"You link to yourself a lot, don’t you?"
September 23, 2008 Leave a comment
Yes, yes I do.
The title of this post is from a comment on a post where I linked to other posts I’d written as a means to give history and support an argument.
I didn’t do it out of vanity or pride. I didn’t do it to increase hits on those articles. Even if all fifteen of you re-read those articles, there’d be no gain.
I did it because there was no reason to create a long, long post providing all the background for readers who weren’t aware of the landscape. Doing so creates an "I told you that story to tell you this one" scenario, and it loses the interest of readers.
When one achieves a body of work, there’s no logic in ignoring that history; why explain the same points over and over, when you can cite a reference instead?
- The answer: self-reference.
- The other (hidden, but should be recognized) answer: admit when you’re wrong.
- The other other answer: don’t crow when you’re right .. just cite.
So, yes: I link to myself a lot. I really do.