Well, the voting is in and my meager readership wants me to go forward with critiquing the upper echelon in the Blogosphere Ecosystem. James JoyceJoyner recommended I tread lightly, but I have to tell the truth. I say Why Not? What harm can it do? Should I fear reprisals? Why? Anyone who is so egotistical that they can be or are damaged by my opinions needs serious psychiatric help. So, here are my opinions:
For the purposes of this review, I will dispense with any rating of the blogs, as they are all exceptional blogs, except that I am not sure all actually qualify as blogs. However, the current status should speak for itself. It is a given that they are all held in high esteem by many. I will cover them in the order that they currently appear in the Higher Beings hierarchy:
InstaPundit: ~It appears that everyone knows InstaPundit is the baby of Glenn Reynolds. This blog sits high atop the Blogosphere Ecosystem because everyone has it on their blogroll and it is updated quite often. Is Glenn Reynolds the grand daddy of blogging? I check the archives for InstaPundit and the earliest entry I could find was dated August 8, 2001. However, as I have lately been reviewing a lot of new bloggers, it is obvious from this post and the ones that follow, that Glenn had been blogging in some form for some period previously. There was no mention of having transitioned from some other site. It is fair to say that Glenn attempts to keep a keen eye on the pulse of the news and of what is going on in the Blogosphere. However, like most of us, he seems to limit himself to a select group of sources. Most of what appears on InstaPundit are dry lead ins to stories on news sites and other bloggers' commentaries. But Glenn has established the format for what most people think blogging is about. I actually correlate InstaPundit with FARK, but on a different level. If I am looking for a directory of the current political news, I can go to InstaPundit for clues on where to look, just as if I want to find the stories about the inane, ridiculous or humorous events that have occurred around the world, I can go to FARK. The one comment that I think is fair to say about InstaPundit is that if you are looking for something thought provoking, engaging or enjoyable to read, you will usually not find it there, but you can start there to find it. Glenn can write, however, just probably has too much else to do to put that much effort into his blog currently. There are no comment functions, so interaction is not available.Daily Kos / Political State Report: ~This blog is maintained by Markos Moulitsas Zúniga. First post Sunday | May 26, 2002. As a first time visitor, needing to do so in order to do this review, I found the site to be somewhat confusing. It took me a little time and thought to understand that there is an open thread posted every morning just to allow rampant commenting. And there appears to be plenty of comments made to every post. It is evident that: 1. This blog leans left; 2. It has a massive readership; and 3. Markos Moulitsas Zúniga puts a lot of time and thought into what appears on his blog. It is attractive and content driven. Too dry and left for my tastes. Commenting allowed.
Eschaton (Atrios): ~Well, actually this appears to be a team blog by Atrios, Lambert, Leah and Tresy, though it could be possible that it is actually the blog of one person with a multiple personality disorder. It is almost incredulous to believe that the 3rd highest ranking blog in the Blogosphere Ecosystem is hosted on blog*spot. Earliest post located: Thursday, April 18, 2002 and appears to been the beginning point. Although most of the stories are leaning toward the left, there is interspersed a smattering of bits of daily trivia. I read quite a few of the entries, and even those I did not totally agree with, I found to be well written and logical. I found more humor in the writing in this blog than in either InstaPundit or The Daily Kos. A nice site and a nice read, though likely more so of you who are leaning a bit more to the left side of things. Commenting allowed.
The Volokh Conspiracy: ~This blog has actually been on my blogroll almost from the beginning. It is a team blog written by Eugene Volokh, Jacob Levy, Orin Kerr and others. Earliest post found: Wednesday, April 10, 2002, but either had some previous blogging experience or took off running from the start. There is a variance of topics, mostly law related and all written primarily by academics. There is not much humor to be found, but the writing is almost always concise and logical. However, I do often find much of it to be uninteresting. This is one I check almost every time I see an update notification, however, because if it is a topic I am interested in, I especially like to see what the members of the Volokh Conspiracy have to say on the subject. No commenting functions on this site.
