Sometimes I wish life was like a Sims game, in that I could click on a tab somewhere to see just how much time I've invested in a certain area of my life. As I browse around the Newfoundland Labrador BlogRoll again over the past few days, I can't help but think about the time I put into that blog - well, blog of blogs. I started collecting all the local bloggers in Newfoundland when I started doing this thing back in 2005, mainly as a way to stay connected with others who were into blogging as well. There was a fairly large community back then, and I wanted to find a way to bring them all together, and help promote each other. It turned into something bigger, a huge database of hundreds of blogs I was trying to keep track of. A massive project really, all done in my spare time. I was even interviewed and had an article published about it in the provincial newspaper one time - I still have a clipping around here somewhere. Pretty great memories of a past time project, something I can look back on now and feel good about.At the height of the Newfoundland Labrador BlogRoll, I was doing weekly highlights of my favorite blogs, and even held contests with the winner gaining even more promotion around my network. I wasn't making any money or anything, so I couldn't really promise any other rewards but promotion, but I always understood the value of word of mouth, and sharing each others efforts. Promoting was the best reward I could give really, for those who were trying to get readers to their own spaces. I did what I could to help with that. And I can't even begin to figure out just how much of an investment of time that was for me - hence the desire for that info tab of my life.
The blog of blogs is still there, with many active bloggers still rolling on. I enjoying visiting from time to time, to see who has popped to the top of the list with a new post, and it's always lovely seeing the names I remember from 15 years ago or more. Seeing them keeping up with their own blogs certainly inspires me to keep posting here.
It's doubtful I'll ever get back to huge updates to the the NL BlogRoll, but I'll add any new blog submissions that come in. It's been a long time since anyone has sent one to me, now that other forms of social media has dominated the online world. But the dedicated Bloggers are indeed still out there, and I love having an easy place to find the ones from back home on The Rock.
