KB101: Hyperlinks are Your Best Buddies

Hyperlinks are your best buddies. Repeat this mantra: “Blog posts are not dead ends.” Don’t repeat too much stuff. Just quote it and link to it. Don’t quote yourself too much. You will come across as a narcissistic a-hole. Do it only if you’re an a-hole and proud of it. If you’re linking to a topic, link to the original or more authoritative sources as much as possible. Don’t link to a topic just because you found it on top your Google (or whatever) search results. Link to news sites, online magazines, Wikipedia, A-list to Z-list bloggers. Link to make friends. Think of linking like basket weaving, or sweater knitting. Weave the web. Link responsibly.

Lots of tongue-in-cheek again on the above injunction. But you’ll soon appreciate this all too common wisdom: OCH (obsessive compulsive hyperlinking) is actually healthy.

more on hyperlinking later…

Re: KB101: Hyperlinks are Your Best Buddies

I agree in principle. What you say has truth, beauty, and good nailed. BUT, it takes so blinking long to source and copy links… Do you have some shortcuts or methodology to share?

Re: KB101: Hyperlinks are Your Best Buddies

molly,

i'm afraid there are no shortcuts to this. but there are tools you can use to make it easier to remember and collect those links. my favorite tool for now is Ma.gnolia. it's still a tad slow for my taste but i like the features and interface. another similar you can use is del.icio.us or other social bookmarking service. it's up to you what's your preference.

also, i've been doing this hyperlinking thing for years now. it's already a habit. it's automatic. and the more i hyperlink the more serendipitous links i find. don't ask me how or why because i really don't know. i think it's similar to that golf injunction: “the more you practice, the luckier you get.”

~C (for Connecting via hyperlinking)