1. Hide your email, or use a forum or "shoutbox."
Recently I invited over a hundred cartoonists to participate in a new type of promotional event. If it was a sucky event, I'm sure I would have heard, but I'd say 95% of people were happy or very happy.
Among people who did not get invited were every site with hidden or missing email or shout boxes. A few unrepentant and bitter letters have rolled in. How much time should I spend combing your site for an email address? Two minutes? Five minutes? Ten? Folks, learn to muddy your email address and you won't have to make us through hoops to fight spam.
2. Promise you will get to linking, as soon as you can.
If linking is such a chore that you will have to "get to it one day soon, if you're not too lazy, when you get around to republishing your site," then you are admitting to being a sad case. You plunge in my esteem.
3. Go dead when asked to reciprocate simple favors.
4. Whine.
Whiners are murderers: they murder time, and it cannot be replaced. If you murder their time, it costs you even more time. So all you can do is shout something and flee. I asked a bloke if he would like a bit of art shown on my site, as a courtesy, since reviews allow me to do this without asking. He sent me a contract, then whined when I said to forget it.
5. Don't acknowledge favorable reviews and mentions.
This will actually save you trouble in the future, as you will no longer receive favorable reviews and mentions requiring the heavy lifting of acknowledgment. I'd name names, but you know who you are, and so do most bloggers now.
