I just got a note from a reader, Anita, who discovered the 2011 All-Star List of Minimalist Bloggers for the first time. For those who don’t know, it is a list of 120+ minimalist bloggers that I published earlier this year. Anita started running through the links and realized many of the blogs are now defunct.
Anita wrote, “Hi, this is a fabulous link and I have subscribed to a number of them. Sadly a few of the bloggers listed have now stopped or moved their blogs elsewhere – still a useful resource.”
Thanks for dropping that comment Anita, because it brings me to an inner conundrum I’ve been having lately. I first wrote that list when I’d been blogging for just a few months. Each new minimalist blogger I ran into was such an amazing and exciting moment for me. I’d been living my minimalist life with Patrick and suddenly there was a whole world of people out there interested in the same thing as me. It’s like being the solo member of the flying chipmunks club and suddenly discovering hundreds of other flying chipmunk fans out there. ;)
In an unrealistic moment of overachieving I set out to make the biggest dang directory on minimalism out there, and then when I’d been working on it for a while, Francine announced on twitter she was planning a directory as well. Francine, from Miss Minimalist, being the gracious and lovely person that she is, offered me the names she’d amassed and told me to run with it. Very sweet! (Thank you Francine.)
And so I did. The All-Star List of Minimalist Bloggers had over 120 active minimalist blogs in it’s list, and that was even with some accidental but very notable exclusions (mnmlist anyone?oops!).
I had a lovely adventure creating the All-Star list, but just like you mentioned Anita, I noticed the list got outdated very quickly. Here are a few things I learned about creating the list:
-Life Keeps Going: People change, interests change. It seemed the All-Star List was only out a few months before familiar names left their blogs and the list became less timely. Many simple living friends I’d made online moved on to other interests and stopped blogging. Somehow I hadn’t expected that. Minimalist Packrat was my first venture into blogging and I had simply assumed the people around me would continue to be the same, adding more people in to the community, but not subtracting many. I’ve learned I was wrong. There is a beautiful ebb and flow in life, where interests develop and change. Change is good, and it’s wonderful when online friends decide to change interests. It keeps things fresh. It also makes a static list like the 2011 All Star Minimalist Bloggers list outdated very quickly.
-Boundaries Exist: Putting this list together also made me realize I didn’t have a clear idea of where the concept of minimalism begins and ends. My version of minimalism and your version of minimalism may be very different. For some people it’s all about downsizing the stuff, for others it’s all about philosophical treatises on the concept of choosing less, for others it’s how to make homemade laundry detergent. I had no boxes or borders for minimalism. Minimalist philosophy blogs, sure, easy to recognize. But digital nomad blogs? Sustainability and green living blogs? Tiny house blogs? Decluttering blogs? Minimalist decorating blogs? Anti-consumerism and activism blogs? All of these concepts feel like a facet of minimalism to me. Doing the list brought up the understanding that boundaries blur between concepts and categorizing a movement is beyond my skill.
- I Created a Glorified Blogroll: I also realized at some point long after the project was done, that I’d created a blogroll, just a bigger one. Anything big is often more unwieldy and difficult to change. The project took a month of intensive work to create. Did I now want to spend the rest of my days continuously tweaking it to make sure it was the most active and biggest directory on minimalism available? That’s a lot of work for one girl to take on with an always changing, always adapting list.
-I Wasn’t Ready to be Big: Yes I wanted my blog to grow, but when I released this list, the blog grew quicker than I could. I lacked grace, panache, business sense and organizational skills. My “p.r./marketing group” wasn’t adept at keeping up with the work “the creatives” were doing. I just wanted to write but I found myself performing what felt like alien tasks to me. Like a lot of cues in life, I just didn’t get twitter, facebook, or social networking. I couldn’t keep up with lots of emails. I was a slow ”one-on-one” girl, the one you see in the corner of the party, not a wall flower, the one having an intense conversation with a handful of people. I’d always done small groups before and big was hard. I wasn’t ready to keep up with lots of contact on email and social networking groups. I wasn’t ready to be big.
-I Have an Online Foot: My inner eight year old was waiting for an opportunity like this. ;) She loves to get me in trouble. Just like when I was eight, I still manage to say the wrong things. This may not have ever happened to you, but it happens to me. I tend to be rather shy when people first meet me, but then as I get to know them, I share a little more of my inner me. My inner me just talks. She doesn’t understand editing. And my inner me manages to say the wrong thing a lot because she’s got a lot of rough edges that need to be polished off. So I’m blogging away here on my little nothing blog and then I started to become aware that I wasn’t sitting in a corner talking to a few friends. I was talking to a lot of people, like thousands of people. Holy shit I had an audience, and there I was just blah-blah-blah. I started to contemplate my past words and my present words, and to contemplate the energy I share with people through my words. I’ve been delightedly discovering the balance point between creative expression and online foot.
