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	Phil's Blogservations Wednesday, December 28, 2005 Posted by philgomes 9:43 PM Shel, Richard, Outbound Linking, And Stuff Shel, Richard, Outbound Linking, And Stuff Yes, it's taken me a few days to get to this. 38. Shel Israel points out that Richard Edelman's blog doesn't link out very often. Some others have offered perspectives as well. Oh, the drama. I do take Shel's point, though, as it is one that has sometimes been discussed here at work. 'Tis a shame Shel felt the need to render his argument using somewhat overwrought and/or ad hominem terms like "appalling," "lazy," and "self-centered." (I must wonder what adjectives he'd use to describe, say, "racism," "couch potatoes," and "Paris Hilton," respectively.) Heck... He even threw in a "damned" for good measure. Temper, temper. To paraphrase, the argument is essentially: "Richard's blog doesn't have a lot of outbound links, so that must make him 'lazy' or 'self-centered' in an 'appalling' way." I'm sorry, but there just aren't too many other ways to read that post. Goes to show that, while being quick to post that 2+2 must equal four, sometimes you have to sit back and consider that 1+3 also yields the same sum. "Appalling," though? Connotatively, it seems a strong term to use. I'd hate to think about what Shel would say if he had me over for dinner. I mean, I use the wrong fork with my salad all the time. And I might bring red wine knowing that he's serving scallops. Synthetic cork. Maybe even a screw-top. Inexcusable, since I started in wine/food PR, but nevertheless... Seriously, folks... If some leading voices in the online world see typos as a measure of authenticity (8th para.) — a specious idea, I think, but anyway — then forgetting to pop in a hyperlink or choosing to lean more on personal experiences for blog content might similarly be afforded the status of "unfortunate oversight." Simply put, the fact that outbound links are rare on 6AM isn't indicative of "disdain" for other bloggers. God bless John Wagner. At least he took the time to examine the issue and ask questions worthy of exploration, even if it is framed within his favorite "but-can-the-big-agencies-do-[X]" topic. I acknowledge that Shel certainly has been generous in his other appraisals of Richard, and I do believe that his argument has a good degree of merit. (It's actually been a matter of discussion around here for a couple of weeks and, in fact, I see the need for Edel-blogs and such related things to be more community-friendly as a greater part of my duties going into 2006.) Since Richard does listen to and care about these things, I'm pretty sure you'll see more outbound linking in the future. However, it's just unfortunate that the delivery vehicle for this argument suffered from such ill-advised language choices which, in my mind, greatly blunted its overall value. Technorati Tags: public relations, pr, edelman HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes[[dot}]com SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.