Something Happened While Planning to Clean Up the Blogroll

It's almost the end of the month.  I've been stalling as long as I can before making the decision to turn on the heat in our house.  I know that the last sentence isn't providing any comfort to those of you out in the east coast, or even in the Rockies.  I've seen pictures of snow and the damage it's caused so far.  So my diatribe about turning on the heat, and thus keeping it on until late March or early April, is kind of moot and irrelevant at this point in time.  So to those who can even read this in those areas, you're in my thoughts and prayers.

But speaking of relevance, it's also the time of the month where the Sports Card Blogroll needs to be maintained.  Before I get into that, though, I need opinions.

The Cardboard Connection, a hobby news website that came along right around the time this humble, little blog started, has been growing as of late.  You know that the Connection has acquired Card Corner Radio (the home of Doug Cataldo and Rob Bertrand...that's the guy who runs VOTC...and their weekly Friday night broadcasts for more than ten years).  You probably know that they recently merged with Hobby message board Card Collector's World.  But did you know that CC has also purchased the Sports Card Blog Directory?  No, not Mario's first attempt at a site with all the Hobby blogs in one place.  And it certainly isn't the SCBR, but the intent is there, and there are plans to add more sites to it.  Not that I'm complaining (heck, the site gave this dog and pony show a ten-star rating) about it.  But Cardboard Connection reaches 12,000 people per day.  I'm lucky to get 100 hits, and maybe ten of those are googlebots.

Anyway, CC had a recurring feature about...Hobby Blogs.  And in September, they featured five of the more influential blogs of the past and present.  I say that only because one of the articles was about the now defunct Wax Heaven, which isn't even known as that in its current form (it's now called Card Collector Digest).  The other four were Hobby Blog staples Bad Wax, Stale Gum, SCU, and the original Baseball Card Blog.  And that was it.  Nothing more, and nothing since.  So I sent a note to Mike Smeth, the man responsible for Cardboard Connection,and mentioned, to the effect off, "there are a lot of blogs out there that are written by very passionate collectors who deserve the same recognition."  Fortunately, my ego didn't get in the way by mentioning this place. But I also mentioned that I noticed that the SCBR, which used to be on the front page of his site was replaced by this Sports Card Directory.

He sent a nice reply stating that he had just taken over the Directory.  Okay, that I'll understand.  It's his site, he can put a link to it on CC.  It's his right to do so.  But he also asked if I was interested in joining forces, combining the roster of the SCBR with the graphics of his new acquisition.  He even offered me the admin rights to maintain the site. I gave my response to him, saying that I was willing to allow him to get the sites on the SCBR for the Directory, and would help in any way I could (I'm no programmer).  But I'd rather have the SCBR still running as a separate site.  After all, it is a BLOGROLL, and should remain its own site.  I have not heard back from him since.  As wishy-washy as that reasoning sounded, what do you think I should have said or done?  I'm not totally against the idea of the Directory (after all, there are others out there), but I still want the blogroll to exist in its current form.

Back to the point. There weren't that many blogs added to the SCBR this month.  In fact, of the four that I did add this month...okay, the four I added today, two were making their return to the active roster.  Last month, there were 337 blogs listed.  Adding the four brings us up to 341. Slow month for sure.  Here are the blogs being removed due to six months of inactivity:

• USA Future Watch
• CHUCK'S USED CARDS
• Sports Locker
• Offy's Sports Site
• The Sports Card File (it looks like our favorite Hobby insider has bailed on his second attempt at this blog.  He's still active on Twitter though).

That's five blogs being removed, so our final total brings us down to 336 heading into November, a net loss of -1.  Not as bad as I feared.

Oh, there's one more thing.  Last month, I said that there was one blog that was going to reach six months of inactivity, and if that blog did get to that point, I was not only going to remove it from the active Blogroll, but I would also add the site to the Blogroll Hall of Fame. It would the third blog ever enshrined, and the first since Ben Henry's Baseball Card Blog to be inducted.  Sure enough, it made it to six months.  And if I actually had the time to do this post earlier this week, I would have done it. 

But then suddenly, something wonderful happened.

SHE CAME BACK!!!

If you don't know the blog I'm talking about, the pronoun "she" should be a dead giveaway.  It's none other than one of the Hobby Blogging Community's legends, Dinged Corners!!! 

Yay!!!

Dinged Corners is back!!!

One of my personal favorite blogs of all time, she's back.  She is a true Hobby blogging pioneer, and one of the people I'd go to for advice when I first started out in this mad, mad world.  She and her daughter, Lucy, have a very unique perspective when it came to baseball card collecting.  It was always about smiles, nice players, old technology, and witty observations about the cards and the players on them.  And some kind of fascination with the Mets that I haven't figured out yet.  She had been posting less frequently, due to...who cares??!  She's back and relevant again.  Welcome back, Patricia (and Lucy, wherever you are).  You've been missed.

But what does that mean on that "one blog will be added to the Blogroll HOF" stuff?  Well, why not?  There certainly isn't a blog more deserving for enshrinement right now than this one.  So even though Dinged Corners has not been removed from the Sports Card Blogroll, the site will now be added to the Blogroll Hall of Fame that's on the sidebar. 

So as always, if you, or someone you know, is or are planning on, writing a blog about the Hobby of Sports Card collecting, please feel free to contact me at bdj610@hotmail.com so your site can be added to the Sports Card Blogroll.  If you're site is one of the ones being removed, or has been inactive or off the blogroll and you plan on getting your blog up and running again, let me know that as well (Hockey Card Heaven did just that earlier this week).

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama