If you think any of this gibberish looks interesting, you should poke around and subscribe to my RSS feed to keep up with new content.
I know I’m a little late to this conversation, but I’ve been gnawing on sound bytes like Arrington’s:
Still, I turned off the data collection and display feature for my account at MyBlogLog. I guess I haven’t gotten so used to the notion that all of our privacy is already dead that I am comfortable seeing my name and sites I’ve visited on a publicly available website.
And subsequently, MyBlogLog rolled out their brilliant in-roll opt-out feature, which, as Fred Wilson described, lets you simply x out your profile on any page that you’re visiting. I think that’s a brilliant solution.
But I don’t understand why people are so eager to opt-out.
I understand that the issue is “privacy,” and I get that. Privacy is important. That’s why I don’t keep a RootVault, and it’s one of the reasons I don’t always fill in complete (or correct) profiles on networking services.
But this isn’t really a privacy issue. This is an embarrassment issue and a missed networking opportunity. I keep a Reader Roll in my sidebar, and I like to check out the new faces when they show up. I know I get more traffic than one person every week and a half, so I assume a lot of people are opting-out of the reader roll.
Why? Because they don’t want anyone to know they’ve been to my blog? Reader Rolls are brilliant precisely because they harness this seamless networking potential - it helps create badly needed communities within the blogosphere based on what people read. Opting-out is like going into a retail store with a bag over your head so nobody knows who is shopping there. It doesn’t make sense!
{ 2 comments }
Ben 11.22.06 at 6:02 pm
(1) You’re right, the community aspect of blogs is one of the best parts, especially with interest-related or personal blogs. I’m always looking for new things to read, but that’s dependent upon me knowing where to look. Communities, blogrolls, and those types of things really help.
(2) “I know I get more traffic than one person every week and a half, so I assume a lot of people are opting-out of the reader roll.” – Sure, but what about the fact that a lot of the traffic you get is comprised of people who may not have MyBlogLog (myself included)? It may not be that they’re opting out, but rather that they just don’t have a MyBlogLog profile(?) whatsoever.
(3) I understand opting out of some things (like Fleshbot or other blogs about things that are considered socially deviant), especially when you’re a noteworthy figure who has a (company’s) reputation to protect. But why someone would opt out of something like this site? No idea.
(4) I actually managed to have pumpkin pie over here! It was delicious. Hope your T-Gives goes well tomorrow!
Jason 11.22.06 at 7:01 pm
(1) Bingo
(2) I know, I know…I was making a point!
(3) Fair point. Although in those cases, I’d consider it inconsiderate (heh) on Flehsbot’s (or whatever deviant site it is) part for putting their readers in that position. It discourages readership in that case instead of encouraging it.
(4) Pumpkin pie is amazing. I just finished making cheeseball, and it’s going to be so incredibly delicious tomorrow.
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