggers alive throughout the year. Build your blogrolls with under noticed blogs. Trade links. Despite what the A-listers said, links do matter and when you help one small guy, you help build a better Blogtopia for all of us.

For myself, I'd like to also celebrate by updating my own blogroll this weekend. I know from looking at my stats that more people link to me than I link back to and I'd like to find you all. If I'm on your blogroll and I haven't rolled you back, let me know so I can add you.

Meanwhile, I'd also like to thank those who have helped raise my profile along the way. Although our collaboration slightly predates the purge, I owe Michael Stickings at The Reaction, who kindly brought me into his stellar group, a huge debt of gratitude. The now defunct Pennywit was an early supporter who gave me a bigger forum at his blog. If you're reading this PW, drop me an email would you?

Thanks also to Steve Benen, Gun Totin Liberal, Shakes, the good folks at The Moderate Voice and Heretik who have all been generous in linkage to my little place here. And a extra big shoutout to Avedon, who has not only linked to posts at all my blogs regularly for years, but manages to link in at times when I'm at a low point and really need a boost.

Reaching back almost five years to when I only had one small blog devoted to drug policy reform, I think Half Sigma, who had a different blog back then, was the first stranger to link to a post and Annie was the first to blogroll me. I still haven't forgotten the flush of excitement to discover that someone I didn't know thought I was worth a link. Pete Giuther, who went on to become a much bigger drug war blogger than me, was an early source of support and solace. Radley and Jeralyn were the first big bloggers to spike my traffic count into the happy zone. ReLoad's thehim came later but kindly sent my hit counter spinning many times with his Drug War Roundups at Kos.

There are so many bloggers who have touched my life along the way, I can't possibly list them all in one post. I'd encourage you to visit all the blogs on my blogroll, especially the ones you don't recognize, but let me end this with a few more that I don't get to often enough now that I'm trying to keep up with five blogs of my own. Jed at Freedom Sight who was another early linker, Mad Kane, Kathy at Liberty Street, mikevotes, The King of Zembla, and Kathy at Stone Soup, a long time reader and commenter who I believe started blogging at least partly due to my encouragement.

My apologies to those I didn't link to today. Know that I cherish every one of you, named and unnamed, and thanks for the encouragement and camaraderie all these years. Without your company and comfort I may have given up this blogging thing a long time ago. Composing this post makes me realize how much value you've all added to my life.

And finally, I can honestly say thank you Atrios. If it wasn't for that awful purge, us "little guys" may never have found our sense of community or come to appreciate our own value. In the end, you kind of did us a favor.

Update: More linky love to old friends and some new faces at this post.



[Graphics via Skippy top, Zencomix bottom. Thanks.]