morning lineup firegeezer on 29 Sep 2007 07:17 am
Morning Lineup - September 29
We are all linked together
You know, the experts tell us that what really made the world-wide-web take off was the creation of “hyperlinks.” Those are the words or phrases found within the text of a webpage that, when clicked on, take you to another webpage. These are often underlined or a different color to differentiate them from the rest of the text. You know what I’m talking about. We use them all the time here to direct you to information sources.
It is the hyperlinks - or just plain “links” - that bind all the billions of websites together so that you can travel the world seeking more information or entertainment. While I’m sending you off somewhere to read further about our topics, other sites are sending their readers here to see what we have to say about something. We are regularly linked to by disparate news sources such as CNN, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and even a television station’s website in Oklahoma. So, besides our regular readers like yourself, we are also getting visitors dropping by for a one-time stop.
But within our community of Fire & Rescue enthusiasts we also have our more confined group of links that we use to keep you inside our world. Our niche, so to speak. Most blogs (and this is true of all subject areas) keep a listing along the side of the page called a Blog Roll. You’ve seen them before. These are links to other websites that are usually related in content to the site you are currently reading. I have a blog roll, over there —-> , and most others do, too. Usually it’s a reciprocal courtesy, but not always.
On some websites you’ll see a long, long listing of links on their blog roll, and on others it’s not so long. What is the criteria to be listed on those things? For some bloggers it just got out of hand. And in some cases they are not monitored to see if the link is still good or whether the website is keeping current. One of my pet peeves is to click on somebody’s recommended link and find out that nothing’s been posted on there for the last eight months. Not only am I a little miffed when that happens, but it tends to discourage me from trying other links on that blog roll.
So what will you find on my blog roll? When I set up mine I decided on certain set of standards that I think respects your time and interests. The sites that are put on my blog roll are first of all relevant to our range of topics. Secondly, they are sites that I like. If I don’t like ‘em, then you probably won’t either. And thirdly, they are current and done in true blog fashion of having postings daily or almost-daily. When you link over to a site from Firegeezer, you know you are staying current.
There are some very good blogs out there that only post once a week, or so. I’ll talk about those in my daily “Around The Fire Web” feature. I like them and I’d like you to enjoy them too. But they don’t go onto the blog roll unless they are likely to have something that wasn’t there the last time you checked them out.
So when you’re finished reading Firegeezer at the current session and wondering where to go next, run your cursor over to my blog roll. By positioning your cursor over the link, a little box pops up telling you briefly what that blog is about. Pick out one and click on over. I recommend it.
Now let’s get the equipment checked out. I’ll see you at the coffee table.