Because of these five things I pulled a typical Tanja maneuver, I successfully buried the All Star Minimalist Bloggers list and moved on, never mentioning it again. I made the list because I wanted to promote community between minimalist bloggers, and instead I ran away when the community felt like too much. (I’m still working on boundaries, people. :)
But I have continued to mull these internal questions and concepts, and I have worked on the list without publishing the updates. Today I give you one update, and it’s in honor of Anita, who asked about it in a comment, a shortened list of 47 active minimalist blogs. I have not added any names to this list, I have simply deleted the names that were no longer active or weren’t posting on a very frequent basis.
Before I give you the half-year list update though, I want to ask you some questions. How long have you known about the original list? Have you found it useful? Can you think of a better way of compiling it for next year?
This is what I’ve been contemplating. Opening up a submissions page in October and taking submissions for all of October and November. Then I’d compile from the submissions received and present the list in January.
What do you think? Are you all into the idea? Or should I skip it? It’s a lot of work, but it would also be cool to keep the tradition alive.
If I do create a new list for next year, what kind of categorization ideas do you have? Last year was A to Z with no categories and a broad range of subjects and posting frequencies. ;)
The 2011 All-Star List of Minimalist Bloggers *Half Year Update
- 365 Less Things: Colleen’s blog is a fun, chatty place with a big focus on decluttering inspiration and mini-missions to get you going. She spent a year tossing 1 piece of clutter every day. You won’t find much minimalism talk but you will find tons of clutter inspiration!
- Analisis Realista: Omar has a Spanish written blog on minimalism and productivity. My Spanish is poor but I know he’s writing about simplifying and minimalism because I can make out a few words! If you want a Spanish blog on the minimalist lifestyle Omar’s your go-to guy.
- Annie Enygma: Annie Brewer is one sassy and strong lady. She doesn’t pull any punches and she tells it like it is. You’ll find no-holds barred posts on living the simple life, life inspirations and minimalism at her blog. She offers the perspective of a single mom living in Kentucky.
- Becoming Minimalist : Joshua Becker is warm and inspiring. His blog has wonderful nuggets of wisdom for moderate minimalists (and aspiring minimalists) from a family and kids perspective. He also offers a Christian perspective, though it doesn’t dominate his blog.
- Be More With Less : Courtney Carver has a serene and inspirational lifestyle blog. She blogs about a wide variety of subjects, all with a focus on simple living such as food, health, wellness, money and minimalism. A visit to Courtney is like a day at the beach.
- Beth Aron : Beth offers the perspective of a woman in her 50′s who lives alone taking up the minimalist lifestyle. Go check out Beth and follow along as she walks her path towards a simple life.
- Castles in the Air : Nina Yau offers a radical minimalist perspective with a strong focus on independent business and travel. Many of her posts focus on concepts like rediscovering your purpose, finding your creative muse, and working for yourself.
- Crunchy Minimalist : Who runs Crunchy Minimalist? Anonymous! I do know it’s a married couple with, get this, 9 children. Yep! Want a minimalist journey perspective with lots of green living thrown in and an 11 member household? You know where to go.
- Daily Bread: Jill is an amazing lady. I’ve loved following along and watching her decluttering progress. At Jill’s blog you’ll find the most organized home ever! You’ll also be able to follow along on her journey to a moderately minimized life from a family perspective, complete with two homeschooled daughters.
- (De(content)ment) : Arron Hodden is a single parent living a simple, minimalist life in the rural midwest. He doesn’t hold any punches. I love his fresh, honest perspective on what it takes to live a simpler, saner and happier life. Honesty is the key word with Arron’s writing style.
- Every Day Minimalist: Serena is a “corporate minimalist”. She moves and travels frequently for work. Along the way she adopted a minimalist lifestyle to make it easier. She blogs from a very contemporary perspective and you won’t find any deprivation at Every Day Minimalist. She loves pretty things… just less of them. :) You’ll find lots of quick, fun real life posts!
- Everything I Dreamed : Jaime has a simple living perspective of a wife and mother. Her posts are beautiful with engaging photos of special simple moments in her life. She touches on crafting, cooking and living a simpler and more fullfilling life. Everything I Dreamed is a dreamy, beautiful blog. Very inspirational for people with young children.
- Ex Consumer: Jenny is all about saving more, spending less, ditching debt, and making more. She’s a money blog coming from a non-consumer angle. She’s also just launched two weeks ago! Her blog is like the minimalism of money blog. Check her out!
- Exile Lifestyle : I’m not even sure what Colin Wright’s blog is about. He’s an extreme minimalist traveler and his posts travel the whole giant world of writing topics. You never know what you’ll find, but it’s all superbly written and fresh.
- Fenikkusu: David’s spot is a tumblr, known for their minimalist blog layouts. Cool! He shares photos and posts about his journey to minimalism in that old-fashion blogging way, like a journal. A nice read!
- Gip Plaster: Gip (yep, that’s his name) blogs about minimalism, simple living, frugal living, and conscious spending. He’s got a groovy way of looking at the world and I really enjoy his writing style. I gotta head over to Gip’s more often!
