Blogroll Amnesty Day

Posted by Tengrain Friday, February 1st, 2013

Way back when the internet was young, the A-list bloggers walked the earth by daylight… OK, maybe it was not as poetic as that, but Blogroll Amnesty Day did come about because of them: it seems that they declared amnesty for themselves and proceeded to prune everyone who was not also an A-List blogger off of their blogrolls.

Anyway, to celebrate this momentous occasion, the late Al Weisel (aka jon swift) and the very much living Skippy the Bush Kangaroo started a tradition of linking to other blogs (generally smaller than your own, though how one determines that is unknown to me) to give them a hand-up. Skippy the Bush Kangaroo has carried the torch alone since Al passed. Many thanks to Skippy for keeping the tradition going.

We at Mock, Paper, Scissors believe in promoting the small blogs whenever we can (and this week, we are actively doing that at Crooks and Liars). It is really hard to choose just 5 blogs, (like asking a parent which kid is best) and especially this week while selecting blogs for the round-up. This does not mean that other blogs are lesser or better; truth be told all the blogs in the blogroll are really wonderful; each of them is a winner.

So here are five blogs from the blogroll that I have chosen at random that I hope everyone visits sometime this weekend:

Posted in blog whoring, blogging, Blogroll Amnesty Day | 10 Comments »

Sockpuppets!

Posted by Tengrain Friday, March 23rd, 2012

The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.

(Guardian UK)

It will work, of course, until Atrios declares blogroll amnesty again and cuts the sockpuppets off.

Posted in blogging, Blogroll Amnesty Day, social media | 6 Comments »

It’s that time of the month again…

Posted by Tengrain Friday, February 4th, 2011

Scissorheads -

No, not THAT time of the month, but the time of the month when we here at Mock, Paper, Scissors like to salute you, the readers and the people in the blogroll.

“So why do you do this, ‘Grain?” you ask.

Well, we do it because we really like you! We try, we honestly try to visit everyone at least once a month, but we don’t always make it. So instead we link to you. This does a couple of things: it increases your blog’s Technorati score and it raises your Google relevancy score. Plus, everyone likes to get a link now and then, am I right?

Oh, yeah, there’s that little Blogroll Amnesty Day thingie, too. Merely a coincidence, but I like to have a monthly Blogroll Amnesty, because, well, we’re all in this together.

This does NOT improve MPS’s scores in any way. We do this for you guys.

If I’ve inadvertently left anyone out of the links, please leave me a comment and I’ll fix it for next month. It was an honest mistake, and probably I can pin it on my unindicted co-conspirator TexBetsy if I try.

But remember: I always liked you the best.

Posted in blog whoring, Blogroll Amnesty Day | 9 Comments »

It’s that time of the month again

Posted by Tengrain Saturday, March 6th, 2010

Folks -

In honor of Jon Swift (RIP Al, I still cannot believe you are gone), I thought that I would do the monthly blogroll post this weekend.

What’s that, you say?

It’s where we at Mock, Paper, Scissors say thank you to all of the wonderful people who come by and visit every now and then. While I try to visit every blog on the list, some months it just doesn’t happen, so I like to link to everyone at least once a month.

Why’s that, you say?

Because everyone likes getting a link. It improves your Technorati ranking, and The Google considers websites that get linked to be more valuable than those that don’t. This gives all of your blogs a boost in the ratings. It does NOT give MPS anything, except for the pleasure of knowing we are helping all of our buddies.

So, without further ado, thank you for all your support and stopping by to spend some time here with the Scissorheads. If I left anyone out, it was an honest mistake! Please leave a note in the comments, and I will get it fixed for next month. And remember, I always liked you best.

Posted in blogging, Blogroll Amnesty Day | 10 Comments »

Blogroll Amnesty Day

Posted by Tengrain Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Happy Blogroll Amnesty Day fellow Blogtopia Lilliputians!

Today is the the day of infamy in which certain A-List bloggers decided in their Heathers-like way to form their own clique at the virtual Westerberg High and cut out all the little bloggers from their blogrolls:

The idea today is to celebrate our smallness (not to be confused with pettiness, but enough about Atrios), and link to some blogs that might not get all the attention that they deserve. Ideally, you link to blogs with less traffic than your own. I have no idea of relative size (I never peak at the next guy at the urinal, I swear!), so my contributions to B.A.D. are to blogs that readers of MPS might not know about and that I think you should know about and go visit:

  1. Jay Midnight — he does some of the best economic analysis you will ever read, he’s smart and scary and he’s still in college. Great music reviews, too.
  2. Contextual Criticism — one of my favorite topics (and causes) is the separation of Church and State, and Jacob keeps his eye on the prize. This is smart writing with a keen eye on the issues.
  3. Badtux, the Snarky Penguin — Who doesn’t love penguins? Who doesn’t love snarky penguins?

Now this is not to say that these are the only blogs worthy of admiring today, these are just some of the blogs to admire today. Give ‘em a click and see what you think.

UPDATE 1: Via Skippy: our good friend ZenComix made an iMovie! I’m in awe of his talent – anyone who draws with ink and makes no mistakes? Sheesh, gods walk amongst us!

Posted in Blogroll Amnesty Day | 1 Comment »

Wednesday is B.A.D.

Posted by Tengrain Monday, February 1st, 2010

(I’m putting this on top as a reminder that tomorrow is BAD. Fresh[er] snark follows…)

Blogroll Amnesty Day, that is.

blogroll amnesty day

Way back in the mesolithic age of the internet, the unnamed big boy bloggers (Hi Kos, hi Duncan!) decided to do what every power-grabbing, junior high snotwad does: form a clique. And exclude others. All others.

And so on a day of infamy, they cut from their blogrolls all the little blogs and oddly declaring it an amnesty day for themselves. And ever since that fateful day, the so-called A-listers have become the thing that they mocked, vying for legitimacy and access to the Powers that Be. In their very limited world, there are only about 6 sources (each other), and every post begins with Digby says…

To embrace the words that enslave you is a common strategy in identity politics, and so we little bloggers have marked this day of infamy as Blogroll Amnesty Day. On this day we encourage all bloggers to create a post that links to other small blogs, ideally to blogs smaller than your own (please, no size jokes), and ones that you think are deserving of attention.

Two things of note here at MPS:

  • We believe in B.A.D. so much that we endeavor to run our entire blogroll as a post once a month — we don’t always remember to do it, but there you have it.
  • B.A.D is directly responsible for our very lenient blogroll policy here: if you blogroll Mock, Paper, Scissors, we will blogroll your blog. Caveat: you gotta let us know if you have done this. We will NOT blogroll commercial sites, and we will not blogroll the A-listers. (Is that redundant?)

So Scissorheads, if you have a blog, participate. Solidarity, Comrades!

Posted in Blogroll Amnesty Day | 9 Comments »