tough conversation....

I know this is possibly a controversial subject but something I should have mentioned before but didn't. When another email hit my box and I knew it was finally time to say something. I know reading the emotion in a computer post can be hard, so let me say that I'm being as polite and nice as I can be here. Nothing is meant with animosity at all. So what the heck is she talking about?....

Well, I'm talking about all the new sites listing "Quilting blogs". To name a few...Quilter Blogs, Quilting Bloggers, Quilt Qua, etc. When I got listed on the first one I politely asked to be removed and I was taken off right away. Now it seems that more and more are popping up and I keep getting listed with either no notice or I do get a polite email saying I've been included and asking me to please mention them on my blog. To open up one of these sites and see whole posts from hundreds thousands of bloggers feels somehow wrong to me. To see a post about a new baby, family pet that has died, or worse a sick or deceased parent...very personal posts... is just wrong somehow next to google AD's that are used to generate revenue.

Here's my problem with this...I didn't start my blog to get thousands of people clicking through. My posts belong to me. They are personal. I don't do this to make money or increase my notability on the web. So I don't want someone generating revenue off my hobby and what I want to share with my quilting friends. When you are on those sites anyone that clicks on an AD gives revenue to the site owner. It also opens my blog up to tons of spammers who now have thousands of blogs and email addresses they can use to send spam. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don't begrudge anyone who wants to have a site like this or even try and make money, but please don't include my blog to do so. I've spent weeks trying to stop the latest "as seen on TV" emails.

Now this does not mean that you can't be included in all these lists..it's your blog and you can do anything you'd like. I just wanted to explain why I was adding the reminder, what it meant and also asking them NOT to include my blog.

So, I've added some wording to my Copyright notice on the left sidebar to that effect. BUT...I don't want any of my regular or new readers to think that this means that you can't link to me in your blogs. YOU CAN! Please feel free as you always have to mention my blog if you are explaining something, or even sending someone over for a particular reason to read something I wrote. Just as you always have before this. Heck, I just did a whole post with links to cool stuff!

This is strictly meant for content aggregators, link farms or link portals as hubby calls them. Just the sites who wish to provide listings of quilting or crafting blogs. Sorry but if you want to find them...goggle them. I won't provide links to them.

Thanks!