- Greenimalist: I first ran into Aaron and Hsinya when they were featured on Miss Minimalist and I got SOOO excited! They’re blogging up green goodness and minimalism in style and I really need to add them to my rss feed. I’ll do it right now!
- Guy Named Dave: Dave started the 100 Thing Challenge. Now contrary to what you might think, Dave isn’t an extreme minimalist, he’s a moderate minimalist family guy finding his way towards a life better lived with less stuff. A wonderful read and a definite rss addition.
- Katy Dunnet : Katy writes on minimalism, decluttering, finances (budgeting), travels, and silly, funny posts that make you crack a big smile. Katy lives minimal, lives single, travels frequently and experiences life in a pretty darn exciting way.
- Life More Lived: Sara writes about creativity, minimalism and simplicity in a dreamy poetic way. You’ll find her topics range wide from food to fashion to sustainability. She writes what’s on her mind and in her heart.
- Minimalist at Home: Faith is amazing. She is a minimalist living in a 10 person minimalist household. I get inspiration from her real-life family minimalist posts all the time. If you want inspiration for family and children minimalism Faith is the number one spot to head to!
- Minimalist Packrat: Hey, that’s me! I’m Tanja and I write about minimalist lifestyles, simple living, sustainability, and decluttering. I’m a fairly extreme minimalist, but many of my posts are from a moderate minimalist approach.
- Minimalist Photography 101: Steve is a wonderful photographer who blogs about how to take minimalist photos. Awesome resource for photographers and minimalists and minimalists who want to be photographers! As a terrible photographer I need to spend more time getting wisdom from Steve.
- Minimalist Woman: I’m trying not to play favorites with anyone on this list, but Meg is one of my absolute faves! She writes thoughtful artistic posts on her minimalist adventures and I always finish a post of hers with a serious amount of pondering and personal reflection. She’s got style and a great writing voice and she’s in my top ten of favorite minimalist blogs.
- Miss Minimalist: Francine, just like Meg, is one of my absolute faves. She feels like the coziest spot in my house, where I curl up with a good book and a cup of tea. I’ve personally dubbed Francine as the provider of gentle minimalism. She writes gracefully on decluttering, minimizing and finding that sweet spot in life where “just enough” is perfect.
- Mouvement Minimaliste: This is a French blog put out by a dame named Florence. I don’t read French but maybe you do!
- One Dress Protest: Kristy’s got a fun thing going on. She’s blogging her way through 2011 sharing her experiences of life wearing the same dress every single day! It’s her one dress protest and it’s a personal revolt against consumerism, unethical practices in the fashion world and reclaiming her sense of identity.
- Project 333: This is Courtney’s spin-off blog from Be More With Less. It’s her minimalist fashion challenge that’s gotten quite popular. She recently created Project 333 probably as a way to keep the challenge from taking over her main blog! It’s the perfect spot for folks doing her challenge to meet up and chat.
- Ridiculously Extraordinary: Karol (pronounced Karl) is a minimalist who blogs about freedom, health, travel and life. At times he pops in a post about minimalism as well. Karol is a great motivator and takes the most commonplace subjects and tweaks them until you’re looking at life from a new fresh perspective. I’m a big fan of what Karol’s got going on.
- Rowdy Kittens: Tammy blogs about simply living, tiny house living and her downsizing journey. You’ll find a healthy sprinkling of green living and happiness posts too. She’s fun and down to earth.
- Simply Optimal: Gianpaolo is a minimalist, but he blogs more about lifestyle design. You’ll find lots of personal development posts on his blog.
- Simple Black Coffee: Craig blogs his own personal decluttering journey as well as his musings on the excessive consumerism in America and the minimalist lifestyle.
- Simple Life Prattle: Allan is one of my top fave bloggers. I always feel a little closer to the simple life of country living whenever I swing by. It could be me pining for rural life again, but it’s more than that, Allan is an artist with the written word. Love him!
- Simple Savvy: Christine’s been blogging about simple living and green living since 2008 so she’s got a couple years under her belt. She’s light on the minimalism thang’ medium on the simple living thang’ and real heavy on the sustainable green living thang’. It’s a nice mix and a great blend.
- Smash Your Television: Laura got a great name didn’t she? Despite her extreme domain, Laura’s posts are more moderate minimalism with a healthy dose of green living thrown in. She’s a college student with big green living plans for after graduation.
- Suburban Satsangs: Tamara is a blast. She meanders around the soulfulness of home life like a deva. Not a diva. Like a deva! I fell in love with her blog the moment I read her minimalist haircut post. Go discover it for yourself!
- Minimalist Mom: Rachel hails from Vancouver and shares her family perspective on minimalism. You’ll find lots of snappy posts on minimalism often coming from a mom’s perspective. Minimalist moms have the perfect spot over at Rachel’s blog.
- The Minimalists: Joshua and Ryan have a mid-size city perspective to minimalism as thirty something guys who’ve embraced a a minimalist lifestyle.
- The Unlikely Mage: Just to prove that minimalism is seeping everywhere, along comes Harry, the unlikely mage who combines musing about magic, martial arts, and minimalism. You can read about meditation, dream interpretations and minimalism all rolled up in one.
