I don't do "link exchanges". I blog because I like reading other blogs, and I'm not obsessed with traffic.

Not that I'll turn it down, mind you, it's just that I've risen to my Peter-Principle-approved level of incompetence in the blogosphere, and I'm fairly content to rest on my laurels.

So when I got an e-mail asking me to exchange a link with the NY Hotties blog, I was dubious, at best. My first assumption being "Yay. Another porn site trolling for traffic. Where's that delete button?"

But... the first part of the e-mail intrigued me "I was browsing through blogs when I came across Bad Example, and I think it's fabulous! I love your love notes. Your wife is a very lucky woman."

Whether Alexa was sincere, or even if it WAS spam, at least she obviously took the time to read my site before contacting me. The e-mail wasn't generic. So I figured the least I could do was return the favor with a visit.

Not the best first impression. The site had loading issues, and the headers & sidebar have an air of "corporate soft core" about them. Nevertheless, I browsed the front page. Hard to get a good feel for the site that way, because she makes the mistake of using extended entries for text, which I'm against. Especially when the extensions open in a new page on a site that has issues with slow load times.

Still... I checked the archives - she's been doing this for over a year & a half. A good indicator that the e-mail wasn't just about getting traffic.

Anyway, I browsed the first few months. Turns out that - while there's plenty of the purely prurient - there's also a good mix of personal observations & commentary. It's not just about the smut.

What really intrigued me as I read, though, was that she has a full command of the English language. She's smart. She can write. Her vocabulary, spelling & grammar are high end.

But there are two posts that convinced me that this site is actually worthwhile. First, although she's not fond of Bush or Republicans, she's not a raving loon about the topic, and is willing to believe her own eyes rather than what she's told. She discussed the CBS Memo Fiasco as follows:

Although it sucks that the memos are fake, the amazing thing is that the blogging community completely outdid the media establishment on this one. Apparently, bloggers proved within a day that the memos are fake. IÂ’m so proud of my fellow bloggers.

Check out this post on Little Green Footballs. The author compares the "original" memo to a version that he typed on Microsoft Word. The similarities are striking. In fact, the memos are identical.

These memos are going to be a complete disaster for the Kerry campaign.

Interestingly, the comments on the post were generally civil, sane, well-written, and on-topic. Apparently her audience is fairly high-end, too.

But enough about politics. Recently she made an intriguing observation on the Olympics, on the difference between the way the Canadian media treated a bronze medal winner and the way the US Media treated a silver:

And I remember watching a whole news story about an athlete from Canada that had won one of the events.

By 'won' I mean he got a bronze.

You wouldnÂ’t ever have guessed that from the story though. It was reverential, awed, and respectful. The guy, at least in the producers' eye, was a hero.

[snip]

I tell you all of this because IÂ’ve been thinking about Sasha Cohen. Who won a silver medal in WomenÂ’s Figure Skating on Thursday.

Oh. You may not know that. You may only know that she fell. And fell again. The media likes to show it over and over and again.

Message? Sasha CohenÂ’s a loser. SheÂ’s soft. She [f***ed] up.

How very un-American of her.

Forget that Sasha was the most beautiful, most glorious skater/ballerina to take the ice in a long time. Forget that she fell, got up, and pulled herself together completely, enough to earn a place on the podium. Isn’t that a perfect ending in itself—at least one to a commercial movie?

Over and over I watched American commentators approach our loser athletes who won silvers and bronzes and ask them minutes after their race, "WHAT WENT WRONG."

So... I'll give her a spot on the 'roll, because the writing is good.

Which is NOT the same as a link exchange.

Which I still don't do.

So don't even ask.

Posted by: Harvey at 03:45 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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