Am I the only one who looks at how some people Weblog and say, “Man, I wish that I could offer up a re-write of their links?” An example of bad linking practices for you from the business2blog (hereinafter called “the B2blog”):

There’s a strong discussion going on over at PVRBlog on what’s wrong with TiVo. Such discussions go on all the time, but this one is better than most because several of the commentators get right down to specifics.

That quote is exact as of the time of this writing, down to the fact that the link encompasses the spaces surrounding “PVRBlog”.

Here’s my two big beefs:

1. The text to give the permalink to the discussion shouldn’t be PVRBlog but “strong discussion”. Why? I look at it this way: I want the link to be self-descriptive. Notice in my first paragraph in this entry that the phrase “example of bad linking practices” is pointed at the permalink of the entry I’m bitching about. That points the bitchiness directly at the entry that sucks, and doesn’t point it at the B2blog itself. Now, mind you, my Christian ethos of “Hate the sin, love the sinner,” may have some overlap here, but I look at it like this: maybe the B2blog will get better at this kind of stuff. I don’t want to point “example of bad linking practices” at B2blog’s home page if, three months from now, they’re using good linking practices.
2. I like to link the title of sites. Again, if you’ll look back to my first paragraph, I use a secondary link in there to point to the B2blog. Why? That link is self-descriptive: it’s a link to the B2blog, pointing at their homepage.

Now, mind you, you can probably find examples of bad linking practices back in my history. I’ve only improved because I’ve had this kind of things shown to me as a problem in the past.

And I rail about this stuff because bitching about it relaxes me. I heart Business 2.0; I was a charter subscriber and held a subscription for the first few years of the publication. Nowadays, I’m not wanting to do entrepreneurship, so I dropped it. But their Weblog still points me to good stuff, so I read it.

[On the chance that Damon Darlin, the guy who wrote this entry, reads this ... it's intended as constructive criticism, chief. Much love.]