I have been contacted by a Tory Blogger asking me to list him on my blogroll, which I did, especially after he had listed me on his for some time. I was happy to do it as it is generally accepted that you should reciprocate, unless you have a deep loathing for that person's blog. However, the Tory blogger told me that he has not received such generosity from other Lib Dems.
Now I do know of some Tories, especially some "local" to me, and no doubt plenty of Labour ones too, who have no links at all to other people in other political parties.
When I set up my blog, I straight away set up two Labour links and two Tory ones as I wanted to ensure I offered some balance somewhere on my site even if my own postings carry my own natural bias.
It leads me to ask the question though, what do other Lib Dems think about this ?
Are we too "liberal" and "fair" by allowing our political opponents the chance to have links from out blogrolls ? Or is there any justification for anyone to refuse ?
Your opinions would be appreciated.
13 comments:
I have linked to Prague Tory as we had some friendly dealings with each other over some stuff recently.
I will reciprocate roughly on the terms you mention.
1. They need to ask.
2. They need to link to me.
3. I shouldn't personally loathe them
4. If they are a Lib Dem I may well say no as I have a large link to Lib Dem Blogs - though I have linked to some particular hand picked ones (like yours!)
I recently dropped Guido as I got no reciprocval link, though I guess that he will lose no sleep over it.
I only Blog role those I know (even if it's only online).
I'm not bothered if they don't link back.
However as I don't have any friends who blog who are members of other parties I've yet to cross that bridge, but if other local councillors want a link, I'm sure I'll put one on.
Random requests from random bloggers tend to be ignored.
The main reason why I created the LibDemBlog box was to allow new blogs to appear instantly on other peoples blogs without having to do the "I'm new, will you link to me" thing.
My rules:
1. I almost almost never ask to go on someone's blogroll. - And then only if I already link to them.
2. My blogroll includes the sites that I want to find easily. So if I read it regularly , I'll link to it for my ease and convenience. If I don't want to read it myself, I probably won't want to link to it.
3. There's a couple of political blogs (both fairly well known) where I've disagreed so strongly with a post that I no longer read those sites and have mentioned why on my own blog. And neither was for political reasons, it was more for the moral attitude expressed.
I wouldn't agonise over it, just do it, be welcoming, even if others don't reciprocate. Show a generosity of spirit - unless you loathe them. I haven't the faintest idea who has my link on their site, I have linked those blogs I enjoy, and even if time is too short now to visit them all, their link reminds me to return.
Ellee, Personally I am all in favour, but in my case I will only link IF I like the person's blog or if I like them as a person. I linked to one site because he is an Everton (like me) so it can be for some odd reasons too.
So far I've linked to nobody, but that's a sign of laziness rather than selfishness.
I like the spirit of Chris's email (it's about who you read and who's reading you, not who's scratching whose back).
But as a series of rules-of-thumb, I think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head.
So far, I have 3 links to Lib Dem bloggers, 1 to a anti-Lib Dem blogger, 1 to a Libertarian blogger and 6 to Conservative bloggers. Not bad, eh?
If I come across any decent Labour blogs, I'll add links. Not many Labour bloggers out there. The ones I have viewed are either hopeless out-of-date of slavishly loyal to NuLab - or both.
* should read "hopelessly out of date..."
I've always passed on blogrolls at all as they tend to take up a load of space and I don't know of anyone who actually clicks on them...
clearly all Evertonians receive a link. I have a policy to link to whoever links to me. Generally that is a rule regardless of who they are and what they beleive. Obviously I might draw the line at the extremist lunatic fringe. However saying that I added a link to the British Communist Party and Socialist Worker and Islamist Party - sorry, Respect - in order to balance the links of the right wing extreme that I also had.
Personally, as a staunch Internet Libertarian I don't think anyone should be off limits. I did remove a link the other day after it turned out an Evertonian Labour blog was now pointing to an Escort Agency in North London with tonnes of oral sex scenes on its front page (I bookmarked it obviously ;-)).
I link only to blogs which I read regularly - and even then I'm too lazy to list everyone. I don't think I have ever asked to go on anyone's blogroll and if someone asked me to list them I'd only do so if I enjoyed the blog. My blogroll is recommendations rather than just every blog going.
Although I'm basically Conservative I think I have as many Labour blogs as Conservative ones. I don't judge on whether people agree with me or not, rather on whether I return to the blog regularly.
I think you should link to a persons blog because you like their writing and blog entries, or are at least interested in what they say yourself, regardless of their political stance. After all, it's your own blog!
I started my own blog about a year ago - linking to personal friends only, but I'm turning mine around to a political view and I have created links to all my favourite blogs (inc. yours, because I like Norfolk)! I would feel uneasy about asking for a link back from anyone.
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