What's up with the blogosphere lately? Tired of list-posts!
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Just a small rant here really to get something off my chest I've been wondering about lately. The issue I'm trying to address seems to be especially true for design related blogs but I see it everywhere really: top 10 posts and list-posts. With list-posts I mean posts that don't have some sort of top ranking but simply list something like '50 awesome porn themed photoshop brushes'. Honestly... is this all bloggers can come up with lately? Or worse: Is this all people want to read lately?
I'm starting to suspect it may actually be the latter. I noticed that when I write 'big articles' they seem to get less attention than they used to get one or two years ago. They definitely attract a lot less comments than they used to. Does this mean people are so busy these days that they cannot take 10 minutes to read an article? Does it mean all people want is bite-sized chunks of ready-to-digest information without having to think about what it is they're reading? I don't really get it. Maybe this is a great time for bloggers to post a 'Top 10 of brain farts I pulled out of my arse in the past 4 years' in which they link to the good articles they wrote during that time. Chances are though that nobody is actually gonna click any of the posted links but at least the top 10 list may make it to Digg. Yay! Traffic!
Look, I'm not saying I've never posted a top 10. I have. But only very few. I did find that they tend to attract traffic like a 3 days old pile of dog excretions attracts flies. Writing such a post takes little to no effort because all you need to do is find a bunch of links. I'm not gonna turn this blog into an endless stream of top 10 posts or lists of awesome resources posts. I'm not doing it, no matter how much traffic it may attract.
So what do you all think? Are people really so A.D.D. these days that all they can digest is 10 items in a bulleted list?
You tell me!
At 23 April '09 - 01:11 Simon wrote:
Personally I think some of them give a great impression of what’s out there, so I don’t have a problem with them.
At 23 April '09 - 01:16 Weefselkweekje wrote:
I’m not sure what the psychology behind it is, but my guess is that top 10 lists aren’t just easy to digest. If you’re into Photoshop brushes (I’ve been using Photoshop professionally since version 2.5 and have never used a 3rd party brush), you’re going to want to see whether your favorite one made the list. You’ll want confirmation that you’re not missing out on anything crucial. I think potentially discovering new brushes is only part of the equation.
But you know what’s even worse? All those people that (re)tweet these lists on Twitter… :)
At 23 April '09 - 01:17 Marco wrote:
I don’t have a problem with them per-se either. As said, SOMETIMES I post one myself!
I have a problem with the fact that lately a huge amount of stuff that enters my RSS reader is … the same kind of post. The top-X posts vs. actual article posts ratio seems to be going into the wrong direction…
At 23 April '09 - 03:59 Rose wrote:
At 23 April '09 - 13:41 Zac wrote:
As someone just getting web design, I find the really long posts pertaining to any type of tutorial means its going to be more in-depth than I will be able to get a handle on at this point. Its just something I have started as a hobby really. It never fails that the more that is written, the less I’ll understand it.
Once i started coming across these Top X lists i started finding articles that I could digest and grab concepts from and move on. Im sure once i have a good feel for what Im doing I will have the same opinion as you though, wondering why everything has been dumbed down.
At 23 April '09 - 17:28 Max wrote:
Yes, sometimes list-posts are a great way to collect a bunch of relevant info in a short, easy to grasp form, sure. Some sites do go a bit overboard with them, though.
Unsurprisingly, it’s the “pro blogger” sites that seem to be the worst offenders. To make things even worse, they’re often the same lists, or at least very damn similar.
At 28 April '09 - 09:28 Stoyan wrote:
Suddenly, non-list posts are unexpected and, as Don’t Make Me Think will tell you, thou shall not surprise the users.
Lists are a good form for many purposes, including instructions: 1. click here, 2. type “my app”, 3. etc. But when there is “Top” in the list title, I know it’s most likely crap. But I still click it ;)
At 12 May '09 - 15:54 bkrall wrote:
At 16 May '09 - 17:28 Stefan wrote:
BUT all those googlers out there seeking information, like what’s the best way to embed a flickr slideshow don’t care too much about personal experience but simply want links to download code and trials.
one of my favorite bloggers is robert basic (german as well) cause he writes long articles as well, has an informal but well-informed style. he was the first german to sell his blog basicthinking on ebay, you might have heard from that auction. he’s now on robertbasic.de …
cheers from hamburg, germany!
stefan
please keep on writing, not posting ;)
At 20 May '09 - 16:59 David Sutoyo wrote:
At 08 June '09 - 11:45 mccormicky wrote:
At 18 January '11 - 15:14 Ryan wrote:
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