They're still there

Back in the day before social media took over, a number of fine folks had their own blogs going. Every one of them had a "blogroll" somewhere on their main page, and so readers could click their way through a chain of other interesting writers in addition to absorbing their host's thoughts of the day.

Between the time I stopped blogging and now, as I'm resuming, most of those people have given up their blogs, and to they extent they still express themselves on the internet, it's through social media.

That's a shame, really. Blogs lend themselves to longer-form writing, and they connect directly with readers without having to hop, skip, and jump through some weaselly algorithm designed to sell ads and mine data on people. Ten years ago you could read some great independent writing without having to go through all of that crap.

The list of fallen blogs is long. Gone is the Portland Freelancer. The Parkway Rest Stop is closed. Worldwide Pablo stays home these days.

But!

There are still a few bloggers going, some as robustly as ever. Down in L.A., Tony Pierce, who has been a real inspiration to me, has still got busblog going. Baby X (also known as b!X), whose Portland Communiqué was a great moment in Portland history, is posting all the time these days at bix.blog. And I got a shout-out this week from the Stumptown Blogger, who's still having fun here. It appears that LeLo in NoPo still posts now and then in Domestic Arts Bad Ass. And for better or worse, the Grouchy Old Cripple in Atlanta is still at it (NSFW as ever). 

I may be missing some other persistent bloggers as well. If so, I hope someone will let me know.

If you're reading this post, you should activate your bookmark button and show the surviving bloggers some love in the form of traffic. You'll know what you're going to get when you click on that bookmark. You'll laugh, you'll cry. Maybe most importantly, you'll think.

UPDATE, July 1: And oh my, how could I forget UO Matters? If there were a lifetime achievement award for workplace rabble-rousing, this guy would be the first to get it. How the university suits haven't figured out how to silence or get rid of him, I'll never know. Amazing.