I mentioned a little while ago that if I add three RSS feeds per week to my news reader per week (which already has 150 feeds), that means my total number will double over this year alone. That is why I propose that bloggers start delisting…and fast! The time to start cleaning up the stables is now, not later.
Usually a post consists of recommended links. This post consists of disrecommended links (which you should not add to your feed reader).
- The Valve , a group literary weblog run by John Holbo and several professorial types. Devoted to theory and highbrow discussion. Contributions by several notable people, including the great Ray Davis and Dan Green. The problem: it’s too much! And too cerebral (and I say that as a cerebral kind of guy!). Yes, I admit it. Sometimes I read things and think, gosh, this is way over my head. Why did I ever try to get into this blogging thing anyway?
- Dynamist Blog Virginia Postrel gave a great talk at sxsw last year, and for a while I followed her blog, enjoying it a lot. But there’s a lot of name-dropping and links to firewall-protected WSJ. Thanks, I’ll get back to your blog after I finish your recent book. (Also, Reason’s Hit & Run is a lively group weblog I never seem to find time for).
- Elearningpost . I used to follow Maish Nichani’s blog religiously for about two years, and then I kept falling behind and behind. Elearningpost covers web design, instructional design and usability; great, but recently it’s become a back burner subject (although I’ll get into it again in a few months). I’ll temporarily remove the blog until I get back to those subjects. (Looking at it just now, came across a great link about creating FAQ pages ).
- Jane McGonigal’s Avant Game weblog. Jane is a game designer/performance artist who is always doing ultracool things, a person singlemindedly devoted to having fun in as many ways as possible. Reading it, I always feel jealous at her life. (Yes, jealousy is a significant reason for blacklisting some of my feeds!) Hey, Jane, when I manage to arrive at work less than 30 minutes late, that’s about as much fun as I’m going to get these days. (Look at her Exquisite Corpse game idea ).
- Larry Lessig’s weblog. I am proud to report never having listed Larry’s weblog or even bookmarked it, if only because I’m already sure that if he makes a peep about any old subject, half the blogosphere will already have linked to it.
- Clive thompson’s Collision Detection. Nothing against Clive, but I’m growing weary of science-oriented blogs for the moment.
- Ok, I was about to disrecommend Dave Weinberger’s JOHO when I came across several interesting posts. Shucks! Check out his report about meeting with the US WIPO representative about a new webcaster property right which, if enacted, could prevent people from distributing public domain podcasts. (see also this excellent commentary by James Love). Weinberger, a thinker and visionary and author of several books has turned into a conference blogger, which I have to admit is a perfect vocation. In exchange for live coverage, any conference who wants to pay my way should feel free to contact me. (See also Weinberger’s post on blogging and conflicts of interest. ) For the record, I’ll be liveblogging two and maybe three conferences over the next month. This, by the way, is the perfect way to rationalize the purchase of a laptop.
- Political Theory. Way too much stuff.
- Terry Teachout’s blog Actually Terry coedits a blog with a Chicago literary person (OGIC–Our Girl in Chicago). They write a lot of criticism (mostly about live events) but T.T. also throws out a lot of provocative essays. I’m sure there’s good stuff there, but it’s rather time-consuming to wade through all the city-specific posts.
- Game Girl Advance . I used to love this gaming blog, but I haven’t had time to look at it (if only because I don’t have time to play video games). Ibid for GrandTextAuto, a really outstanding game blog prepared by lots of literary guys. Gosh, it hurts so much even to hyperlink to these places. The GrandTextAuto guys have been working on a drama game, Facade, which I can’t wait to try out.
- It goes without saying that I could not possibly keep up with wood s lot. It’s a great literary blog, and I don’t even try anymore. I only visit it when I have a spare moment and nothing to do. One of the most engrossing weblogs out there, and yet I never have insight into who’s throwing things together (Yes, Mark, inquiring readers want to know!). Oops. Looks like the weblog is acting strange. finally, a chance to catch up on archives!
- Tapped. a good cerebral left-leaning blog. Sure, this is the first place I go when there’s a political crisis, but over time I’ve content to limit my political readings to what Eastern Lemming Liberal finds for me. For some reason, I rarely check Kausfiles, although whenever I do I always have a great time.
- Haircut blogs. I know a lot of bloggers and am moderately interested in their lives, but it really a chore to check up with them even on a monthly basis. Sometimes I put these blogs on my feedreader not to read but simply to remind myself who they are.