Skip to main content.
« Previous entry: Archbishop bashes blogs | Main page | Next entry: What can we do with your feed? »

June 16th, 2005

Adrian, seriously, what is going on?

nonsensical linksMy post and the entire conversation that’s been going on about Christian blogs obviously went entirely unheeded. The new Truth Laid Bear site is there with the ‘Blogdom of God’ on it (Click ‘Blogdom of God’ under ‘Jump to community’).

But, oh dear oh dear. The list of blogs not only includes ALL of our Wiblogs, whether they would identify themselves as Christian or not, it also inludes links to galleries of our Wibsite images (????), repeated blogs, lots of individual blog posts and links to things that really aren’t blogs at all.

These links have clearly been gathered by some automated process, not unlike e-mail address harvesters used by spammers it seems to me. It really is nonsensical, and as I said yesterday just a power thing.

Adrian, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but you really have gone about it the wrong way. Aside from actually making sure the links are blogs, you’ve got to ask permission before adding people to these lists. Simple as that. I don’t actually mind this blog and some of the Wiblogs being on there. But we need to be asked.

Update: Adrian might be away, in which case he gets a mild amount of the benefit of the doubt.



This is a single Cartoon Blog entry, posted by Dave on Thursday, June 16th, 2005 at 2:30 pm.

If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy these (possibly) related articles:

Know someone else who might enjoy this post? Click here to send this to a friend. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

The technologically advanced may like to trackback from another site, follow responses to this post via the RSS 2.0 feed, or bookmark this post on del.icio.us or digg.

11 Responses to “Adrian, seriously, what is going on?”


  1. Chris says:

    Yes, that does seem to be beyond the pale. Using link harvesting technology is, in my opinion, against the spirit of the web community, and not asking permission before including someone in a list like that - especially when there is meant to be a notional amount of “Christianity” in there is very bad form.

    June 16th, 2005 at 4:29 pm
  2. Jack the Lass says:

    Hee hee. I went to the wibsite section and it appears my blog has been rejected. That has just about made my day!

    June 16th, 2005 at 7:29 pm
  3. adrian says:

    MAnaged to get to a PC to find out what the concern was over. Specifically re the wibsite I must have misunderstood the site as I thought it was a list of christian blogs. Will remove any blogs that are incorrectly in the blog (indeed did ask for volunteers to screen them for mistaken addittions.)

    If anyone can send me a list of blogs I should remove I will do so (if you ask me to remove someone elses blog I reserve the right to not do so without discussing it with them and/or a group of christian bloggers of my choosing)

    Have just been trying to servet the Christian blogosphere here and am sorry for any offense. Did not see these comments till today.

    June 16th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
  4. Jack the Lass says:

    Adrian, speaking as someone who has a blog on the wibsite (and so not in any wibsite official capacity whatsoever), I’d say that although the majority of blogs on the wibsite are by Christians, many of them aren’t and it was never intended (as far as I can tell) to be a site specifically for Christian blogs.

    As far as your own venture is concerned, whilst the non-techy part of me doesn’t really understand what’s going on, I am somewhat concerned that blogs are being linked to a directory (if I understand your site correctly) without the permission of the blogger. I have chosen which directories I wish to display my blog details, and to have my blog appear in another directory without my permission or personal consideration of the relative benefits or not of that link is somewhat disconcerting (or at least it would have been if my blog had been included!). And that seems to me to not be a wibsite-specific complaint at all, but basic good manners. Maybe I’m just being old-fashioned.

    June 16th, 2005 at 8:27 pm
  5. Dave says:

    Hi Adrian, thanks for taking the time to get to a PC and drop by.

    Clarification re the Wibsite. It is a site with a Christian ethos, but a reasonable number of our writers would not describe themselves as Christians and we don’t turn down requests for a Wiblog on the basis of anyones beliefs. If they look a bit shifty, that’s a different matter.

    For the time being just removing the numerous links to Wibsite folders of images (They start ‘Index of Wiblog’ as in the picturte above) would be a start. But in the longer term even if you don’t agree with me over the permission aspect you need to go through and remove duplicates, non blogs, individual posts etc etc.

    I might have to ask Wibloggers to contact you individually if they don’t want to be on the list.

    I’m still not entirely convinced by your comment on the comment thread below.
    “Ultimately if your RSS feed is published on your website you are asking for it to be included in all kinds of services both christian and not so I am surprised by this level of concern.”

    I’ll address that on a new post.

    June 16th, 2005 at 9:29 pm
  6. Dave says:

    Addition - I still think my points about (1) the ‘gaining influence’ being a worthy objective (2) The fact it’s a one man show (3) The link harvesting still stand, but feel free to return from wherever before addressing those.

    June 16th, 2005 at 9:34 pm
  7. Bene Diction says:

    I like your explanation here.
    The XML is not on the front page of BDBO and people can go in technical circles until the cows come home. It’s not (in my case) a reason or an excuse for taking URL’s. This is the first time it’s happened to BDBO.
    Fortunately I was removed from the Blogdom today. Four emails and a year. But I guess we all have to take personal responsibility because the Blogdom isn’t.

    Blogs remain about people.

    I like what Richard said about trickle down economics. If that is where Dr. Warnock wants to go, fine. I wish him well.

    Some of us don’t need/want to be trickled on and to assume otherwise is hubris.
    When the beta Alliance/Blogdom is cleaned up, there will be at least a few hundred less links and maybe people’s requests will be addressed.

    I’m genuinely sorry about your community being trampled on. I really am.
    Blog on!

    June 17th, 2005 at 2:44 am
  8. joeturner says:

    Actually I mind.

    I don’t care who or what you are trying to do, Adrian, you clearly are not interested in the bloggers themselves.

    Point being that good manners suggest you should ask people before using their stuff rather than expecting them to tell you to remove it later.

    J

    June 17th, 2005 at 8:23 am
  9. chalky says:

    I don’t want mine on there. Certainly not. I’m almost irritated…

    Would it be best for someone to send him a list then? The other option of course would be to request that they’re all taken off and for people to opt in should they so wish - which is arguably what ought to have happened in the first place!

    June 17th, 2005 at 5:42 pm
  10. Dave says:

    I’m just a bit lazy chalky and would rather not co-ordinate a list!

    June 17th, 2005 at 7:10 pm
  11. Bubba says:

    I’m not sure I understand how someone linking to your blog/site is bad manners. Perhaps, if he’d said, “These are axe murderers,” it might have been bad manners. No one can stop anyone else from linking to a website. Links aren’t the same as stealing content. It seems to me that Adrian has done the right thing by removing the links as you requested.

    June 23rd, 2005 at 12:23 am