Rule 2 Sunday: How I very nearly stopped doing these once-a-week roundups, and why, and why I didn’t.

So I almost decided to stop doing these. Well, maybe “stop” isn’t the right word: I almost began doing something different. Still might, I guess.

Here’s the deal. The whole purpose of Rule #2 is to thank those who’ve linked you, and to return the favor by linking back. That’s why a bunch of us are doing exactly these kinds of roundups.

But that’s not quite enough for me. I don’t just want to put my friends’ names on the internet, where a few hundred people might see them. I want those few hundred people – or a significant percentage of them, anyway – to click the links.

Click the links, you lazy bastards! Don’t make me go all Darth Luca on your asses. I want to push traffic!

So. Earlier this week, I did a few random quotes. Didn’t name anybody. Didn’t explain. Just found a few quotes that I liked from a few blogs I like and posted them as links.

See, a long list of links like this, that’s just not enticing enough. I know, because nobody’s clicking the links.

But maybe…just maybe…if you saw something like:

• A quick and malicious thrill.

Wh…what the hell is that? What does that mean? How quick? How malicious? Thrill? What kind of thrill?

How can you not click that link, just to find out?

But you’ve got to be judicious. A single post with a dozen links or more – no matter how enticing each link is – isn’t going to drive any significant traffic.

So I’m going to keep doing that stuff (if nothing else, it’s a pretty easy post), and I’m going to keep doing these roundups. Can’t be ungrateful, you know, even if you lazy SOBs aren’t clicking the links.

Onward.

• We are so screwed. Fred Dooley

• Gun control; it’s a public health issue. Grandpa Steve

• Presstitutes. Steve Eggleston

• Short, but dead. Gatordoug

• Whose mother? William Jacobson

• I am an evil giraffe. Moe Lane

• 4 hours AIN’T enough! Ol’ Broad

• Dangling. Fishersville Mike

• Gently but firmly. Carol

• If you’re not at the table, then you’re on the menu. Obi’s Sister

• Gay pun. The Blogprof

• Left-wing anti-Semitism is cool. Donald Douglas

• Fund lavish utopian social programs and fatten the coffers of labor unions! Chris Wysocki

• A leg up. Dan Riehl

• Some chick. Pat Austin

• Quick ‘un. Track-a-’Crat

• My 5″1 ass in a pushup bra. R.S. McCain

• On the same level as the pack of clowns. Smitty

Nothing says thank you like partial quotes taken out of context!