- This Tiny House: Hillary writes about, you guessed it, tiny house living! Which in it’s own way is minimalism. It’s house minimalism. You’ll find lots of amazingly inspirational posts on the alternative housing choices people have made. Very cool!
- Three New Leaves: Matt blogs about changing your life by simplifying it. His main topics are minimalism, travel, the primal food diet and simplicity.
- Towards the Future: Adam’s focus is minimalism as a method for intelligent use of resources, which makes him one of those new blogs fitting in the sustainability/minimalism category. Yay for another sustainable minimalist!
- Unbridled Existence: I include Chase becauseI can.
- Untitled Minimalism: I really like Robert’s style. He’s a new find for me and I find thoughtful, well constructed posts on his blog. He writes about minimalism, voluntary simplicity, frugality, conscious living and throws in fun food posts to boot!
- Zen Habits: How did Leo end up at the very bottom of this list? Bad luck of the alphabet draw. But that’s o.k. because there’s a 99% chance you’ve already been over at Zen Habits before. Leo is the godfather of online minimalism blogs. He is quick, insightful inspiration for what ails ya. Good man. Good blogger.
- SchwingleSchwingleDingDong: Claudia’s a German minimalist blogger and I know she’s blogging about minimalism and not ding dongs because I see the word minimalismus on her site! If you read German go check out Claudia.
*Note. Thank you to everyone who responded below. The conversation was like a public brainstorming session and I have to say I loved the community feeling of it. Thank you, thank you, thank you to each of you who shared your suggestions. I truly appreciate it.
Hey everyone, just a reminder, let’s not put any links and descriptions to bloggers in this comment section. Well, you’re welcome to, but it won’t be where submissions are collected.
I’d like to use this comment string to discuss whether an updated list is something we all want for 2012, and if so, what kind of categories and parameters (if any) there should be.
Last year was A to Z and very broad. It felt unwieldy to me. I craved categories… or something. ;) Ideas? Suggestions?
Yes! I’m into the idea. I mean, no pressure or anything because I understand it must be a pain to create, but I’ve known about and been using your list for awhile. I have some favorite minimalist blogs I subscribe to and read every post, but sometimes I want more, so that’s when I check the list again to find something new.
A-Z worked for me. From a maintenance perspective it seems like categories would be harder to manage, but I could see including things like small living in the list if you wanted. It seems like it would be hard to come up with a category system that didn’t have a lot of cross-pollination.
Candi @ min hus recently posted..Small Beginnings
Cross-pollination is definitely one of the toughest concepts with the category idea, you’re right. :) Patrick is firmly against the concept of introducing categories for it. I keep seeing visions of an old-fashioned website directory style list with manual user created submissions and a human done approval…. but something like that can descend into the spammy, and it’s also beyond my coding level to set up the forms. ;)
I don’t know what kind of webhost you use, but there is software out there to run link directories already. You wouldn’t necessarily have to do it manually, if it helps.
Jack recently posted..On the Other Side
Hey Jack,
Do you have any software recommendations? I use hostgator for hosting but I try to stay out of the backend as much as possible to avoid accidental blog destruction. (My brain and php don’t get along.)
I believe Hostgator offers Fantastico as an auto installer? You should have access through there to install/try out “Dew-NewPHPLinks.” It may be more complicated than you need, but setting up scripts doesn’t really get any easier than Fantastico. :)
Jack recently posted..On the Other Side
Thanks for sharing that Jack. Have you used Dew-New before? How stable a platform do you feel it is?
I’ve used it on a small scale and not had problems with it, but I can’t say from personal experience how it scales up.
Jack recently posted..On the Other Side
Do you still have it active? Can I see a link to the project? I’d like to see it in action if possible. I’m slow to choose technology because it’s a bitch to switch later.
I don’t, unfortunately. I can throw one up really quick on my personal site if you want to play around with it, though?
Jack recently posted..Small Steps
*Edited to say, Thanks for the offer of that Jack, but it seems like it would be a lot of work for you. I dug around in the dewnew forum until I found a live version. It was very cute,simple and down-to-earth. I’m going to dig into it further. Thanks to both you (and Faith) who got me on the right track of thinking software instead of doing it all by hand.
Hi Tanja,
Compiling this kind of list is a HUGE undertaking. I did a similar thing on MinimalistMoms.com when I tried to collect the RSS feeds of other blogging minimalist moms. I just took open submissions in the beginning. But like you, I quickly saw the list get outdated and the feeds go silent. Like you I had hoped it would be a “set it and forget it” type of situation. :)
I can’t even imagine trying to categorize this kind of list unless they were really broad categories (like money, decorating, personal blogs, philosophical, organization, etc.) I don’t know though…it’s a lot to deal with either way. I applaud your efforts!
And again, thanks for including me on the list.
Faith | Minimalist at Home recently posted..Not Enough Jelly for My Bread: When You Spread Yourself Too Thin
Hey Faith,
You’re right, I can see how the minimalistmoms feeds project you did was probably similar with the group of feeds needing regular tweaking to stay current with the minimalist mom blogs.
