Oh gods, not this again. Okay, so I just went through investigating a few potential good links to include in a Linkee-poo post. Only to land on another post that references and links to a further post, which is the meat of the matter (supposedly), without either a discussion or inclusion of relevant points. And then that link isn't actually to the material being discussed obliquely, but to another post with another link… I stop at 3. Hey, I understand we all link. Look, here I am actually doing it myself. And I know sometimes I'm vague about the content of certain links (and I know a few other people who are as well and I use their material all the time, but I'll admit, I don't look at all their links and so am probably missing stuff I would like, but hey, life is finite).
But here's the thing, I try with all my linking to take you directly to the final piece, or to a commentary on the piece that I think is the most interesting (because sometimes it's not the event that's the thing, but someone's take on the event that is either the most enlightening or the most entertaining). But after a few links of "OMG, you need to read this" only to link to another site that says the same thing, that links to another site that says the same thing… that's where I stop. See, this is why I say where I get my links (the "grokked from" statement, yes, I know, I'm not using that term correctly, but my site and I like it). The person (or site) I mention there is the first person (or site) I have seen mentioning whatever it is I'm linking to. Note here that the link I'm providing may or may not have been their original link (sometimes I dive past the commentary to get to the original, or I find a better alternative). I've thought about using that grokked tag to link to the item that sent me to whatever it is I'm pointing to, you know, good referencing of source material, but that's way too much work and I do this for fun and my own enjoyment (notice there's no advertising on this blog, I hope to keep it that way).
I also don't mind the link to a piece that "sparks my interest to know more" and then I go searching out other material like it (or gives a different perspective). That's the great fun that is the internet and the many to many communication is can provide.
But back to my peeve of the day, link to link to link to link… without any real form of commentary or distillation. This form of Russian-nesting-doll links drives me insane, and in the early days of the internet it was all over the damn place. It's something I thought we have matured out of. But like I said, I just went down that rabbit hole once too often this morning. Seriously, folks, cut it out. If you want to give credit to the person you got the info from, all fine and dandy (hey, I support that in fact, I love the people who point me toward interesting and entertaining material and you deserve the shout out). But after the 3rd link to the "this is what we're talking about post" and I've kind of lost interest.
And here I'm granting you all permission that if I link you to another site that is basically, "ZOMG this is so good, I just… you gotta click here" without adding anything to the conversation, you can call me out on it.
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