Andrew Sullivan: ~Another blog I have read for the first time in order to do this review. Earliest located entry: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 but either hit the ground running or there was some prior blogging or other experience. Although I rarely like light on dark, the contrast with the white on dark blue is easier on the eyes than the normal white on black. There was a good mix of posting styles, some just Glenn Reynold's type lead ins to links, and some nice commentaries. Although I read or scanned most of the entries on the main page, it was not entirely evident where Andrew Sullivan sits on the political compass. The main focus on the blog seems to be centered on homosexual issues. Andrew appears to be a person who has a logical mind. I really liked the style and feel of this blog, but again, there were no commenting functions, so feedback is unavailable.
James Lileks: ~[The Bleat] I do not actually consider James Lileks to be a blogger or this site to be a blog. Earliest entry found: 02/07/97 and from the older entries, it appears that James had indeed begun this effort as a blogger. It is now more like a daily humorist column, in my opinion. That is not to say that it is not worthy of reading on a regular basis, because it is definitely that. It is easy to understand why this is a popular site, because the writing is indeed humorous and enjoyable to read. I have only lately discovered this daily column and added it to my blogroll. I just cannot classify it as a blog. No commenting, but then most would just be praiseworthy pats on the back anyway.
Joshua Marshall: ~[Talking Points Memo] Another blog I am reading for the first time doing this review. Earliest entry found: November 13th, 2000 a reading of which indicates he was at least familiar with blogging. Authored by Joshua Micah Marshall this blog is filled with mostly long commentaries on political issues from the Democratic point of view. The writing is exceptional, the blog is nicely designed and the arguments are logically supported, even if I disagree with some of the author's opinions. No comment functions.
Little Green Footballs: ~I had previously visited this blog without blogrolling it. Earliest entry found: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 but there was an indication that there were a couple of months previous posting on Blogger [and that there was a link to such posts which I was unable to locate]. Authored by Charles Johnson. The current postings all seem to be centered on current foreign affairs issues, terrorism, and the Middle-East Peace Process. Most are straight forward news items, interspersed with Charles Johnson's commentary and humorous observations. Comments are enabled.
USS Clueless: Another blog I had previously visited without blogrolling. Earliest entry found: Stardate 20010313.1150 which translates into March 13, 2001 at 11:50 by my belief. I am not sure why I did not blogroll it the first time I checked it. Authored by Steven Den Beste, suspected Trekkie. It may have been that the top story of the day just turned me off. From reading/scanning [sorry, I could not read the whole review of the first Harry Potter movie, etc.] it appears to be a fairly neutral commentary and observation about various things, mostly centered on entertainment. The writing was good and the author's sense of humor shined through in many places. I might actually have to give this a few more reads in the future, once I find I have more spare reading time. No comments available.
CalPundit: ~I have some past connection with this blog, I believe from linking to something on the site at some past point. Earliest entry found: Thursday, August 22, 2002, but either had prior experience or hit the ground running. Authored by Kevin Drum. Kevin is definitely a California liberal, but the posts are well written and the opinions are logically presented. He presents a humble side and the topics vary from political to technical to pictures of cats. Both commenting and trackbacking are available.
Amazingly, every one of these blogs, or sites, in the case of James Lileks, is popular for good reason. The writing is great and the opinions presented are easy to comprehend. What is surprising, other than a couple of members of the Eschaton team, [and although not mentioned previously, there is a female as part of the Volokh Conspiracy,] all of the top blogs are predominately authored by white males. What is also readily apparent is that all of them have been blogging for a long period, so that is a key indicator to us newby bloggers that building a good following does take time.
Posted by Tiger at June 22, 2003 11:16 AMIMHO, no comments = not a true blog. Good reviews, Tiger!
Posted by: David at June 22, 2003 04:40 PM>What is surprising, other than a couple of members of the Eschaton team .....all of the top blogs are predominately authored by white males.
Why is this 'surprising,' given that the definition of 'top blogs' was apparently established by - and for that matter, only has real meaning - within a set of parameters set by and overwhelmingly populated (insofar as I have observed) by white males?
What's surprising to *me* is that within the entirety of the so-called 'blogosphere' sites that are most frequently referenced and typically considered by the blogging masses to be 'best' or 'top' are not necessarily those that feature the best writing, the most original content, nor the most consistent attempts at independent thinking; rather, regurgitation of whatever material is currently 'making the rounds' in a given blogger's personal purview. I mean, truly: wherein lies 'best'? Best at what - thinking up new and exciting ways to link to each other? Best at minimally re-working whatever has already been posted by the pundit-du-jour?