I guess the thing for me is my mind keeps coming back to the idea. Yes it’s a lot of work, but there’s a community side of me that really wants to see a directory happen. Do you remember Carwin from Less Please? This is months and months ago, but we were talking quite a bit, and he came really close to putting up a minimalism community site concept with lots of people contributing content feeds (like your minimalist moms concept except instead of raw feeds it would be manually submitted guest posts that would then be human-approved), along with a forum and a full-scale directory.
Ambitious? Yes, but for all the right reasons. Ambitious as a way of creating a stronger minimalism community.
He had the coding genius to make it happen and there were quite a few of us offering to step on board and assist with other aspects of the project. The best part about what he wanted to do, was his emphasis was not on money, it was on preserving an archive of minimalist content. He was seeing a lot of online minimalism content disappearing as domains expired and he wanted to collectively as a community gather some of the best works for future readers. Anyways, Carwin moved to France and stopped blogging on minimalism, but some part of me would really love to see something like that develop.
End of ramble, thanks for listening Faith. You’ve always been here for me. :)
I think a minimalist community of sorts would be cool. Ever since you and I talked about the concept it’s been rolling around the back of my mind. I’ll be curious to see where these mental tangents take us. ;-)
Faith | Minimalist at Home recently posted..Simple Fantasies
I think it’s cool too Faith. You and I have talked about it a lot, and I think everything’s just been trying to come into form for me. Have you or your husband ever put up a directory site before? I’m curious if you have, if you found it complicated. I keep feeling like a basic but very extensive list is more my speed. You’re talking to the girl who just put up her first subdomain a month ago and needed a bailout from the catalyst support guys after trying to change one spec of code.
I remember you did that forum a while back. That was very community oriented as well.
I haven’t messed with setting up a directory site. If you check the WP Plugins under “Business Directory” there look to be several options. I also found a lot of info when I Googled “Set up Directory site using WordPress” but many of those are paid options. I would go the plugin route myself especially if you just want a basic solution.
Faith | Minimalist at Home recently posted..Not Enough Jelly for My Bread: When You Spread Yourself Too Thin
Thanks Faith. A plug-in. That would be crazy cool. I’m off to go look under business directory right now. You rock girl. ;)
A-Z is fine if you think you can handle it. Breaking it into groups might make it hard to decide where individual things go, but it might also make it easier to define what you’re including and what you aren’t. I love blogs about small living and decluttering and their ilk as well as strict minimalism, but if you don’t want to include those, you don’t have to – this is your project, after all.
Jack recently posted..On the Other Side
Thanks Jack. You’ve given me a lot to think about. Especially the last line, because I don’t want it to be my project. I want it to be a people project, something bigger than just one blogger doing a curated list. Hmmm.
Then maybe you can put a call out for people who are interested in and knowledgeable about those other fields and see if there’s interest? You can handle what you’re interested in, and other people can pitch in with what they already know about.
Jack recently posted..On the Other Side
Interesting. I’ll try a quiet call right here. Would anyone be interested in handle a special interest niche of minimalism? There’d be a lot of details to work out, but I bet we could all manage.
Shout out, if you’d like to handle the directory compiling for a special niche of minimalism. Three categories pop into mind right away: sustainability minimalists, tiny house minimalists, and digital nomad minimalists. It’s all pretty loose right now, so speak up if you have an interest.
ahem…I guess this is the kick I need to start blogging again. I have been looking for a little push and I just got one. It has been a month plus since I last blogged. ooops. look for some posts in the near future. I have lots to share…
jaime recently posted..weekending
Jaime darling,
Whether you blog or not, I am always so excited when I see your name pop. Everything I Dreamed continues to inspire me, and I appreciate you. It’s amazing how much I’ve gotten to know you over this last almost year now. I’d love to see you keep blogging, but I also understand how life can change. Either way, I know what you’re doing is beautiful!
My blogging has changed, but I haven’t left the reading & commenting part of the minimalism community! :) I like A-Z lists just for the ease factor. There are so many variations on the theme of minimalism & it seems a lot of bloggers touch on several different aspects. I’m relieved that the list got smaller, because I’m having a hard time keeping up with everyone, lol!
Elle Dougherty recently posted..3 Things
Hey Elle,
The amazing thing is, the list got smaller but not really at all. I can think of dozens and dozens of newer or new to me bloggers who aren’t on this list. Some people I’ve known about since February still aren’t on here.
That doesn’t mean I go read everyone on a list like this any longer. It’s too overwhelming, but I have my favorites and I like to branch out sometimes too. My personal list is much smaller, but I feel like it’s important to share everyone.
If I hadn’t made it onto a few lists when I was just starting out I never would have had more than Patrick reading me. I’d be the very quiet minimalist packrat. I like the idea of giving people a chance to get known, not that I exclusively hold the reigns for that (yeah right), more that it can be hard to be found online, and I believe everyone deserves their opportunity, everyone who wants and is in a niche deserves to be listed. I think it’s my personal angst against dmoz the “human driven, community driven” open source directory project that makes me want to take up a project like this, even if it is just in this one small niche interest group.
