Ranking Oversaturation
There is a negative aspect to all of the blog ranking which has been going on here, and other places recently. I don’t think it’s too awful an effect, but it’s all just a tiny little bit cheapening, this who has the most popular blog malarkey. Maybe it’s just because my eyes have been exposed to too many of these lists in the last few days, but it feels just a little bit sad to see all of those numbers next to everyones efforts. There is something uncomfortable about quantifying the writing that people have put in pretty much purely because they are passionate about the subject.
Patty at Oboeinsight feels similarly, I think:
Sure, it’s fun to be able to see that some people read this little blog. But really, would I stop blogging if I didn’t make the list? Heck no.
Which I suspect is how almost everyone else either on or off the list feels. I hope so anyway. It’s sort of hard to divorce yourself from this where-am-I-placed type of attitude when the numbers are right in front of you though, and I confess that I will be vigorously scanning any more of these that are published to find my own little website amongst all the others.
I think it’s really important to treat these rankings as vaguely indicative, and not the be-all/end-all of anything. While it’s nice to have a measure of how far an outreach you have compared to others, it’s probably not a good thing to take it terribly seriously. Or at all seriously, in fact.
Perhaps I’m just feeling a little mopey and hypocritical on the cusp of another Monday.
Tags: blog rankings, classical music