Now that I think of it, this part of it really doesn't surprise me, either, because the so-called 'blogosphere' is eerily similar to the 'online journaling' community some number of years back (indeed, some former OLJ'ers have 'made the switch'), complete with essentially meaningless 'awards,' an artificial hierarchy system that amounts to a glorified popularity contest which may or may not have anything to do with objective 'quality,' and even, so I gather, some of the same attendant behind-the-scenes melodrama and petty personal politics.
Mind you, I'm not saying this sort of thing serves no useful purpose. Obviously, it serves a purpose for many people. It's just that I don't happen to be surprised that so many of those people are white males.
Nope, no surprises here. Moving along now... moving along...
Posted by: linda at June 22, 2003 04:43 PMIn addition to their shared chromosonal tendencies, the main thing that unites these ten is that they got in on the ground floor. Most of them are good writers, some of them very good ones. But being around when the ranks were thin was a huge help, since it was much easier to get noticed when there were dozens of blogs rather than thousands.
And most if not all of them have jobs that allow them to devote several hours a day to their blogs.
Posted by: James Joyner at June 24, 2003 03:13 PMyou totaly missed the mark on Den Beste. I'd be suprised if 10% of his posts delt with entertainment in any form.
Posted by: apps at June 24, 2003 05:53 PMWell, as I did not prowl the archives and pretty well reviewed what I saw on the current page, almost the whole page was taken up with one very long post about Harry Potter leading into a treatise of Mark Twain. Yes, I might have been wrong, but I did not err about the posts being long>/i>.
Posted by: Tiger at June 24, 2003 06:18 PMI have to second apps on Den Beste, and I think you're a bit off on Sullivan as well. When there is something of intense interest to the gay community (such as the Santorum brouhaha or the Canadian gay marriage thing), he'll post a lot on it, but the rest of the time his posts on general interest politics, from a right-of-center perspective.
Linda, while there is a preponderence of white males in the top section, there are a *lot* of women just below them. Andrea Harris, Megan McArdle, Michelle Catalano, Jeralyn Merritt and Rachel Lucas all fall into the 11-30 slots.
What is significant about these five is *who* links to them. Unlike a lot of the men in the "mortal humans" section, several of these women are linked by people on both sides of the political divide. That in and of itself should say something about their popularity and influence.
Posted by: timekeeper at June 25, 2003 12:59 AMI have to disagree with David above. I don't think that a blog is required to have comments to be a blog. After all, in its fundamental form, the blog is the author's log of events, and discussion is a secondary function to that. I don't have comments on mine yet, so I may be a bit sensitive to this. But I figured, if someone disagreed with me and wanted to write about it, let them get their own blog. And link to me, please. Plus, all of the adulation I would receive because of my reasonable, well thought out, and insightful commentary would make me blush because of my humility. :-)
Posted by: Datanerd at June 28, 2003 06:22 AMJust to make a quick point: Eschaton is only a team blog right now because Atrios is unable to consistently comment (he's on vacation or whatnot). When he returns, I expect that he will resume sole authorship of the site, and it may be worth re-reviewing the site then.
And the others are right: Den Beste does not usually write about entertainment. He writes largely on military and foreign policy matters, seems to truly dislike the French, and is absolutely notorious for the incredible lengths of his posts. (So am I, but I'm not a "higher being").
As for comments, I have to go with the "it ain't a real blog without 'em" view. Yes, it's still technically a web log, but the lack of feedback seems to significantly diminish the usefulness of a site. That Glenn, Andrew, Steven, the Volokhs and James don't have comments is something I've always seen as a shame, especially considering the excellent (and copious) commentary found on Atrios' and Markos' sites.
(It also provides a way for newer and lesser known bloggers to get noticed, which can be notoriously difficult.)
Other than those few caveats, I have nothing but compliments for some very nice work.
Posted by: Demosthenes at July 10, 2003 03:18 PMWhat is surprising, other than a couple of members of the Eschaton team, [and although not mentioned previously, there is a female as part of the Volokh Conspiracy,] all of the top blogs are predominately authored by white males
I'm actually a Latino male. Thanks!
Posted by: kos at July 15, 2003 01:57 PM