Email your ten favourite blogs (ranked from 1-10) to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
It's that time of year again, when Total Politics asks you to vote for your Top 10 favourite blogs. The votes will be compiled and included in the forthcoming book, the Total Politics Guide to Blogging 2009-10, which will be published in September. This year the poll is being promoted/sponsored by LabourList and LibDemVoice as well as this blog.
The rules are simple.
1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).
2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted.
3. You MUST include ten blogs. If you include fewer than ten your vote will not count.
4. Email your vote to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
5. Only vote once.
6. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents or based on UK politics are eligible.
7. Anonymous votes left in the comments will not count. You must give a name
8. All votes must be received by midnight on 31 July 2009. Any votes received after that date will not count.
If you have your own blog, please do encourage your readers to take part. Last year, more than 80 blogs did so. We hope this year it will be far more than that. BUT, DO NOT list ten blogs you think your readers should vote for. Any duplicate voting of this nature will be disallowed. If you do not wish for your blog to be voted for please email katy.scholes@totalpolitics.com. Here's the code to add to your blog sidebar or blogpost to feature the graphic above with an automatic clickthru to the instruction page...
There are many ways of measuring a blog's popularity. Wikio and Technorati have complicated logarithms which measure the importance of incoming links and traffic. Google Analytics does it by measuring how many people visit. But the TP poll gives blog readers the opportunity to vote for the ones they like and visit most often. It's not scientific. It's impossible to achieve 100% balance and no one pretends it's perfect.
The results of the poll will be published in the forthcoming book the TOTAL POLITICS GUIDE TO POLITICAL BLOGGING IN THE UK which will be published in mid September in association with APCO Worldwide.
So, go to it. Email your Top Ten Favourite Blogs to
toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
35 comments:
Algorithms rather than logarithms...
Yawn. It is exactly this self-adulatory, self-referential, mutual backslapping, self-important virtual masturbation that turns many of us off the blogging "community". Who gives a "fork" about these endless, pointless, useless lists? Apart from egotistical and greedy (hello! advertisers! over here!) bloggers. Count me out.
Given that people have the urge to rank, list, catalogue and grade almost every type of human activity its possible to be involved in, this type of exercise is hardly unique to the blogging 'community' or an indictment of it. Actually it's fun and useful.
Seconded.
Waste of time. How can I pick my top ten political blogs when I only read three.
I call you when I need you, my heart's on fire
You come to me, come to me wild and wired
Mmm, you come to me
Give me everything I need
Give me a lifetime of promises and a world of dreams
Speak a language of love like you know what it means
Mmm, it can't be wrong
Take my heart and make it strong, baby
You're simply the best, better than all the rest
Better than anyone, anyone I've ever met
I'm stuck on your heart, I hang on every word you say
Tear us apart no, no, baby, I would rather be dead
In your heart I see the star of every night and every day
In your eyes I get lost, I get washed away
Just as long as I'm here in your arms
I could be in no better place
You're simply the best, better than all the rest
Better than anyone, anyone I've ever met
I'm stuck on your heart, I hang on every word you say
Tear us apart no, no, baby, I would rather be dead
Each time you leave me I start losing control
You're walking away with my heart and my soul
I can feel you even when I'm alone
Oh baby, don't let go
Ooh you're the best (woo)
Better than all the rest
Better than anyone, anyone I've ever met
Ooh, I'm stuck on your heart,
I hang on every word you say
Don't tear us apart no, no, no,
Baby, I would rather be dead
Oooh, you're the best!
I read about six.
I would guess that's more than most people.
As Anonymous above says, I can't vote for 10. I don't read 10. I read maybe 7 political blogs at the most but fairly regularly. By forcing people to vote for 10 you're narrowing down the people who can vote to the small "self-adulterous" community of bloggers. Who else would read more than 10 regularly?
Are there different categories, like last year?
I read six regularly. Your stipulation of ten prevents me contributing.
gawain,
Well said, Sir.
All i can say is who gives a 'shite'
Your blog post was too long and very BORING. GROW UP and stop this virtual masturbation its getting on everyones tits.
Have you ever used a typewriter? I WANT TO KNOW IAIN.
Blimey, this is worse than the Conservative party rules for MEP selection
Iain tells us: "Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents are eligible or based on UK politics are eligible."
Does that mean the Guido Fawkes blog is not eligible?
