…and this is a 
A great idea: blogroll amnesty day
Category: Weblogs
Posted on: February 3, 2007 2:03 PM, by PZ Myers
Atrios has declared today to be Blogroll Amnesty Day, a time to purge those tired old links to sites that you've always got up on your page, but that maybe contain a few blogs you've grown tired of, or lacks the sites that you've been browsing recently. It's a fine idea; if you feel like clearing boring ol' Pharyngula off your list, go ahead, I won't cry too much. It would be nice if you replaced it with some fresh new place that you like very much, of course.
I personally police my blogroll about once a week—I build it from the opml file from my newsreader, so I'm regularly adding new sites to it, and I'm fairly ruthless about deleting blogs that have no new content for 30 days.
Comments
You ARE ruthless! I keep adding regularly, but I wait several months before removal - some blogs surprised me by suddenly coming back to life after six months or so of dead silence! And I like keeping some great blog on indefinitely just for the qualities of their archives (especially if I tend to mine them for links to stuff those people have written long time ago but warrant occasional resurection for new readers).
Posted by: coturnix | February 3, 2007 2:14 PM
I try purging my blogroll once in a while, but always find that some blogs either become alive again, or become interesting again. I read almost everything on my blogroll at least once or twice a week. I've been thinking of adding a separate section for daily reads, but the only regular daily reads I have are Majikthise, Appletree, and Feministing. Pharyngula and UTI are usually daily reads, but once in a while I neglect them for a few days. Pandagon, Ezra Klein, and Echidne I read depending on whether I like what they're focusing on at the moment.
Posted by: Alon Levy | February 3, 2007 3:24 PM
Good idea. My roster of blogs is very short and could easily be expanded. And I ought to check whether Moebius Stripper is going to revive the beloved Tall, Dark, & Mysterious, the only blog so far to link to Halfway There with an expletive(!).
So that'll be one more chore to add to the list. Maybe I can do it tomorrow, when there's nothing else going on (although it will probably be a great day to go catch a movie or get shopping chores done without the hassle of crowds).
Posted by: Zeno | February 3, 2007 3:31 PM
I'll keep you right where you are, thank you.
Posted by: Retired Catholic | February 3, 2007 3:58 PM
I check mine about once a month or so, and I clear out those that have died, but I also stop by and read ones I haven't been to in a while. Since I use Blogrolling, it's not that hard to update.
FWIW, I've linked to this site since the day I found it.
Posted by: Mustang Bobby | February 3, 2007 6:37 PM
I only purge heretics who think the world is round, Comrade, or that design is random. Then I nationalize the doughnut industry and redistribute to the worthy who remain pure of all but ideological trans-fat.
To the unworthy, let them eat whipped cream on their lattes!
Posted by: Kevin Hayden | February 3, 2007 7:08 PM
I removed a few blogs from my blogroll that hadn't updated in months, but still subscribe to their rss feed, so if something suddenly happens, I'll notice right away!
Posted by: Eva | February 3, 2007 11:36 PM
I never click on blogroll links because they're full of every mediocre site the blogger's ever heard of. I would be much more likely to click on them if the blogroll was 5 blogs long.
Posted by: steve s | February 4, 2007 12:12 AM
Like steve_s, I've found a number of mediocre sites on blogrolls too. However, I found a few real gems that I would never have discovered had it not been for the blogrolls. Because I'm always looking for those gems, I still click away on the blogroll lists.
Posted by: Paguroidea | February 4, 2007 1:06 AM
Once a week? That's impressive. I'm lucky if I remember to do it once a month. Of course, pruning is needed when so many good blogs seem to appear each week.
Posted by: vjack | February 4, 2007 10:16 AM
It's all about the tools. I use NetNewsWire for blog browsing, and it has a menu item that lets you pull up a list of all the blogs that haven't been updated in any set period. My browser also has an RSS button -- if the site has a feed, one click adds it to NetNewsWire. It makes it very easy to add and delete items from the blogroll, so maintenance is inconsequential.
Posted by: PZ Myers | February 4, 2007 10:52 AM
I couldn't do it. I couldn't remove Fafblog from my list.
Hope springs eternal. And we are all Fafnir, after all.
Posted by: Zeno | February 4, 2007 2:17 PM
You're more than welcome to send your blog links to the Element List science blog link directory. We're always looking for more sites. (Click the link on my name.)
Posted by: Jackie | February 6, 2007 4:49 AM
PZ, you're stuck with me whether you add new content inside the 30-day window or not. ;^) Also, I still owe you a beer, a burger, etc.
Posted by: Jay Manifold | February 6, 2007 9:21 AM