There are a bunch of systems around the web to see who’s linking to who, what weblogs you might like to read, who’s reading what, who’s the most prolific linker, etc. Some rely on spiders, some rely on trackback pings or search engines or a combo of those methods.

Today I had the pleasure to see that a distinguished visitor had commented on a post by Brightblue. My first reaction was just like if I was getting unexpected company: « ohmygod, this place is a mess I should clean up really fast and make a good dinner and and… ». Except then I didn’t have any warning… Oh well!

This is an experiment above all and I’ll have a v 1.0 up soon enough.
I also noticed some of my post were noticed elsewhere. It’s quite unexpected really. The intended audience for this site was less than a dozen people! I just wanted to dip a toe into the water, but it seems I enjoy being splashed.

I like the linking, the foaming caused by juicy tidbits, the ease of circulation of information. I really appreciate that people will often link to the exact source of an item, instead of just doing it Ananova style « BBC reported that » or whatnot. And by following the trackbacks, you can actually learn more about an issue. I also like the opinion pieces.

I like that my humble place got visited by someone I have a lot of admiration for. I’ll never wash my logfiles again.

Oh yeah. And I’m putting Christopher Locke on my reading list. I had already read parts of the Cluetrain manifesto (and it’s credited somewhere in my thesis) and I fully expect Gonzo Marketing and The Bombast transcripts to be a worthy read. It will be quite a change from my recent readings on the Qing dynasty.
(yes yes, I want to see AllConsuming pick those up, I admit).