It’s a freedom of communication and freedom of information thing for me. If the search engines and directories turn into exclusive clubs where factors other than fairness come into play when determining results, then people aren’t found. But who’s determining who’s found or not found? As a people we can be found by sharing and linking with one another. We don’t need search engines to do it for us. We can do it through a directory concept and a community approach.
Now, Elle, thank you for letting me ramble on like this. I appreciate you.
I love it when you ramble! :) And yes, I agree it would be nice to find a fair directory where everyone gets a chance to be linked. It’s quite a daunting project, though…
Elle Dougherty recently posted..My Case Against Coupons (A Review of Roots by Matt Madiero)
I’m going to persevere. I’ve talked about setting up a directory for many years, more on the ehi sort of stuff, but I never could commit myself to it. This is something I’m strangely excited to do. ;)
All right everyone, A to Z definitely sounds like the popular concept. It’s easy. I don’t get mired in the dangers of categorization and cross-polination, and it’s very democratic, just like the phone book.
Now what about frequency of postings? Should it be an open submission where anyone out there with a blog on minimalism submits? That’s awesome and open-ended and provides a community approach.
I love a community approach.
The question I learned to ask when I was part of a community, was, what is it the community wants? Should blogs that only update one a month be included or does that bloat a list? What about a blogger that hasn’t posted for three months. The content is static, in the past, does it still have value? Should it be included in a list as an archive of what once was?
I’d like to hear what you think about that? Because I encountered the same reaction as Anita, when I looked at my own list a month ago. More than half the names were inactive. My own list let me down. Is that a limited perception though? Do inactive/quasi-inactive blogs have value on a list like this?
I think inactive blogs are definitely still valuable, but there does need to be some curating for expired domains and sites that have been taken down. Maybe you could have some way of flagging blogs that are non-updating? I know when I was new, I didn’t mind running across old blogs as long as they had a lot of useful content, but now I tend to prefer sites that are currently updating.
As far as whether it should be open to any submissions or not, well, that depends on how much you think the project needs a gatekeeper. Obviously you don’t want to post spam sites. Do you think there should be a standard beyond that?
(I hope not, personally, because I want to be included. *wink*)
Jack recently posted..Small Steps
Awesome, Jack. Thanks for taking the time with this. I really appreciate it.
1) A frequent deletion of expired/removed domains.
2) A gatekeeper for spam, which could get nasty, but as long as it stayed real small it wouldn’t be a problem.
3) Then last is trixy territory. I absolutely don’t want to curate this list or have anyone else curate it. That’s the most important part of all in my mind, which means specific guidelines need to be built in before I start the submissions process.
The first issue is posting frequency. If a blog still posts once a year, or is sitting silent they stay on? It would be democratic, it just feels less active. Inactive blogs could take over active blogs on the list. That might reduce the lists efficiency. But it also allows for people who have gone on hiatus and then return, life does happen sometimes. I’d like to take a vote on that:
If a blog still posts once a year, or is sitting silent they stay on?
Yes.
No.
I like Megyn’s idea below, if you don’t think two lists would be too hard to maintain. Otherwise I think it depends on what you want the list to be. Is it the CURRENT All Stars or the ALL TIME All Stars? Like I said, I think the latter is a good resource to have available, so that’d be my vote. However, it might be harder to maintain.
Jack recently posted..Small Steps
Fuck. Well when you put it like that it definitely cuts straight through the issue.
All time all stars, yes. Maintenance for two lists. How current is current? What does it take to stay in the current list? It’s got to be democratic.
Maybe have 2 lists (alphabetized, of course lol)-1 for current posters, and 1 for oldies, but goodies?
Megyn @ Minimalist Mommi recently posted..Tools for the Tools
Awesome Megyn. You rock girl. Thanks for that. Alphabetized, the lol is hilarious because I messed up the alphabetizing terribly on the first list…. and I was a frickin’ library aid in middle school. I should know better. ;)
I’ll keep this short and sweet, Tanja. I don’t really care how you update the list, so long as it reflects YOUR personality. That is what keeps drawing the readers….YOUR take on minimalism.
Oh I know that Lorna, and I have plenty of my take on minimalism to share, I do it all the time. With a list like this I just see a bigger opportunity to explore the meaning of an independent blog movement, and what that really means. I suppose in the long run, I’ll look up some directory software and see what it would take to set something like that up, or I’ll shrink it down to being just a personal blog roll. I was just interested in talking about a community concept of minimalism. I guess I think lists like this are important. ;)
Firstly, thank you for taking the time to compile such an amazing list! It’s tremendously helpful just to be able to find blogs that feel relatable, that give me things to think about, that support the way I choose to live. I’m an organizational fiend! If it were me, I’d alphabetize AND categorize. But again, I live for organizational tasks, and you may not. I say, whatever YOU feel like doing and however much work YOU want to put in will all be greatly appreciated :)
P.S.- I’m definitely like you…the whole small group mentality. Thankfully, my blog isn’t big, so I’m not too embarrassed…yet!
