I am a blogger and sometimes commenter who comes because you offer coverage of life and news in Asia that I can't find anywhere else. On the whole, I prefered Asia by Blog more. It was organized in a way that allowed me to hone in more quickly on the things I was interested in. That said, I bet it was a lot more work for you to do and so I'm quite content with daily linklets because I at least get the benefit of your extensive web of blog contacts.

I read your site daily, sometimes through a blog reader and sometimes by direct link.

I particularly enjoy your posts about economics because I feel as if I learn something every time. But since I like the way you think and write, I even am happy reading about Rugby.

I do blog and the other sites I read are linked to on my blog page. My "Daily (practically) Reads" section was created for my own convenience in gathering my favorites in one place. You're there. I added them in the order I found them and not in the order I favor them.

Finally, as for your links, I follow very few of them because I simply lack the time for extended blog reading. When I have had the time, I've usually found it a worthwhile experience to dip into your links and see what's out there.

Please do keep up the great work, Simon.

To be honest, I rarely click the links unless they promise to be weird/funny, but then I don't have any particular interest in China/Asia (clearly it works for those who do). I actually enjoyed your blog much more when it had more personal stuff, when it was still in orange.

I still read you, but--again, perfect honesty--more for the occasional entertaining link and because you're cool people than because I get that much out of it.

Count me as one fan of the daily linklets: the only reservation I have about them is that I worry how you'll find the time to keep it all going.

I'd like to see some full frontal once in a while. You know, just to spice it up on slow news days.

I come here to read about HK and Asia from an Australian perspective. I think it was a link from marginalrevolution.com that brought me here.

I have only been reading ocasionaly for the past couple of weeks, so I don't have much to say about the blog as of yet, but I am a Torontonian, now living in Sydney, and I find it interesting to read about what is happening in HK, part of the world I consider to be where the focus will be for the next century.

I like both the Asia by Blog feature as well as the Daily Linklets... although I think I like the Asia by Blog a little more because it tends to have more links than the daily linklets. I always figured the Asia by Blog could work as a larger, weekly or monthly feature as opposed to daily.
My most favorite thing of all were the Asia Blog Awards, that allowed me to browse through and find blogs from different countries that would otherwise be hard to find.
I enjoy most of the links, especially when they have to do with news and culture. Sometimes I wonder how you have enough time to do this!

Blogger and daily reader, rarely comment here. Sometimes follow links.

I am an ethic Chinese born in Hong Kong and now I am living in Canada. I come upon your blog by looking you up at Google. Anyway, I like your serious way of looking at Hong Kong and Asia. I bet that you know your arch-rivial BWG. He's all about satire. You, on the other hand, give a more serious point of view and I like it.

Yes, I do blog but it's for my friends only.

I read your blog daily, and I enjoy it very much.

Just a minor point: would you consider widening the central column so that we don't have to scroll up and down so often. It makes reading easier.

(a) I like the Insta-like information aggregation, but with more personal touch than the Ecosystem champion.
(b) In the posts themselves, I like the number of links. There are only so many certain sites I read on your blogroll, so its size doesn't really affect me.
(c) Some people start their browsing at Yahoo!, Google, Instapundit, whatever. A good chunk of the time, I start here.
(d) I don't really care either way, but I think I'm reading more stuff outside East Asia because of the switch, which is good. It used to be a bit easy to just ignore the SE/S Asia stuff.
(e) Why yes, I do blog. I'm a university student in Vancouver. In terms of blogs, I mostly read stuff on China written by people whose first language is English, for some reason (too lazy to search for that mystical Chinese blogosphere). I mentioned most of the Sinoblogs I read in my own blog post a few days back.
(http://www.plum-blossom.net/blog/archives/2005/04/why_i_write_abo.php)

The rest of the time, I'm surfing for what everyone else surfs the Internet for. ;)
J/K.

I'd agree with the Liuster. I was looking up an old post of yours a while back to link to in a post I was writing and was struck by the contrast between the stuff you used to write and what you do now.

The old style, where you allowed yourself to write about personal stories, allowed you to write more entertainingly. Your more recent emphasis on covering a lot of ground on Asian news and Asian blogs, spreads your writing (IMHO) too thin.

Although I find your current approach a useful way for me to sample Asian news stories, whether through Asia By Blog, or through the Linklets, it is refreshing when a flash of your old writing style comes through again.

Oh yes, and you should have more totty.

Simon, I'd volunteer to help keep your blog's posts ticking over but I have enough trouble with mine as it is so I doubt I'd do yours justice.

On the Daily Linklets / Asia by Blog question, I think both are great but with the linklets it does get a little "busy". perhaps you could categorise the links in a novel way, e.g. by subject - politics, arts, culture, sport, funnies, etc - rather than the drier nation-by-nation headings you used for Asia by Blog. Just a suggestion.

Thanks for all the suggestions, offers and advice. Lots to absorb and you can expect some changes based on all this soon.

Simon,
Sorry for the late reply, things have been hectic here :-)
I actually preferred the old system for two reasons. I use an rss reader and every time you update the whole list of old material passes by, and I sometimes do not have the time to find out what exactly is new.
In general: in stead of making your selection you try to become more comprehensive and look more like an aggregator than a commentor. While both approaches can be valid, I liked it more when you make a selection, being comprehensive is anyway very hard these days.

I enjoy your site. It helps to provide another window into the different areas of China/Asia that I might have otherwise missed.

I'm kinda new to blogging - I guess that makes me an aspiring Simon ;-)

Fons

The reader thing is an issue. I suppose you'll have to just visit the site itself sometimes as I often update older posts...

Gordon: there are far better things to aspire to.