Since I’m already folks, I might as well keep up the trend.
My approach to filter out inline trackbacks is useful and appropriate, in my view, but it actually doesn’t fully address an underlying issue. Here’s the question: should a link from a blogger who has hundreds or even thousands of links to anyone and everyone on their page be worth exactly the same as a link from a more reserved blogger who only has a small number of outbound links?
In the Ecosystem right now, all links are equal. But I’m considering changing that. It doesn’t seem right to me that if Blogger A links to 3,000 other blogs, and Blogger B only links to 300, that those blogs receiving the links from B get exactly the same “credit” as those receiving one of A’s few thousand links.
A link is a recommendation; it says, “Go look over here, and you’ll find something interesting.” So should a recommendation from someone who says everything is interesting be considered as valuable as one from someone who seems to choose their recommendations with more care?
(As a historical footnote, way back in 2003 an early version of the Ecosystem actually had a separate ranking based on the # of outbound links a blog had. I called it the Hall of Link Sluttage).
Without getting into implementation details or an exact algorithm, suffice it to say that it would be simple enough for me to refine the Ecosystem’s rules so that truly profligate linkers’ links did not count for as much as more normal blogger’s links. But would that be a good and useful thing?
I’m debating; now you get to as well. Let me know what you think…