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"The frightening power of Harvey's filthy lies makes me tremble like a Frenchman. I frequently wet myself in terror and... Oops... damn." - Glenn Reynolds

"Tact is a stranger to you. I like that." - Chris Muir - Day By Day

"The man is a FREAK and a WEIRDO!" - Vigilance Matters

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"...a very, very sick person." - She Who Will Be Obeyed

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"Curmudgeonly Old Coot" - BigStick.US

"Mr. Bad Example" - Straight White Guy

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	Sunday, January 11, 2004

KING OF THE BLOGS RESULTS After not nearly enough bloody & brutal infighting, the new King of the Blogs is: ChristWeb I'm hoping that since I actually gave this blogger a high mark in the "overall blog" category, God will now stop cursing me with disappointing Packer games. SmarterCop came in a fairly distant second, and former monarch Vigilance Matters is left behind in forgotten obscurity. Looks like he'll have to off two bloggers this week instead of just one if he wants his crown back. The full results can be found here. My cruel and thoughtless reviews are listed below. Notice how craftily I avoided the bother of judging the actual contents of the blogs, and just let everything ride on technical merit. Damn I'm smooth. ****************** Judges Challenge: The question: What event in your life would you like to permanently forget? If your life is either dull, perfect, or contains no regrets, make something up. The answers reviewed: ChristWeb: Good points: Gave an excellent reason for not answering the question, which I respect, and, frankly, tend to agree with myself - everything in life is a lesson learned Bad points: Didn't answer the question, the second part of which allowed him the opportunity to make up a brilliantly witty tale. Blown opportunity here. Score: 7 SmarterCop: Good points: Answered the question and sprinkled his fairly entertaining story with many amusing links Bad points: Nothing wrong with the answer, but presentation-wise, it was a solid block of text, and could've used a little paragraphing. Score 9 Vigilance Matters: Good points: Starts off with the cocky, arrogant bluster appropriate to a tyrannical monarch, takes a little dip in the serious pool, changes course for some silliness (I'm with you 100% on the dirty diaper issue), and ends with a useful moral Bad points: None visible Score 10 WHOLE-BLOG REVIEWS: Here are the things I look for when judging a blog: Comments enabled Permalinks working E-mail contact info available Blogger's name/pseudonym prominently displayed Site search feature enabled Link to an "About Me" post on the sidebar Blogger's gender is easily discernable Blogroll Readable font style & size Readable color scheme (for example, NOT bright red type on bright green background) Divisions between posts clearly marked Paragraphing in entries (NOT just writing one fat block of text) To avoid redundancy, I'm only going to mention areas where a blog is lacking on a feature. If I don't mention it, there's not a problem. Content-wise, all 3 bloggers are excellent writers with a strong command of the English language, and all 3 have great commentary and creativity. I'm not grading for content in particular, because there's no significant gap in talent. ChristWeb: No problems here. He does use that horrid shade of eye-stabbing red in his titlebar, but it probably represents Christ's blood or something, so I'll let it go. Score: 10 SmarterCop: Mostly perfect, except I couldn't find an "About Me" post. Also, using a pseudonym leaves open the question of the blogger's gender. If you were my blogchild, would I hand out "It's a boy!" or "It's a girl!" cigars? It's hard to tell at a casual glance. Score: 9 Vigilance Matters: Mostly good. Major issues would be the lack of an "About Me" post, and lack of a search feature (which can be easily fixed with a tiny bit of script in the sidebar, thanks to Google (e-mail me & I can send it to you)). Minor issues – although the blogger's name is prominently displayed at the bottom of the page, it would be nice to have it in the individual posts, or under the monkey picture. At the very least, please consider putting a name under the monkey (preferably a clearly male name, like "Mr. McMonkey" or something). Also, the referrer's list at the bottom shows up on my system as bright blue text on a dark gray background, which is practically unreadable. You might want to fix it so that the white background is under it. Score: 8 ****************** Over the next 2 weeks, the following bloggers will attempt to scratch & claw their way out of obscurity for your amusement: ChristWeb Blown Fuse Canadian Comment Cranial Cavity Hobson's Choice Vessel of Honour Remember entrants, more brutality = more popularity. Except for Christweb, who will, I'm sure, be calmly practicing his cheek-turning the entire time. posted by Harvey at 9:49:53 PM  permalink    Crappy Broken Radio Comments (do not use) [] trackback []  HOME

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