For a number of years now I've been a Gossamer Threads' Links devotee. Some people sit around on Sundays doing the crossword puzzle. I like messing with the code in Links. There are all sorts of fun mods to add to the basic script, and I have to admit I've tried most of them. But lately, with a new business, I've been too busy to fiddle with codes and mods. In fact, I've gradually weaned myself off Links. I was feeling pretty good about it, too.

So, wouldn't you know it? About a month ago someone suggested I subscribe to their RSS feed. Huh? It sounded like something from the ICU ("Oh, yes, they finally took Harold off his RSS feed. He'll be eating solid foods again any day now.") Then Nick Usborne of Excess Voice did a piece on RSS and invited people to try signing up for Bloglines and giving his RSS feed a try.

A little uncertainly, I bumbled through the Bloglines registration, not sure what the heck they were talking about half the time. Would I find myself on life support by the end or, worse, inundated with spam? But once I saw some of my favorite e-newsletters listed, I started to get the hang of it. Pretty soon I was signing up for feeds right and left, feeling like a kid let loose in a candy store—Yeah!, I'll take three of those!

Well, of course, this only made me more curious about this whole RSS thing. Who is putting out all this information? Why do they do it? How do they do it? "Blogging"? You're kidding, right?

Still, I can't very well call myself a proficient web designer if I don't even know what a blogger is, can I? So I decided I'd better find out what it's all about. Better yet, let's see how they do it. In fact, let's take a look at some of the software they use like WordPress and Movable Type. What's that you say? Configurable? Plugins? You mean… [brief moment of respectful silence] Mods!?

And so, another MT addict is born. I'd finally kicked the Links habit, only to be introduced to Movable Type. Plugin heaven.

It's a dangerous world out here.