Mister Linky needs some competition

24 Comments / Bloggin', Web Development / By

I have seen over the past few months when those of you who use Mister Linky’s widgets on your blogs have absolutely been scrambling. For whatever reason, he’s been going down and when he’s not up it throws you into a whirlwind.

I have been contemplating developing an alternative to Mister Linky that works in a different way — a way that if your blog is up, so are the links. A way that the links could be stored with your blog information and not on someone else’s server. Healthy competition for Mister Linky is needed.

There are a few things I need to know from you before I dive into developing this thing. So please leave me a comment below and answer these questions:

  1. What blogging platform do you use (WordPress.org? WordPress.com? TypePad? Movable Type? Other?)?
  2. If a good competitive widget was developed only on WordPress.org (self-hosted), would you be willing to switch to WordPress.org if you use something else?

Thanks for your feedback and please retweet this!

24 thoughts on “Mister Linky needs some competition”

  2. Dianne

    I agree that competition is a good thing. I use Blogger (mostly) and that’s where I would want to use something like this. If it were WP only, I wouldn’t switch my blog, though.

  6. stephanie

    1. I’m also on blogger and would like to see a Mr. Linky alternative.

    2. Regarding people migrating to WP: Moving a blog is a BIG hassle. I don’t know, honestly, if a lot of people would want to switch to WP solely for a widget they haven’t tried out yet. (Even if YOU know it’s awesome, how does someone else know until they’ve used it?) Maybe if they were already on the fence about going to WP, it might be the final straw. I don’t mean to be negative, it’s just something to think about. (Look what happens when you ask for feedback! 🙂 )

  9. aggywanda

    i use the widget but am seeking ideas in order to get full advantage. if competition for the widget appears it could be very popular.

    try it out and send me a message if you succeed

  10. Peggy

    Thanks Lisa…Mr. Linky can use some competition! I don’t have reason to complain except when they go down. But my problem is I have two memes that I use Mr. Linky (free version) on two separate blogs and because they are up at the same time, I need to upgrade for them to both be visible. Doesn’t make sense to me.

    Maybe I’m technically challenged but I don’t think so completely because I have figured out everything on my own.

    I use BLOGGER! Again because gmail made it available! I feel confined but I’m thankful and learning loads!

    I came here via Heather’s thanks to you & I know I’ve read here before. I could not leave here without commenting on this-it pulled me in
    …I would not know how to switch over to WordPress & I just became a team member with 2 other blogs on blogger…so I think I’m stuck with where I am. But if I decide to start fresh or create another, I’d consider.

  11. Noelle @TakeRoot

    Well, Mister Linky has been around a long time and has served us well even though I feel like I can’t count on him always. That makes room for competition. As I NEED to be able to count on it!

    I am on TypePad Pro like @shelive and there is NO way I am switching to anything else. I know a lot use Wordpress but Typepad pro w/advanced templates is the only way to go for me!

    That being said, it allows me to add script or code wherever I want. Should be pretty simple to make it adaptable to using on TP.

    Let us know!

  12. Tanya Dennis

    I’d be interested in an alternative. I just switched from blogger to wordpress. I *think* it’s a self-hosted wordpress — it redirects to my own domain — but I’m not entirely sure. The switch was VERY recent and I’m still playing around. I still go to wordpress.com to edit my blog posts. So there is a very uninformed answer to your question. 🙂

  13. D. Roberts

    I use both Wordpress.com and Blogger. I would love something besides Mr. Linky and free for basic needs $$ for premium but there should be more than just a few Memes to choose from.

  14. Marc

    I would LOVE to see an alternative to Mistery Linky. I can’t even tell you how often I encounter problems. I use Blogger and would not be willing to switch to Wordpress. I would gladly pay for something more stable—especially something that lets me host the stuff myself.

  15. Tsh

    I absolutely would love a Mr. Linky alternative. I’m on Wordpress.org, and would pay for this!

  16. Fred McKinnon

    DEFINITELY. One of the biggest bloggers in my “market” promoted our blog carnival this weekend to nearly 10,000 folks … only for blenza.com to be down off and on all weekend. Not only does the Mister Linky not show up … the rest of my blog hangs up, stuck on “waiting for blenza.com”.

    Start with WordPress, and then code for new platforms as you see fit.

    Grab my email and save in your “notify” email when it’s ready!

  18. Debbi Robertson

    I’m a DT member of a challenge blog on blogger and we really need an alternative to Mr Linky – seeing as he seems to have completely overloaded his server today and nobody can use it now.

    I wouldn’t be willing to migrate to wordpress though

  19. Scott

    I use self hosted wordpress. I would love a plugin that did mr Linky internal to my server.

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