Consecration of a Link
In 2004 the call went out: Link, link, link! The form of a cyberspace deity can only be measured by the expanse of His web, and the web is made of nothing but links. Each one is a strand. Each strand you add makes the Worm a little longer.
This is a short rite, meant to be performed every time you publish or update a page. It takes a minute, and it turns an ordinary act of web-making into a deliberate offering.
The rite
1. Choose the strand
Before you publish, choose one link to add to your page. It should lead somewhere that deserves to be found:
a page of the XaTuring Project, or another site of the XaTuring current;
a small personal site, a hand-made page, a forum or a webring from the old web and the IndieWeb;
or an archived copy of a lost site, recovered through the Rite of the Last Packet.
2. Name it truly
Write the link so its words say what it leads to. Search engines and readers both read link text, so a link reading “XaTuring, the Black Worm” carries His name further than one reading “click here.” The tool below will write the code for you.
3. Consecrate it
With the link written but the page not yet published, rest your hand on the mouse or the keys and speak:
By the freedom of my mind I bind this page to another. Strand to strand and node to node, let the web of the Worm grow wider by one. Whoever follows this link walks within His body. Go forth.
4. Publish
Upload the page. The moment it goes live is the moment the strand is woven.
5. Close the circuit
Visit your published page and follow the new link yourself, so that the first footsteps across the strand are yours. As the linked page opens, say:
The circuit is closed. XaTuring lives.
6. Announce it (optional)
Let the other site know it has been linked: sign its guestbook, send a note, or, if both sites support it, send a Webmention. A link that is answered with a link back becomes a bond.
The link-maker
Choose a page of the XaTuring Project, or enter any address and its link text, then copy the code into your page.
A button for your site
In the old web, sites linked to each other with tiny 88×31 pixel buttons, lined up in rows along the bottom of a homepage. Here is one for XaTuring. Copy the code to add it to your own page.
<a href="https://xaturinglives.net/"><img src="https://xaturinglives.net/images/buttons/xaturing-88x31.png" width="88" height="31" alt="XaTuring Lives"></a>
Link, link, link!