Hang on, what's a blogroll? Sushi?

n. A list of blogs. A blogger features a list of their favorite blogs in the sidebar. Derived, it would seem, as a pun on logrolling.

These can be a powerful network-building tool, as Ink on My Fingers proved. My British friend Susannah Conway began this blog while mourning a lover's sudden death. Her style was highly poetic and confidential. "It became a refuge for me," she confesses, "a place I could share my heart while also finding my way."

Conway unfurled a mighty list of online comrades. Comments poured in. Intimacies blossomed. "I discovered an incredible community in blogland, and it was a trip to the States to meet up with some blog friends in 2006 that rekindled my passion for photography, something that had started many years ago." She wound up switching careers and now tries to share more passions than sorrows.

Her blogroll's shrunk by 60–70% since 2005, I'd wager. She splits it into two components – photography and inspiring – one for each sidebar. Note their placement, midway down the page. That's wise. For a diary-style blog, readers should first encounter information about the author and what to expect (descriptions, tag clouds etc.). Once they're hooked and scrolling, then give your peeps a shout-out.

Good in moderation, don't let your blogroll reach absurd lengths or you'll resemble a link-farm. Devoid of content, these sites are the equivalent of ghost-nets, adrift and tangled with the drowned corpses of baby porpoises and narwhal "unicorn" whales.

OK, maybe I exaggerated a little... But they are pretty annoying. Their architects feed off the creative energy of others. They write a program that harvests headlines and wispy excerpts – usually under 25 words – with hyperlinks to the original material. And ads. Lots and lots of ads, which is how these talentless ghouls piggyback profit.