MrChrister, my apologies for being tardy in responding, especially since you addressed me directly in your comments. Thanks for bringing this up.
More love for bloggers who are discussed / active on this site? I'd be silly to argue against that, wouldn't I? :)
If anyone wants to summarize, and link to, something on my blog, I'd be insane to argue against that as well.
Regarding the larger issue, which is the level of link-back and promotion options to people using this site to external sites that serve their own interests, doing things like those proposed in the question would receive strong push-back were they to be suggested on the main programming site. (Look at the carnage that ensued when I stuck up for people who were answering questions -- well -- that promoted their own products, with full disclosure.)
It's just a very different mode of operation on the programming site. My paraphrase: "If you have a product, let someone else answer with how good it is, but don't toot your own horn." And, from the FAQ: "If a huge percentage of your posts include a mention of your product or website, you're probably here for the wrong reasons."
This creates a virtuous circle both for the selfless, active members, and for Stack Exchange, Inc. The active members have the majority, and the owners, on their side when it comes to even helpfully-presented self-promotion (i.e., it doesn't belong here) and the owners get traffic to a huge and nearly spam-free body of content -- which, by the way, they sell ads on, but that isn't talked about very much. :)
So, I would dearly love to answer questions in a way that I can summarize one of my posts, and link to it. However, that would get me on the dirt list of influential people here, and probably a fair number of the members. That, and even when people follow the rules of full disclosure, there are still the Office Space restaurant owners that say you're not wearing enough flair. "But it's a helpful answer, and I'm disclosing my relationship with the company." "We don't care, you need to do it less." It's tiring to see it again and again, and I'm not one to roll up my sleeves and duke it out when it comes to my own content.
The bottom line is this: Everyone's time is valuable and irreplaceable, and everyone gets to choose how they spend it, especially their discretionary time. I enjoy answering questions on the different SE sites. I also get benefit from asking them.
When it comes to personal finance, though, my blog is an additional source of income, and all of my online actions either contribute to that source of income, or they don't. It sounds selfish, and I may be short-sheeting participation here, but it's a very long, slogging route for me to see return benefit the way things are now for the content I post here. Joe Taxpayer has had less than one profile view per question he's answered. Same with me. Yet that is exactly the route that the SE community at large wants self-promotion to happen.
I can post a comment on another blogger's post and link to my website! The link might even be a dofollow link!
That's why I'm a little bit torn each time I answer a question here -- like I just did -- and advocate that people start a side business. What am I doing right now to move my business forward? I've already typed a longer-than-average post here, for the possibility of a fraction of one visit to my site, statistically.
As I've mentioned before, most PF bloggers already get this. I was an owner of a Stack Exchange 1.0 site, and I couldn't get participation from but a handful of bloggers. They all have their own empires to build.
Having said all of that, though :) -- if there's a discussion about one of my posts here, if I don't catch it, just let me know, and I'll link back to it.
