I've written a few posts here already about WordPress plugins. They can certainly be useful both to you as a blogger and to your readers. There are many other widgets, doodads and other thingamagigs you can add to a blog. I'll discuss a few here briefly, then go over why you may or may not want to use them.

BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog widgets
In a previous post I discussed BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog widgets a little bit. They can be helpful especially if your blog is new and you want to get new readers. At one time I was getting few enough visitors that I could keep track of anyone new who showed up through these two sites. Then I could go and visit their blog.

Polls
Adding a poll to your blog can be a great way to ask your blog readers questions about themselves so you can get a better idea of who they are and what they would like to read about. I added PollDaddy to mine recently. It was pretty easy to set up and use. There are many other quiz, poll and survey scripts to choose from also.

Chats
I added a chat script to my blog recently too. It can work as a great way to let your readers talk to you in real time. I haven't had many people use it though - which is partly my fault because I forget to change my status to 'online' most of the time!

Even more doodads
Many people add an image and link to technorati, have an entrecard link, display their feedburner subscriber numbers and sometimes even their pagerank. It is also common for people to link out to causes or sites they personally care about and want to support, like net neutrality, political candidates, etc.

So where does this lead us?
Like everything in life you have to draw a line somewhere. Some of these plugins, widgets, doodads and other thingamagigs are useful to either you, your readers or both. Or really express a point of view that is important to you.

Too many though - and your blog gets cluttered up and gets hard to read and find things on. Everyone has different opinions on how much is too much or too little. My opinion is that mine is getting borderline too busy at this point - least in some ways.

You will have to decide for yourself what is best for you and your readers. Don't add too much stuff or your blog will be too busy and confusing, but adding some 'flair' (or is it 'flare'?) gives your blog some personality.

What do you think? How much do you think is too much?