Monday, December 29, 2008

slnl's "best" 10 posts of 2008


At the end of every year, film critics, book reviewers, my ex-girl friends, start making lists of the good and bad things that have happened during the year.


SLNL (my new acronym for this blog -- a snazzy rip-off of a certain late-night television program at the end of each week) is no exception. The problem is that I have no criteria for what was good or bad about this blog -- even though I know several of you would be very willing to fill that gap in my database.


The only objective standard I can use for "good" is the number of comments that each post engendered. Coincidentally, there are ten posts from 2008 that started more dialog than the others. (And, yes, I know, if wordiness was actually a virtue, Bill Clinton, Rush Limbaugh, and Joe Biden would all be listed as first choices for dinner parties.)


So here they are, my nominees for the the talkies award for 2008:
  1. taking it all into account (October 22)
  2. pardon my permit (October 17)
  3. name the mystery tree (November 17)
  4. walking on the wild side (November 29)
  5. key to culture (July 30)
  6. my holga lens life (December 10)
  7. going to pot (January 19)
  8. chavela (September 25)
  9. my so-called saturday (November 16)
  10. there's no business like -- (November 13)


It is an interesting mix -- as are the comments.


I had planned on doing a little blog review at the end of the year. And this device would be as good as any. During the next few days, I want to group these topics and talk a little bit about what I have learned from all of you -- and how I should apply it to the coming few months -- as I head south to Mexico.

6 comments:

Islagringo said...

What a great idea! Also a good way to stay in touch with what our readers thought was interesting. (although it sometimes surprises me what people will comment on and what they won't)

Steve Cotton said...

Is that a nice way of saying "padding the posts?"

Frankly Ronda said...

Number of Comments is certainly a metric but not necessarily one for the "best posts".

Steve Cotton said...

AMM - Democracy is as good as any criteria, I suspect. I certainly would not count on my "objective" judgment. Interestingly, two of the "top 10" posts were about the mystery tree. Now, that it is solved, there is almost silence. Thus the public speak.

Frankly Ronda said...

I think mostly bloggers comment. So are the bloggers an unbiased sample that represents the larger population of readers? Maybe. There is a whole audience that reads and does not comment.

I was a reader for over 1 year of a blog I loved. I never once commented.

Just as an aside - I personally really liked your series of posts that went through the 10 criteria of moving to Mx and if your choice aligned.

Steve Cotton said...

AMM -- I am glad you liked the 10 criteria review. I intend to do a followup on them as I go through my listmaking process.

Your point on commenters is well taken. I suspect that we fellow bloggers are merely representative of -- fellow bloggers.