False Dichotomy of Thinkers vs. Linkers

Jay Tea at Wizbang! reminds us about Stephen Den Beste’s categorization of bloggers as:

  • Thinkers, who write essays and whatnot.
  • Linkers, who post links and say, “Heh.” or “Indeed.”

However, this simple dichotomy overlooks the third type of blogger: the lister.

The lister type of blogger:

  • Embraces the numbered or bulleted list as a means of communication.
  • Often dashes off lists of related items important to the blogger.
  • Relates favorites in movie or music, often specializing in:
    • One
    • The other
    • Both
  • Participates in and spread “memes” which contain lists of questions or simple lists for other bloggers to fill out.

The beauties of the list blog include:

  • Not needing to assemble complete paragraphs; all you need is a topic sentence or a topic fragment.
  • Lists easily translatable into PowerPoint presentations, with neat transition effects.
  • Take up lots of vertical space on the blog, ensuring that the content column is longer than the blogroll.
  • Could make blogger as famous, wealthy, and respected as Chris White.

These blogs show signs of listery from time to time:

So the thinkers and linkers polar axis needs to accommodate a new dimension: those of us who don’t necessarily think nor necessarily link but do, in fact, blog incessantly.

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1 thought on “False Dichotomy of Thinkers vs. Linkers

  1. Blogs are a great way to express yourself. I have tried many ways to use them and one of these days will find out how.

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