Mark has a post on introverts. He links to an article about introverts and the internet, where it makes the claim that, “…on the Internet, no one knows you’re an introvert.”
This is mostly true, I think. However, I do have a theory about how to spot an introvert-run blog: Check the blogroll. I’m betting short blogrolls (or none at all) are the mark of an introvert. I have no numbers to back this up, this is based on conjecture and a small number of observations.
The conventional wisdom is that introverts have a very limited list of very close friends, while extroverts have large numbers of people they might call friends, which is just about anyone with whom they’ve exchanged names and handshakes. An extroverted blogroll says, “There are the sites I’ve read at some point and exchanged links with”. An introvert blogroll says, “There are the few sites I admire and read on a regular basis.” For me, anyone in my blogroll is a site I check more than once a day*.
I also note that everyone on my own blogroll would be an introvert according to my test.
The typical blogroll seems to be one or two dozen, which is far more than I would ever have in my list. (Right now I have five, one of which is just a link back to my own website.) There are even blogs out there with hundreds of links to other sites. It’s quite amazing. I’m betting these are run by devout extroverts. I’m betting these people blog as a way of augmenting their social interactions, as opposed to us introverts, who often blog as a way to exchange information and ideas without enduring the complexities and inefficiencies of personal interaction.
Perhaps I’m all wrong and you need to straighten me out. Note that you can do so via the comments, which are asynchronous and thus do not threaten my introverted lifestyle.
* Ok, I don’t check Kaedrin twice daily, but he only updates on Sundays.
Was it a Hack?
A big chunk of the internet went down in October of 2016. What happened? Was it a hack?
Seven Springs
The true story of three strange days in 1989, when the last months of my adolescence ran out and the first few sparks of adulthood appeared.
Grand Theft Auto Retrospective
This series began as a cheap little 2D overhead game and grew into the most profitable entertainment product ever made. I have a love / hate relationship with the series.
Video Compression Gone Wrong
How does image compression work, and why does it create those ugly spots all over some videos and not others?
Programming Language for Games
Game developer Jon Blow is making a programming language just for games. Why is he doing this, and what will it mean for game development?
I think you’re right on the mark there, FWIW.
Me again, with some suggested reading on this topic:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200303/rauch “Caring for your introvert”, an article that does quite a good deal of explaining what introverts are and how to deal with them.
Found via Neal Stephenson’s home page, http://www.well.com/~neal/ which contains a couple more related articles.
I find it somewhat amusing that Shamus now has over a dozen links in his blogroll. I guess too much quality abounds.