I'm back from New Orleans, my many fans, and let me tell you, it was rad. There are few things in life that exceed expectations -- Jim Croce's songsmithing, Jamie Lee Curtis' breasts, my lovemaking. It is without hesitation that I add New Orleans to the list.

But all was not rosy this weekend. While in the Big Easy I was informed that the Mayor of Blogville, Uncle Grambo, removed me from his blogroll. And I wept gently. Then I consoled myself in ice slush drinks that tasted like Robotussin and women's breasts.

For the uninitiated or those with a life, a blogroll is the large list of blog links usually found in a column adjacent to the blog's main content. In my experience, it is customary to include a blog in one's blogroll whenever that blogger has done the same for you. As the average blogroll has increased in size, the amount of traffic gained from each blogroll inclusion has decreased. Thus, the practical purpose of blogrolling has been replaced with the blog dork's equivalent of a hand shake -- a kind, if thoughtless acknowledgement of existence.

To be removed from a blogroll is, I think, less common than being added. Were I to ask Uncle Grambo, whose support and links were the source of much of my early traffic, what I'd done to deserve it, I suspect he'd say that I'm too hateful and no longer funny. This could be true, though I think there's an argument to be made that I was always very hateful and never very funny.

But you, my many fans, probably suspect what I suspect -- that my recent comments about Gawker and one of its editors, Jessica Coen, bothered Uncle Grambo. In fact, he was kind enough to stop by and say as much in the comments. You see, Grambo and Coen are real-world friends. In fact, the online clique consisting of many of the blog world's brightest lights is very much a real world one, as well. This isn't news to anyone that reads as many blogs as I do, but I think it's worth pointing out, again, for those with a life.

Now let's be clear: I have always been and remain a fan of Grambo's. I think Whatevs is unique and consistently entertaining. I admire that he's felt no need to sell ad space or take a job writing elsewhere, though I suspect he's had lucrative, at least in blogging terms, offers for both. I also understand that no one likes to see their friends get attacked publicly, and retaliation for said is understandable.

But honestly, I think that each of these blogstars has actively pursued notoriety, primarily by posting nasty things about people they don't know. And yet none of them dares to say anything about any other blogger, at least not publicly. Do you think it's because they've got nothing bad to say? I doubt it.

I started blogging because I like to say whatever I want and to make the kind of jokes I think are funny. I'll bet that's why Grambo and Coen and most of us started. But as blogging has become something you hear about on VH1 and that people are getting paid to do, a culture of asskissing has developed. People say whatever they want about any celebrity without a blog, because it's funny to do so. But when it comes to saying something about another blog, most bloggers don't dare risk being negative for fear of losing blogging's great valueless commodity -- traffic.

Is it worth more people hearing you if you're not saying what you mean? If you're going to sell out, do it for a lot of money.

Analogcabin @ 9:02 AM
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