Phase I: Delete Spam Comments (Complete: Over 250+ Comments Removed)
Phase II: Remove dead links (Scheduled to be completed on 6/15/10)
Phase III: Sort through comments and add blogs that qualify to the list
Phase IV: Add RSS feeds for all the blogs on the blogroll to the Aggregator Feed
Phase V: Find new blogs to add to the list through personal research and visitor's recommendations
Phase VI: Changes to the code which will enhance the appearance, functionality, and ease of navigation
I would like to apologize to anyone who has visited the blogroll during the last year and run across dead links. It wasn't until recently that I realized that this blogroll is becoming obsolete due to the number of blogs listed on it that have either been taken down, moved, or called it quits. I started this blogroll because I wasn't satisfied with the level of organization of other music blogrolls and aggregators. I've been weighed down trying to devote my time to school, work, and the important people in my life, and I didn't realize how long it had been since I had updated the blogroll. Now it is time to take measures to put this blogroll back into good standing with the music blog community.
I'm proud to announce that I have completed the first of six phases of a major update for the blogroll. Above I have listed the phases of the blogroll update which will be occurring over the next two weeks. It took me a full day just to delete all the spam comments. I have enabled comment moderation so that this won't be a problem in the future. Now I am in the process of going through the 250+ comments that you all have left and adding your blogs to the list as you requested. To be fair I have started with the oldest comments first. Unfortunately this will take the longest of any of the phases due to the sheer number of people, who couldn't be bothered to read the qualifications for being listed, that requested to have their blogs listed.
Tomorrow I will begin removing all of the dead links from the blogroll, and trying to locate new urls for any blogs that may have moved. Hopefully this doesn't slim down the list too much, but if it does at least I will know that only quality blogs populate the list. I will also be making a post requesting the visitors to recommend blogs for the categories that are looking rather sparse.
I also plan to take measures to prevent the blogroll from ever falling into such a state of disrepair again. Instead of allowing the comments to build up, I will check them as they are posted, and add or disqualify the blog in question immediately. I will also be doing a bit of research to find new blogs for the list. I recently discovered a few tools on Google Reader that should speed up this process a great deal.
In addition to working on the update for this blogroll, I have also been working on a HUGE project for my regular music blog. Considering I work at least 13 hours a day, all of this can be overwhelming at times, although I refuse to call it quits. If anyone would be willing to help me keep the blogroll updated, please contact me. I could certainly use some help, even if you can only play a minor role or your time is limited. I hope that you all enjoy the work that is being done for the update.