Trying to come up with standards is good, but I never know where I fit, 'cause when I link somebody they always end up LOSING traffic. Which I think is rude on my part.

Wow - sort of a traffic black hole, eh, UP? Well never mind, thanks for the link the other day.

Since I don't pay attention to my traffic, being more of a reader than a writer, if it went down, I might not notice.

And, back on topic - the standards mentioned seem quite reasonable, Ace, and I'm looking forward to the day you out-Insty the professor. Why not let Hoke do it for you as a "guest"?

Ace--

Good posting; that's sound advice I'm trying to follow, albeit not always perfectly.

However, how do you treat blatant rip-offs? I mean, Garfield Ridge wouldn't exist without the inspiration of Ace of Spades.

In fact, I like to think of my site as the Jennifer Jason Leigh to your Bridget Fonda. I even got my hair cut to look just like you!

Maybe we can be friends? Best of friends? Super-duper best friends? And together we can eat Hagen-Daz, talk about boys, and scratch out the eyes from all the supermodel pictures in Cosmo?

Or would that get weird?

Your number one fan,
Dave
Garfield Ridge

If it's a one line deal, I usually just give a hat tip with a link to the main page, add another link to the one line post - but also link to the article. The "heh" type stuff doesn't do a lot for me. Obviously, it does for some.

When I take something from a site I always leave the meat behind, and usually a suggestion to scope out the original. If it's a quick funny bit, I may even only take a sentence and just tell people to have a look for themselves.

“You don't fuck around with Ann Coulter.”

Help me out here. I’m trying to put the akcent on the right sileyebul.

When reading blogs, am I the only one who tends to skip over long blockquotes? I think people would rather read the original than a really long quote - so I think Ace's method is reader-friendly as well as blogger-friendly. Half the fun of reading people like Ace or Allah or Reynolds is the creative way with which they set up their links - giving just enough hint to make you want to follow it. But if there's a giant excerpt, I'm more inclined to skip it altogether. That might just be me, though.

I almost know what you mean, Ace. If I had a blog,
I would link the shit out of you. It is unfortunate that
neither you nor I is especially smart.

no offense.

Ace, you're linking etiquette is right on the money, but it went in one ear and out the other because you just had to bring HER into it.
Now I just can't stop thinking about Ann Coulter.
I can see her now, standing over me dressed in black leather, whip in one hand and a cowbell in the other.
"The guys get ****ing shirts, Girly Man" she'd say in that low breathy neocon voice....

Can I fuck around with Ann Coulter? I'd pay good money, I'm tellin' you.

Ditto on the Coulter comments. No UM law students like her when I was there, daggummit.

New topic: Is Peggy Noonan the conservative M(you'd)LF?

Oh, and as for the linking thing, I've written the site owner to ask if I could copy a whole post before. If they give permission, I will. That's with things that are really good that my friends (who are sadly the only people who visit my blog) shouldn't miss like letters from service people in Iraq who are sharing their experiences. Most people are pretty cool about it, so far. And, I have linked back to those sites multiple times on different topics as a hook-up.

Hope that makes sense.

To answer Birkel: Yes on Noonan.

To top Ace: I'm just linking everything with the word "Ha".

Hey Birkel, I visited your blog. And I'm not your friend.

Ace, I've been a blogger less than two months and ask only patience. I think there are lots of new bloggers who don't know the etiquette (trackbacks with no link to the source?). I've tried to pick up all the rules quickly thanks to posts like this, and others from DEan and Bill INDC. Hell, I now suffer from trackbacks with no link back to me, but there's plenty of slack to go around.

Now the juicy part...a link from Ann Coulter? I can just imagine the sound of new bloggers like me as we bow before you and chant "we're not worthy".

Phil, you don't have to be so harsh. I'm honored to have you as my guest. And to be Ace's.