RICHARD BENNETT says that I’m obsolete, and being replaced by technology. That’s a relief.

Though if you go to Katie Granju’s site, click on her open counter, and select “week view” (or just try that direct link, which seems to work) you’ll see that my links aren’t quite as feeble at sending traffic as Bennett has repeatedly said. (The spikes correspond to references from here). Maybe people just don’t follow links to Bennett’s site?

I do think that Bennett is right about the colossal expansion of the blogosphere since last fall. I try to find new blogs and note them when they’re noteworthy, but it’s like bailing the ocean with a teacup. It’s absolutely true that the blogosphere is far too big and diverse for any single blog to matter all that much. That’s okay with me though. I have a job, and a life. I even have other hobbies besides this one. And I’d rather see the blogosphere grow into a mighty ocean of links and commentary than remain a relatively big fish in a relatively small pond.

As for technologies like more refined forms of blogdex and daypop, well, bring it on. I’ll go quietly. When I’ve been replaced, I’ll just sit around the Punditry Club bar, boring all the young pundits with stories of the glory days, when Alex Beam fell for Bjorn Staerk’s April Fools page (“Oh, he’s not off on that again,” they’ll groan, and I’ll pretend not to hear).

UPDATE: Meryl Yourish says that Bennett has just rediscovered “push technology” (now there’s a blast from the past) and that I don’t get to retire yet. Other people have suggested that Bennett’s just trolling here. Say it ain’t so! He does seem awfully focused on various sites’ Alexa rankings, though Alexa doesn’t seem very accurate to me.

I actually think that Bennett’s trying to generate buzz for his mysterious forthcoming web app. I’ll be interested to see it. I don’t think it’ll replace blogging any more than that robo-newsreader babe on Ananova replaced Laurie Dhue. I read blogs to see what people think more than to find links. The approach that Bennett describes is more likely to replace Drudge than true blogs. I think that Yourish is right that Bennett’s approach won’t do what he claims it will, but I think there’s room for a lot of useful blog-related apps and his may be one. And I absolutely agree with Bennett that there’s way too much stuff out there for one human — even a full-time one, not a hobbyist like me — to cover. But I don’t try to be comprehensive; I just try to be interesting, by writing about stuff that interests me. And while I’m generally one to embrace the machine, not rage against it, I’m not convinced that the human-ness of the blogosphere is going to be replaceable by software any time soon.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Well, if Bennett was trolling, it worked. There’s more commentary from Eric Olsen and Jeff Jarvis, who says it’s given him an idea.