Now that the Letter of the Day has returned, I wanted to create a very short summary of how to get your blog linked. I’ve explained this before, but apparently it hasn’t made much sense. So here goes:

1. The LOTD goes in alphabetical order. A… B… C… see the pattern?

2. Blogs with a valid link to the previous day’s LOTD are automatically included in the next day’s LOTD. (i.e., If you link Monday’s LOTD, I’ll link you back in Tuesday’s.)

3. Blogs from my blogroll that begin with that day’s LOTD are also automatically included. (e.g., If the LOTD is B and your blog is named Big Bad Blog, I’ll link you.)

4. I link entries that are new, that interest me and that work with the LOTD. So don’t get pissy if you think I should link a particular entry but I choose something else. That’s not playing along… it’s just whining.

UPDATE: Don’t forget, you can sign up for Notifications in the sidebar to receive an email when the LOTD is posted.

Y is for Yanks’ yearnings?

Y is for yuck!

Y is for that lovable yellow bear, Winnie.

Y is for the Chinese New Year.

Y is for yammering.

Y is for yep.

Y is for Yuppie-isms.

Y is for a truly yare family.

Y is for yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhHHHH? Yick.

Y is for yippee — things may finally be speeding up!

I’d be yanking my hair out if this was my day.

Y is for yauping about yammer.

Y is for your help is needed.

Y is for You Bigmouth You!

Y is for Yourish being yarrish.

Y is for… you. Yank your own y-words and yoke them with links then yive a yell here.
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Poor Trey. Bad enough he chose a Venomous woman to be the object of his stalking attention, but apparently he’s suffering major confusion over the Letter of the Day. Since I try to be nice to those with an unnatural obsession for me, I figured I’d explain a few things.

1. What Letter When? Initially, the LOTD was a random thing. Then I realized I was wimping out on some of the more challenging letters, depriving myself of an opportunity to test and improve my vocabulary. Now the Letter is chosen in sequential order. Today was V. Can you guess what tomorrow will be?

2. Who Gets Linked? The very first links go to those who linked the previous day’s LOTD. So, if you link V you’ll get linked when I post W. Pretty easy, huh? The other links come from blogs with names that start with the LOTD, and sometimes I throw in a few others. Because I can.

3. When Is It Played? I try to do the LOTD every weekday – internet access, weather, and health permitting. As of next week, the LOTD will be posted during the evenings (my evenings, your late nights) so you’ll find it at the top of my blog when you check it in the morning (your morning, my late night).

4. Why Is It Played? Because I can. Haven’t you figured out that’s the answer to most things around here that don’t make sense?

UPDATE: Oh, and one other FAQ RE LOTD (and about pinging from a non-MT blog in general)

5. How Do I Get My Link To Show Up Under “Other Slinks” If I Don’t Use MT See, now this is very important because the LOTD is a round-robin game specifically designed to increase mutual linkage. So to get your link to show up, you need to click on “Ping It” below the entry. (This is also how you link any post around here if you’re not using MT, incidentally.) What pops up is Kevin’s handy dandy Standalone TrackBack Form. Now, you need to fill in the blanks as follows:

• The trackback URL: To find this, click on the “Other Slinks.” At the top you’ll see a URL which contains the magic code words mt-tb.cgi. This indicates that the URL exists only for the purpose of receiving pings. For instance, in today’s LOTD the Trackback URL is: http://www.electricvenom.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/3861. You need to copy and paste that from the “Other Slinks” into the Trackback URL blank on Kevin’s form.
• Your Permalink URL: After you’ve posted your entry, get the permalink from it and paste it in here. It’ll look something like this: http://www.yourblog.com/entryIDnumber.
• Title: This is where you retype the title of your entry.
• Excerpt: You can paste a short excerpt from your entry if you like. As you’ll see on the “Other Slinks,” it’s a handy way of catching a potential reader’s eye.
• Your Blog Name: What it says.

Voila! You have now manually pinged my site and if you did everything correctly your entry will show up under the “Other Slinks” below my entry.

