As I write on Modern Perl Books, I've noticed an interesting trend in the access and referral statistics: very few links come from other Perl weblogs, journals, or related sites.
I know plenty of people talk and write about Perl, but I wonder if some of the trouble this community has with getting search engine and buzz results is due to this lack of interlinking. Compare the apparent web presence and mindshare of certain other language communities with a greater propensity toward chitchat. It seems that Gabor has it right when he asks people to link to his site instead of commenting there.
Re:Link!
chromatic on 2009-02-16T01:17:01
I appreciate that, thank you.
I had in mind something more than a collection of links. I meant more of a hyperlinked conversation, where I might write something and other people will write longer responses and link back. I don't see that much in the Perl world, and I wonder why.
Re:Link!
Aristotle on 2009-02-16T01:54:25
Mailing lists.
Re:Link!
zby on 2009-02-16T10:23:39
We just need better archives then.Re:Link!
Aristotle on 2009-02-16T11:13:23
What good will that do for external sites? Perl people don’t reply to posts by linking and commenting on their weblogs, they reply by replying on the list. Better archives will only produce better intra-archive links.
Re:Link!
zby on 2009-02-16T12:13:49
In theory a good mailing list archive can be indistinguishable from a web forum/multi-author-blog. I have the impression that the CPAN Forum is going in this direction.Re:Link!
Aristotle on 2009-02-16T13:11:15
Only in theory. I read a couple of Ruby webloggers for their non-Ruby content. No one would read a Perl mailing list for its non-Perl content.
Mailing lists and forums are topic-oriented. Weblogs are person-oriented.
Individuals have things to say about more than one topic. By drawing in people who want to hear about some of their topics, they can market their choices in other topics to these people as well.
Re:Link!
chromatic on 2009-02-16T20:23:11
Let me add another possibility to Warnock's Dilemma then, specifically for Perl topics:
6. All of the responses are on a mailing list you've never heard of.
Re:Link!
frew on 2009-02-16T04:31:57
Ok, I can understand that. I think that those are often called trackbacks...Re:Link!
jdavidb on 2009-02-16T20:37:42
I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't have any desire for that kind of distributed conversation. Probably one reason I hated the concept of "blogs" when it first became a buzzword. I'd much rather discuss it all here, in one place.
Odd, since I'm a decentralist.
Anyway, I can't imagine writing something and linking back
... I want the original author to see. And hopefully respond. And I want other people in the author's audience to see, and respond. I would only write elsewhere and link back if I felt I could gain more audience by doing so, and then I'd be likely to double post.
There is some uptake in blogs about Padre which makes me happy but I'd also like to see some more links coming to my blog entries.
I'll happily put in the trackback manually on my blog entry.
