When there weren’t all that many blogs, five or so years ago, a lot of us would jump on breaking news and post our own quick links whether we really had much to offer or not.

It was kind of a “share the news” approach, which still persists as a valid idea. A number of the longest-running blogs (particularly in tech geek circles) still follow the format of numerous, short posts throughout the course of the day. Think of how Dave Winer’s Scripting News works, for example.

I’ve heard people deride this approach as “linkdumping” as if there’s something inherently wrong with that. To me, it’s just a continuation of the early style of web logging that gave rise to much of what we see around us today. I mean, where did social bookmarking ideas come from, if not from the original idea of what a blog – a web log – was for?

These days, my own approach tends to be rather more Quaker-influenced. I’ve often heard it said that Quaker meetings are conducted such that participants know to “Speak only if you can improve the silence”.

Of course, in the blogosphere, this has to be updated – when I choose to join any particular dogpile as news items burn through the blogvines, I try to post only if I think I can improve the noise

I’ll let you know if this strategy ever starts working.