Back when I was 12-15 I used to have blogs. And they used to be a lot. They had animations, snow effects, auto-playing music tracks, Comment sections, Visitor counter. And most importantly there was a sidebar with different links. It used to be filled with links from friends and people you recommended.

We used to reciprocate and even ask for reciprocation.

If you put my link in your blog, I will put yours on mine.

It was cringe-y and when we saw a blog post, we used to comment on it, with the link to our blog. So that they visit it. We even had a list of people that read our blogs and had a blog themselves. We used to comment on their blog informing them to visit our blogs. And look for other people that did the same on other peoples blog.

That sounds intrusive and spam-y. And it was, to some extent. But we used to do it because of the connection. Because that was our social network. That’s how I connected with people, made friends. And discovered contents to read.

Readers were important. Each blog had its format. From very minimal “Here is a poet I wrote” to blogs with each post having a track of music as mp3, a Quotes section, a section updating the readers of their personal lives, a section talking about a particular subject, a section recommending other blogs, each post having a picture, particularly curated to fit the content instead of the SEO. Each Post was a journey, an invitation, beautifully gathered glimpses into what the other person was about. I loved it. I miss it.

I miss opening up Google Reader. To see my friend that I have never met don’t know what they look like, but somehow I know deeper than their in-person friends, have updated their blog. I miss downloading the music tracks they suggested and listening to them, again and again… and again.

I miss going through their post, point by point and commenting on each section. I love the dopamine hit of seeing myself mentioned in their once-in-a-month blog post. Sometimes it was not even by name. But seeing mentioned as “a dear friend told me…”. Oh! Was I so excited to see that I was the “dear friend”! And it went both ways. When I mentioned someone, I was excited to see if they notice it. Waiting patiently for a few days and sometimes a week.

I’m not saying that this was a better than what we have these days. Technology-wise it the internet has come a long way. But what we had back then, was a different form of communication. What you created as a blog and blog post was an exhibition. Sometimes very intimate and sometimes, vague. But the communication was about the beauty of the communication. Not that we were all skilled writers. But we tried. Our measure of success was a lot of times the friends we made. And we put them right there on the “blogroll”. The “links” section. The “friends” section of the sidebar, just under the music player controls, and top of the viewer counter that could increase when you refreshed your blog.

I know it was not perfect. But it was my a kind of interaction that I cannot find in social media these days. It used to be like a neighborhood. Not a party, as it feels in social media. Everyone had their own garden and taste. And you visited them on their terms. Gardens were not purely a statement. But how they thought a garden should look like.

Which brings me to today. A dear friend of mine has recently created a list and put my blog on it. That is a great idea! So, I also have created a blogroll. And I put his blog right there. I hope you visit that list, and take a look at people that are there. Maybe you would like to read their work. Maybe that gives you joy. Whatever it is, I hope you know how a list of links means so much more to me than just a list of links.