What happened to sharing in the blogosphere?

Courtesy of a link at Instapundit, I was led to a very thought-provoking article by Stacy McCain.  Here's an excerpt.

Ace of Spades once did a mini-rant — which I can’t find now — about whether your site is a portal or a destination. That is to say, is the reader coming to your site to find links to interesting material (portal) or strictly to read what you have to say (destination)?

The problem is that if every blogger starts thinking of his own site as a destination, then the site’s value as a portal — directing readers to interesting material elsewhere — is necessarily diminished or eliminated. And if this destination mentality takes hold at all the larger sites, then there will be few opportunities for new bloggers to join the community, and fewer incentives for smaller bloggers to participate in the conversation, because nobody with any significant readership will ever link them. What will eventually happen, in such a scenario, is that the independent blogosphere will wither and die from neglect, and be replaced by a corporate simulacrum.

. . .

... the fact is that the original idea of the blogosphere as an informal network of independent sites is being lost, not because independent bloggers are “taking the Boeing,” but because so many newer arrivals in the ‘sphere never even bothered with the concept of collaboration.

There's more at the link.  Highly recommended reading for all bloggers, and those who are active readers of blogs.

It does worry me that there's less linking between blogs, and (seemingly) less co-operation between active bloggers, than there was in the past.  I've tried to overcome that here with my regular 'Around The Blogs' feature (which is, sadly, a couple of weeks delinquent at the moment - I must do something about that).  I think it's really important that bloggers publicize a new blogger, or point their readers to articles and features that they've found interesting.  That's what I do in most of my blog articles here, as regular readers will be aware.  On the other hand, some bloggers seem to use their blogs mainly as soapboxes for one or the other cause, or as a 'cash cow' by putting up all sorts of links to sponsored products or encouraging readers to buy via their customized links, or something like that.  Frankly, I find both practices a bit annoying.  If readers want a soapbox, or a shopping mall, there are plenty available both online and in meatspace.  I hope the blogosphere can be something more, something better.

So what can we do to make the blogosphere more community- and less commercially-minded?  Any ideas, readers?  Are the links I put up here to other articles and/or bloggers of value to you?

Peter