Picking Up the Slack

So everyone who reads this blogs is probably aware of the From the Warp blogger group. Ron has done a great job over their getting everyones posts read around the net. I know it brings in more than a third of my traffic but the 40K and GW blogging community has just gotten to big to be contained in one blog list. With over 300 blogs the list minding software just starts to have bot break downs. So he has changed his listing structure which will cause more posts to disappear fast from news roll.

While I have been steadily adding to my blog list I still have a few spots open for the 25 long list so I will be on the look out for a few new ones to add in the next couple of days. I think everyone out their should set one of these up to help let everyone know of the great work out there. While it is tempting to always include the big blogs it might be better to intentional add some smaller ones also. The little guys need to look out for each other. I know most people have these lists but I can think a few blogs that don't so if you do not think about adding it. Ron cannot do all the work.

Interesting the way Ron has his lists set up now it is hard to say if you want to be in the major list or the general one. The majors are 10 spots for 60 people all who update pretty regularly. This might completely turn over 3-4 times a day. The general one is 25 spots probably 200 people. A post here might be listed most of the day. The turnover in the top list will be more but you are up higher on the page so it will all cancel out.

Thanks for listening

Is it wrong to ...?

Sometimes when I leave comments on people sites, I will mention a post of my own that is closely related. I will usually even provide the link. Generally I only do this when the topic is actually very related like we have converted the same type of model or the poster is planning on doing something like something I have already posted.

A couple of examples come to mind. Once someone was showing their homebuilt drop pods and calling them ghetto. They were actually pretty good so I provided a link to my really ghetto drop pods. Or more recently, someone was discussing converting a lizardman blood bowl team so I provided inka to a well converted one shown on warseer and my easy one from this blog.

Am I hijacking other peoples comments to get page views or am I providing the community with valuable information. I have yet to have any of the comments deleted and most of the time I get a return comment on the original post about how my post relates.

I do not do this often maybe 1 in 20 comments I leave but I am still wondering if it is ok.

Bell of Lost Souls Alliance

So I finally joined the Bell of Lost Souls Blog Alliance. Recently I had not been posting enough to make it worthwhile but since I am doing some promo for the Tzeentch Challenge blood bowl tournament I want to increase my profile.

That got me thinking about the various levels of blogs out there and where I would want mine in the groupings. This is how I see the community:

Super Blog: Bell of Lost Souls is a super blog. It has multiple people providing the great content and does a lot of news posting. No single person could probably run a blog of this level with a day job and still get any hobby or gaming done.

Major Link Blog: From the Warp shows off a lot of Ron's great hobby content(he will admit he does not really play currently) but most of the really interesting stuff is built off a link to other community members sites. This is very important to have since all the blogs out there have a lot of great content in their back files that people would not find without help.

Major Topic Blog: There are a couple of blogs out there that really own their specific part of the 40K universe and are the first stopping point for information about that topic. This is usually a race/codex or specific playing style. These people have some really greats ideas and a solid posting record but are often very specific to their topic. Fritz's Way of Saim Hann comes to mind here.

General Blog: This your normal blog like mine. Some cool stuff. Some ordinary stuff. Just what I am thinking and up to at the moment. A good resource for feeding the Link Blog but not a must read ever post type of thing. Might cover a broad range of topics. Posting is regular but not always daily.

Starter Blog: People just getting started. Might have some interesting things to show but have not been blogging long enough to see if they are going to be a general blog or a major topic blog.

Understanding where you want to be and how much work it is going take helps you be more satisfied with your blogging experience. I have discover I really have no interest is getting much beyond my current level. Before I thought I wanted a bigger blog which my wife(she has more than 3 times my followers on one and probably 10 times on another) has been able to get in other areas. This lead to probably a little jealousy on my part, but I have decide I am fine with being a small potato out there in the big big internet.