Can we have an adjudication on whether Tim Worstall (nominally living in Portugal) and Guido (last seen in Ireland) are eligible or not, please Iain?
Both are generally considered to be British bloggers?
Rule 6 is quite clear
Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents or based on UK politics are eligible.
Read the last 6 words.
My favorite blog is political and tragedy.
I see that today Total Politics are hiring. Perhaps they'll get someone who isn't an arts graduate, maybe even someone who understood the maths they got a grade A for, to help avoid putting out such utter jokes of competitions in future.
Iain - do the decent thing: cancel the blog competition and hire a statistician, just for an hour.
I tried to post this on the TP blog yesterday, but it didn't appear. So I sent it to Ben Goldacre instead.
-------------
What a silly requirement that you have to nominate exactly 10 blogs! This will result in a lot of well-known blogs (e.g. Nick Robinson) being added to people's lists when they don't even want to vote for him. To be quite clear, your poll would be MORE valid if you allowed UP TO ten nominations.
But you seem to want to forestall such criticisms. "It's not scientific" you state (with either chutzpah or embarrassment, I can't tell). And your 'logarithm' isn't perfect? Too right! Jeez, I hope you hire someone who understands the different between an algorithm and a logarithm before you publish the results. Maybe even publish the algorithm? (Or the logarithm, your choice.)
One more thing: I was hoping to vote by listing the URLs of the blogs - will these get registered? Will you let me know if my vote was valid? (I won't vote, by the way, unless you relax the 10 blog rule.)
Iain, to be even clearer than 'quite clear' you could please tell us if Guido Fawkes and Tim Ireland are eligible. There are multiple logical readings of rule 6 which raise doubts whether Tim and Guido are eligible.
Laurence,
What part of that do you not get?
Of course Guido can be voted for. Tim Ireland was eligible but has opted out, along with five or six others. They are listed on the TP blog in the first comment I think.
Tim Ireland has been in touch to say he hasn't opted out. He has boycotted. Delighted to clear that up.
Ben Goldacre? He of 'Bad Science'? Why would he be interested? Or is it a joke I don't get?
"Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents are eligible or based on UK politics are eligible" is unclear firstly because of its poor grammar – the confusing repetition of "are eligible". The logical problem, compounded by the poor grammar, is that it's not clear what parts of the sentence the word 'or' separates.
I thought Goldacre might just be interested in poor survey techniques. It's fair for Chekhov to point out that this is not a science story so he's unlikely to be interested, but Carol Vorderman didn't answer my calls and Radio 4's 'More or Less' is off the airwaves.
Iain, don't you see any problem in the rule requiring a list of exactly ten blogs? Or your use of the term 'logarithm'?
Thanks, Iain. I have put a link on Thats News.
"Wikio and Technorati have complicated logarithms"
Have they really?
Shucks, in order to qualify, I'm going to have to give a vote to the Laird of Glasgow University.
I think I have spotted a work-round.
The rules don't say they have to be ten different blogs.
So after entering your top 3 or whatever, just repeat the same 3.
Only up to 10 though, or you risk a severe disqualification.
Suggestion for next vote: Your Top Ten Political Parties.
Please, Iain, this is like The Sun asking us to vote on Page 3 girls.
This hoop-la undermines the work that guido, labour list. caon home and others are doing to try and establish a ridiculous beauty pageant to promote Total Politics and trivialise the mainstream bloggers.
As you posted earlier, you are now conflating blogging with a commercial interest. The same criticism you directed at the Telelegraph's expenses story.
Increasingly you are using the blog as a promo for your commercial projects. Good luck, but it diminishes your integrity and readability quotient.
Guido and Dizzy keep things separate.
You MUST do this.. DO NOT do that!
Sorry, pass...
Lloyd said "Please, Iain, this is like The Sun asking us to vote on Page 3 girls."
Nobody wants to see John Prescott's manboobs, thank you.
"It's not scientific. It's impossible to achieve 100% balance and no one pretends it's perfect."
Otherwise okay?
I haven't so far discovered 10 good political blogs so I'll pass.
Am disenfranchised from taking part as I don't have time to read 10 political blogs. So hear are my top 5:
1. Guido
2. Iain Dale
3. Daniel Hannan
4. Coffee House
5. TheyWorkforYou
and a sixth (but it might not fall into the political category?)
6. NHS Blog Doctor
I only read 4 political blogs, one of which (bloggerheads.com) has boycotted the survey, so I can't take part. Who exactly do you want to participate?
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