A couple of weeks ago, Aaron Bady, who blogs as zunguzungu, tweeted something that made me stop and think:
All blogs should have a “best of” page: http://tinyurl.com/4ckf7m8
Lots of blogs have auto-generated “top posts” or tags or “about” posts that act as introductions to the site. But how do you distinguish what’s churning (or churned a long time ago) from what’s really hung on as valuable? What are the exemplars? If your blog had a portfolio, what would it look like? And how would you decide what went into it?
For instance, before starting this post, I went through our analytics to find our highest-traffic posts, assuming that even if it’s an imperfect metric (I think it misses some hits and spreads out traffic to some of the older posts that got new URLs unevenly), it’ll help some of the best stuff rise to the top.
And it turns out that Snarkmarket’s highest-traffic single post is Robin’s “Stock and flow,” which is a little over a year old. Not only a good candidate for the blog’s “best of” page, but actually illustrates the concept of a “best of” very well.
On the other hand, one of the other top posts is “OMG!!11! Google LOL,” written by Matt in 2005. It’s no slouch — nice little post about Google’s then brand-spanking-new IM client. But I strongly suspect that the accidental Google juice of the title skewed this post’s numbers a little bit. At any rate, I wouldn’t pick it for the “best of.” Not when Matt’s “Towards Engagement” or “Free Book Idea: Too Big To Succeed” sitting out there.
So this is an open call to the Snarkmatrix. What do you think are the site’s best posts? Which ones were the most important? Which are the smartest? The funniest? The strangest? The most relevant, six or seven years later? Which meant the most to you? If you had to say “here are ten posts you should read from Snarkmarket,” which would you pick?
Let ‘er rip in the comments below.
9 comments
have you gone back through GReader and looked at which posts had the most likes?
even though this may not be the most accurate representation of what was the best, it’s got to mean something, right (in the vein of “they like me, they really like me.”)?
for what it’s worth, in addition to this week’s “coming out” post, here are two more SM likes from my account:
The Netflix Film School Post
The value of older people
Stock and Flow is up there for me too. I think about it each time I’m off of Twitter for a few days, and give up on trying to see what I’ve missed.
This is totally tangential, but I actually have a hard time thinking of the best of posts b/c of the redesign (which I do like). I was/am probably one of the few people who always reads snarkmarket by loading it up, and something about the redesign is creating an almost physical twinge in my attempts to think about this question, which I know I would have easily answered before. Anyway, I’ll meditate on it.
I don’t know about favorite posts, as there are many to name, but my favorite comments on a post has to be this one:
http://snarkmarket.com/2010/5579
Now THAT is the right question to answer for Snarkmarket. And I totally agree w/ your pick, Allen.
This made me think that you run at Kottke should be accessible through 1 link.
Oh jeez, agree. Let’s make a book outta that.
I’m now wondering if there’s something about Snarkmarket that’s actually resistant to the idea of a “Best Of” for posts — that it tilts towards short-term time capsules or best comment threads.
Partly because of the way the Snarkmatrix works, and partly because, really, the blog has been around quite a very long time — November 2003, if you don’t know.
In related news, it felt like I’d been reading and commenting on Snarkmarket for YEARS before I finally decided to plunge in and start my own first blog… which was in August 2004. Nine months — that’s it.
Bing! Partially dropping a comment in order to remind me to come back here to read up on the nominations.
But, no mention of Hero’s Welcome yet? That thing’s more Carmody than Carmody. Nine more of those and I’ve got a Carmody volume on my shelf and a Burkesque Connections for media nerds to dish out to hungry students.
And, yep. Have to mention Stock and Flow because it changed how I thought about making stuff for the web at a very foundational level.
This one has taken some thought. I don’t think I could do a best of Snarkmarket, because of our randomness, and the fact that I find myself thinking of completely different posts and comments at completely different moments. Today, for example, I was thinking about Tim’s Missing Enlightenment post from last August, and I had a conversation last night which was heavily influenced by Lois Beckett’s personal brand comment from November. Sanford’s Odyssey was delightful, partly because it was sooooo unexpected. Who could forget the original New Liberal Arts thread, now immortalized? I love whenever Robin writes about his process, so I found The New Utility Belt fascinating. Remember the early political strain on Snarkmarket, enshrined in posts such as Megacaucuses? I’m also partial to the Snark by Snarkwest liveblogs because I so enjoy the virtual company of you guys when I’m blogging an event.
That’s not even close to a list of favorite Snarkmarket posts. Those are just “posts I’m thinking about today.”