Megyn @ Minimalist Mommi recently posted..Tools for the Tools
Thanks for sharing that Megyn. It must be nice being so organized. I’m a minimalist largely because of my disorganization. Being minimalist makes it easier, but it’s still a cross-class skill. Yikes! It sounds like you’ve got organization under control and that’s awesome.
Great idea to update the list, Tanja.
And certainly encouragement for me to blog more!
Michael | greenminimalist.net recently posted..The misnamed blog
Hey Michael,
It was you and Elle who blogged again since I did this updated/shortened list. I had trimmed it down last month and both of you were on what seemed like a longer summer hiatus. I’m glad you’re thinking of blogging more. ;)
It’s fine, Tanja, I understand. No really, it’s fine. Absolutely fine. Really. I’m fine.
( No I actually am ^_^ )
Michael | greenminimalist.net recently posted..The misnamed blog
See, you make me laugh. I bet you are completely ^_^
^_^ is my middle name. Sometimes, on a bad day, it changes to >..< -_- ^_^ ^_______^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exwn6fuF9y0
Michael Ashcroft recently posted..The misnamed blog
That so didn’t come out the way I typed it…
>.<
Michael Ashcroft recently posted..The misnamed blog
What I meant to say is that on a bad day it turns to >..< to -_- to ^_^ to ^_______^
I'll leave now :)
Michael Ashcroft recently posted..The misnamed blog
Now you’re making me go look shit up to see what you’re saying. ;) Can I stick to my primitive winking smiley face? I just graduated to winking and I feel quite “with the times”. Smiles.
Oh wait! >.< is my favorite. I can read the Urban Dictionary too you know.
Good stuff. ^.^
But, Tanja…. naughty words? On the internet? Oh, for shame.
Michael Ashcroft recently posted..The misnamed blog
You can keep me off the list, because my minimalism site is going away (x_x) on it’s one year anniversary, October 19. It’s going to be readable, but I won’t be posting there. Moving focus to the new site instead. O_o
Elle Dougherty recently posted..My Case Against Coupons (A Review of Roots by Matt Madiero)
I would love to see an updated list:) I used the original list and just went back looked up a blog on it the other day:) I think an A-Z list would be easiest to use and easiest to compile. I like the idea of submissions because with the original list you got suggestions in the comments and you replied that you would be adding more blogs that weekend and that never happened. I am not judging, just saying that taking submissions in clear way and for a specified amount of time would also give anybody who wants a chance to give input and also limit potential criticism too:)
Hey Susanna,
Yeah. I am the queen of dropping a balls. I did say I’d be adding more blogs to the list and then it never happened.
I’d never intended to add more names right away, I’d done the list and planned to have it sit unchanged for a year. Then a few more submissions came in and I said I’d add them, and then I felt overwhelmed when lots came in.
They were in the comments and I got a lot as random twitter messages flying by me. I had chicken-scratch lists of names and urls I needed to add. I originally stated I’d add more names when I thought there were a dozen or so more names to add to the list. I’m not trying to justify, I’m just stating that I got overwhelmed. It was a bigger task than I could chew.
That’s why I’m asking for feedback today. Before I even consider undertaking a list for next year I’m trying to figure out the best, most democratic way to do it while not having it take up a month of my life.
I like your idea of taking submissions in a clear way with a specified time limit. I probably won’t be going the full directory software approach this year, because the technology intimidates me, so contemplating a similar on-site blog list seems like a better approach.
I’ve considered writing one post that states October 1st through December 1st as the submission time frame, and clearly states out the submission guidelines, with each person writing their own description. Then I would compile and alphabetize the list, releasing it in January. That sounds simpler to me than what I did originally. Anyone have any other ideas of how to keep it simple, yet open to all minimalist blogs?
The only things I would add are:
1)It might end up being a 2 step process then because people are going to make suggestions for blogs they read too not necessarily blogs that they write. So, if you have people writing their own descriptions then you would need to contact the bloggers who have been submitted by a third party:)
2) Also, I think that you don’t need to make the submission window so big, 1 or even 2 months sounds like plenty of time to me.
Hey Susanna,
1) You’re right. I can’t have people submit blogs that aren’t their own. That’s where all the trouble starts up, with double listings, varying descriptions and whatnot.
2) You really think one month would be enough time? I guess I just wanted to make sure people had plenty of opportunity to submit. Last time two weeks of “late submissions” overwhelmed me because I’d put the project to bed and there were latecomers. I really want to be ample. And if I can make the project more hands-off it won’t be more work to have a longer submission window.
Anyone else have thoughts on the time length to accept submissions? It won’t be longer than two months for sure. Patrick votes a short one week, and Susanna feels a one or two month window maximum is good.
I’m late to the party today–been teaching.
A-Z is fine. Simple, you know?
