robsingleton.net

29 November 2007

Remember, “No Mo’ Technorati?”

Well I’m throwing my pastoral hat in that ring as well.

Looking back over the last couple of months I too have been sucked into the great technorati vortex, and now I’m climbing out!

Seriously gang, this thing is worse than crack!

Technorati-fav From everything I’ve heard about blackholes, once they have you, there’s no escaping. So, let’s just say I consider

Blackhole1a

myself fortunate to have found a back door out called common sense.

that —>

will probably have to

go as well!

Let me explain…

There are a variety of ways that technorati sucks you in:

your ego (what’s my authority today?)
your pride (why aren’t they linking to me? Where’s the love?)
your time (I’ve spent more time on technorati then some do on personal hygiene!)
your paranoia (maybe the techsters have it out for me)
your computer savvy (seriously, technorati goes down so much [they refer to it as the technorati monster getting away] that I spent a third of my time on it trying to figure out if they lost my blog!)
your sense of fairness (there is no rhyme or reason to technorati’s authority junk)

But a huge reason is that it just isn’t accurate. Seriously, I’ve seen people with 5 readers a day and an authority of 87 trillion! What’s up with that? I’ve seen others who have thousands of readers a day and their authority is lower than over at some spell binding blog like, ‘Sister Gumpo’s reverse quilting Methods’ blog! <— Don’t try to find it, I made it up and you’d be missing the point <— a great name for a blog by the way!

Finally, the biggest reason for running from the techster is that I ashamedly have to admit that it stole time away from things that really matter infinitely more to me and to God. In the end, it really does not matter what people are saying about me. I hear enough of it through other vehicles not to need one more. So I am beginning the withdrawal of the technorati troops. Hopefully, the folks in technoratiland (yes, there is such a place, and you don’t want to go there!) will learn to fend for themselves.

Unfortunately, search engines do look at this thing and bump you up (or down) the ladder accordingly, so I’ll have to leave a faithful remnant behind—a few sentinels on duty. But I’ve got to move on.

Don’t worry sentinels, I’ll behave like a good marine and there will be no man left behind. Once you begin to show hypnotic like signs of being drawn toward the light (or in this case, the dark) we’ll pull on the rope we tied around your ankles and get you out of there!

I promise.

But as for me, the extraction has already begun and I feel better already—even if they don’t

Actually, one look at my authority and I’m pretty sure they won’t miss me

Bye technorati. Try not to cry.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

12 Comments currently posted.

JT says:

I thought you’d been acting a little strange lately I’m glad to see you are off it. Who cares how many people read!…if you treat this blog like you do the rest of your life…then anyone that reads it will get a real sense of how God talks to you and how you repsond. Times of real transparency have been your best posts…afterall isnt’ that what blogs started out as? Kinda like an online journal? They now have ‘evolved’ into gossip pages for celebrities or rumor spreading for political candidates.

You consistently do a great job with this blog…keep it real and keep up the good work!

Matt and Dee Langley says:

Let me be the first to say congratulations on your departure from technorati. I consider myself a computer “guru” and I call that my profession. Even with my years of experience I have not fully grasped the intricacies of “the net”. It gives me pause to think my children may soon be getting on MySpace or using instant messaging. Don’t get me wrong, used properly I think the net is a great medium for reaching out to people, connecting with friends, family, and even strangers, which can be a good thing and sometimes even bad. As Pastor Jeffery said last night when you test your salvation you have to ask yourself “Do you care about others?” I know that your heart was in the right place. You were trying to reach out to the lost, but if it takes away from that goal then it sounds more like it has become a hindrance rather than a help. We have been blogging with you since you started and we are sure the blog will continue to reach the lost. You yourself have said not to throw out the baby with the bath water. ; )

Anyway, I think that we can sum everything up with an “age old” Christian cliché. What Would Jesus Do? Why do I use that phrase? If you watched any of the Republican debate Mike Huckabee was asked one question in particular by Anderson Cooper and a You Tuber, “What would Jesus do? Would Jesus support the death penalty?’’ Huckabee quickly responded “Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office, that’s what Jesus would do.’’ Similarly I have read on another site that “Jesus doesn’t need to blog, he already wrote everything we need to know in His book.” I think the same holds true in this situation, Rob, and my family and I have got your back in whatever direction this journey takes us. (just don’t pull out the kool-aid, especially when you have us all under one tent) It does not matter how much technorati authority we have but how much of His authority is evident in our lives.

bigdadgib says:

Please visit my new blog.

‘Sister Gumpo’s reverse quilting Methods’

I really don’t know what technorati is all about.
I dropped blogrush for the same reason… where is the consistent results?

Great blog brother… I give you the “300,000,000″ bigdadgib authority!

His, Gib

Terri Crites says:

I know now for sure that the Lord is faithful when we continue to pray for our Pastor. And clearly you are a Pastor who is a prayerful one.

You go Pastor Rob!!!!!!!

Keep His Truth coming to us. Keeping our eyes on Jesus.

Thank you for your transparency.

Kati says:

Way to breakfree from something thats holding you back.

I’m thankFULL to have a pastor who knows that only God’s opinon counts!

Calculatorgames says:

I never heard of this before and I can see where it can be easily addictive to look at. I even searched my name to see if I came up, it didn’t. I don’t blame you for walking away from it. You know we are here and reading and most of all you know the man upstairs is watching it all, so just keep doing what you are doing!

Steve says:

Hey Rob,

The feed icon in the upper right corner of your page links to:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/Robsingletonnet

while the FeedBurner image links to:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/robsingleton/myuQ

Just wondering which one was the official feed URL.

Also, is your podcast available outside of iTunes?

E. I. Sanchez says:

Hi Rob,

I totally feel your pain. Technorati has caused us many headaches too. We have sort of given it up. We still ping it via feedburner.com but we have lost interest in it. We actually never get any technorati hits. Most of our hits come from subscribers or search engines.

The main idea behind Creating a Following a following is to do it little by little. Leaving comments on other people’s blogs is still the best way to spread the word.

So with that said, thanks for leaving a comment in our blog.

Edgar.

Steve Hayes says:

I’m not sure what you’ve got against Technorati. I find it a useful tool to find who is blogging on topics I’m interested in.

Rob says:

Well, Steve, it is a useful tool, but it’s a little bit like a the old Jeep Cherokees that would break down about a third of the time — or even a bent arrow that would still go far, but never land where you wanted it to. < – Sorry for all the Indian analogies, but I’m sure you get the point.

In ministry, it also has the added detractor of giving a platform to every bleary eyed, late night critic with access to a computer. Now they can trash your ministry without background, understanding or even (in some cases) intelligence.

There are good things too, but for me it was (as I said) just a black hole.

It might be great for you — perhaps your Jeep isn’t a lemon!

Elizabeth says:

That last analogy got to me Rob. Are you comparing your blogging to a Lemon? If so I would have to totally dissagree with you! The ministry on your blogs has reached more people for Christ in one way or another. They may critize you because they are scared of facing those truths in their own lives. You may not even get good reviews all the time, but those seeds have been planted and they will think about them once Christ is ready for them to break. Since they are responding at least you know that they are being read. Praise God!!
I read something tonight that might help you.
“The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you”
Your much appreciated for all that you do!
In Love
Elizabeth