Why would you want to bother going through all of that? Because readers actually do click through those links to visit other blogs. Oh, and there’s an added bonus: by having your ping show up on my blog listed under the entry, the Blogosphere Ecosystem records it as a link back to you, thereby adding to your standing in the blogger’s food chain. (Not to mention the fact that I’m incredibly lazy and may not otherwise notice your link if you don’t ping me. So do it.)

R is for returning… as in the Letter of the Day. (In case you’re wondering what happened to Q, Tony handled it quite nicely in my absence.)

R is for getting some R&R and… speaking of “getting some”… are they?

R is for recovery… here’s hoping it’s a rapid one!

R is for the right to bear arms. Defend yours!

R is for rock on, Dubya! (Oh, that’s not the kind of sign he was making with his hand? I could’ve sworn I saw him at the last Ozzie concert.)

R is for recipe sharing.

R is for “heavy” reading?

R is for rapid… as in, I only had a few minutes for the LOTD today. Sorry about that. But before I forget…

R is for reminding you how to play: reach out and round up a regatta of “r-words” then rig them with links, including a reciprocal one right here, then we’ll all rush to rave about your remarkable rendition of this readily reachable round-robin race.

P is for pissant Pecksniffians giving my pals pink slips pre-Christmas.

P is for protection against phishing.

P is for philosophy pointers.

P is for pointless perfection.

P is for political party puke.

P is for polygamists want privacy? Pah.

P is for posthumous pardons?

P is for Paris Hilton’s pet pooch.

P is for paradox? Possibly. More probably: pantywaist peons.

P is for poop in the process of purloining pelf.

P is for peculiar pageants for the palpably un-pretty.

P is for practicing pronunciation.

P is for Parkway Rest Stop.

P is for Person to Portland!

P is for precisely, Phillip.

P is for Primal Purge plotting to persuade people to partake of powerfully puissant pork patty martinis. (Why, yes, I had been saving that link for this LOTD.)

Play this popular pastime by picking a panoply of p-words posted parallel to a plethora of potent links. Push a ping to this permalink and people will pounce to prey at your place, plus you’ll be picked to participate in perpetuity provided you persevere in your pattern of pinging parity.

L is for the lateness of the LOTD, for which I apologize.

L is for the Wichita Lineman acting like a lush linebacker.

L is for laid low.

L is for logical legislation… coming soon to a country near you?

L is for late-night eaters. I’m one of them, too.

L is for Limbaugh wasn’t laundering.

L is for libertarians at the lectern!

L is for love those libertine libidos!

L is for loathsome letters lessening legal legacies.

L is for look!

L is Lachesis must be laughing.

L is for Life’s Like This.

L is for a little early, aren’t we?

L is for laudable labor logistics.

L is for linkopalooza!

L is for liberal life-nannies disguised as “Lion and Lamb”.

L is for the last word’s from Laurence.

Looking to launch with the Letter of the Day? List some l-words and lay on the links, then let us know your location so we can lavishly lay on laurels over your laudable lineup!

D is for Deb. Happy birthday!!!

D is for dang, that’s funny!

D is for demystifying ecoterrorist aims.

D is for dead man in prison.

D is for domain disputes.

D is for dumb donk doings.

D is for dearly departed vas deferens.

D is for discharging your duty.

D is for ditties and decking the halls.

D is for dermabrasion, dermatologists, and delaying age. What for?

D is for disabusing disbelievers.

D is for dressed for safety.

D is for discussing discrimination.

Do you want to dive in to the Letter of the Day? Simply dig up some d-words, dress them with links, then display your derring do for our devoted discussion.

UPDATE: It’s been a while since we’ve played the LOTD, so I thought I’d remind folks that the best way of getting listed in tomorrow’s post is by playing with today’s letter, since the “Other Slinks” is the first place I go to find blogs to link each morning.

That’s right: it’s baaaaack. The Letter of the Day returns later today so be patient, m’kay, Lummox?