I had been reading your blog before New Years so I saw the post and flagged it. For a while I went back and looked up new blogs from your list. But like you I eventually started hitting ‘dead blogs’ so I just stuck with my faves. I think my favorite new read from that list (besides Jill) was greenimilist.
Don’t make this too complicated; then it won’t be—minimalist.
Hey Willow, you are so right, and it’s funny but doing it this way feels less complicated to me. The first way was too scattershot and that’s why I didn’t update. I’m taking a different approach to it this time around that involves people helping me think it through. Remember how I asked everyone to help me name the bootcamp? I like having community input. It keeps things fun for me. ;)
I think I like the A-Z format….keep it simple.
And I’m going to keep my comment simple and leave it at that : )
Jill Foley recently posted..Serious Clutter – Two Stories / One Day
Thanks Jill. :)
What a great list! Thank you!
Yan | Towards simplicity recently posted..Slowing down on a business trip
You’re welcome Yan. It was a community effort getting it this far. ;)
Hi Tanya, I LOVE what you do and how you do it! It feels so familiar to me – I’d be in the corner with you. Regarding the list, for me, it’s too much. Sharing a “top few” is plenty enough. I say “keep it minimal.” There are so many good things out there, but it doesn’t mean that you need them all. Not being a blogger myself I realize I don’t understand the caveats. I found your blog through Miss Minimalist (I think) and have enjoyed it immensely. Posting it all in one big list is just too overwhelming and I’ll never, ever, go through them all nor even a few. The sight of the list is just TOO MUCH. However, when you have posted a couple of links and given a couple of plugs I’ve sometimes looked. It’s manageable. I think that it’s a packrat tendency to want to “have the whole collection,” and that’s the way it feels to me. I only want a few, the ones that speak to me; I want to keep it simple. However, if it’s working for you and for others (as it obviously is) then go for it! You are an awesome resource and I love what you do!
I would be in the corner with you and Tanja too Linda. :)
Tanja – however you want to compile a list sounds great to me. It’s so time intensive to put together this type of round-up.
That said, I really enjoyed the list last year and used it to connect with many of the bloggers I know today.
If there is anything I can do to help you with this project, let me know!
Jenny @ exconsumer recently posted..Juicing to Detox – My Experience
Thanks Jenny. That’s wonderful and I’ll be calling on you for sure. Very kind of you. :)
Hey Linda,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject. I do have a lot of packrat tendencies. ;) That’s for sure.
I’m so honored to have made your list at all, Tanja, especially since the Minimalism Enforcement Patrol came around and slapped a big UNCLEAN sign on my door for having bought a pressure cooker/canner (and all the accessories) and a lawn mower all in one month. But then you go and say such nice things. I’m blushing here! Thank you so much!
Allan Douglas recently posted..Adventures of Pizza Dude: Little Big Boss
Not a pressure cooker and a canner Allan!
Ohh, but I suppose you will be getting an entire year’s worth of vegetables out of that equipment. ;) I envy your homegrown savvy Allan and I call it delightfully minimalistish. Cora canned a monstrously large batch of preserves this year, along with pickles, pickles, pickles. They came from our neighbor’s garden. I stood on the sidelines and didn’t even watch her can…. but I’m a terrible cook so it’s for the best. ;)
Glad to have you on the list Allan, I’m glad to have everyone on it. ;)
I love your blog and your writing tanja-san . (*=*)
yuki recently posted..新感覚の生き方ゼロ ミニマリストです。
Thank you yuki. ;)
Tanja from Minimalist Packrat recently posted..The Lost Art of Slowing Down
Thank you everyone, for all of your feedback. This was absolutely wonderful and I appreciate each of you taking your time to contribute here. Now I’m going to sit with the ideas you all shared with me. I’ll let you know what I decide. ;)
Faith and Jack, thank you especially for getting me to look at software. I’m an accidental luddite who uses a computer, and sometimes I shy away from adding new software to my life. It was a good kick from both of you.
Tanja from Minimalist Packrat recently posted..The Lost Art of Slowing Down
Thanks again for including me, and for the sweet words! I love that you’re keeping up with this.
SavvyChristine recently posted..Monadnock
I’m glad to see I’m still on the list, though my focus for the past few months has been on my ritual magic practice. I need to start sprinkling in more posts on minimalism and where it intersects with what I do!
Harry recently posted..Book Review: Brain Magick by Farber
There are so many variations on the theme of minimalism & it seems a lot of bloggers touch on several different aspects. This is months and months ago, but we were talking quite a bit, and he came really close to putting up a minimalism community site concept with lots of people contributing content feeds (like your minimalist moms concept except instead of raw feeds it would be manually submitted guest posts that would then be human-approved), along with a forum and a full-scale directory. Thanks for sharing that Megyn.
Selma Dejesus recently posted..Cancer Tattoos Tumblr
I don’t get mired in the dangers of categorization and cross-polination, and it’s very democratic, just like the phone book. Hmmm. Three categories pop into mind right away: sustainability minimalists, tiny house minimalists, and digital nomad minimalists.
Jodie Alvarado recently posted..Many Mops
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Ebony recently posted..Ebony
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