One need not be a scientist to realize that Bloggiana lacks any sort of mathematical clarification or statistical barometers. Those of us who fancy blogology may soon become one of the more respected social sciences would do well to essay a system whereby a site can be given some quantitative measure, beyond the mere whim and opinion of readers and writers. In an age when French-poisoned professors, and namby-pantsed journalists attempt to take the hard judgement out of everything from art to politics to theatre, and attempt to replace it with "discourse" and "context" and other catchwords that stink like fishgut, it behooves to make some serious effort at seperating the wheat from the chaff, and not cast it all off into miasmas of self-doubt. There IS good, and bad, there ARE good blogs and bad. Let's not make like the timid souls who see all the Internet as one lump of sociology - rather let's divide, and assess, and yes, to use that hated word of the Left, JUDGE! By gum we can make at least a noble effort at a scale to measure the worth of a site, and its creator! If he's found wanting, let him rectify! Let us commend excellence and scold failure, and the world will be better for it!
Our project then is to create a measurement, reliable, testable, that can give at least a rough sense of a blog's worth.
We propose the SC number (SCN).
This number is determined using the handy "Next Blog" feature from Blogger. The number records how many times "Next Blog" must be pressed before a blog OF MORE INTEREST TO THE GENERAL READER can be found. One starts at the site to be tested - in this case of course, Clinomania - and presses "Next Blog" until a more generally interesting blog is landed upon. The number of Next Blog presses = Clinomania's SC's number. A high number, then, is good, indicating the blog in question is far better than most of the chuffle. A low blog indicates a fairly low calibre of blog, since it doesn't take long to find its superior.
Now, two points of interest. Blogs in Spanish, and Spanish-related languages (non-Asian tongues) are discounted. These blogs are however included in the Adjusted SC's number (ASCN). This number will typically be almost twice as high as the SCN. Asian language blogs, since the writing of the Oriental is not quite what we call "literature," are not included.
Additionally, the SCN of a blog should be constantly in a state of revision, and we welcome reader input. Naturally, one test may reveal an abnormally low or high SCN - if Fortune brings a better blog quickly or makes one wait. Random chance plays a role certainly. That is why readers are invited and encouraged to run many SC tests of their own, and to submit their results here, so that they may be included in the average. We propose an SCN be given in the following form:
SCN(X) where X is equal to the number of tests run. A higher X indicates a more accurate result. Running a test, as the reader might imagine, is a fairly time-consuming, although as we shall see enlightening process.
TO SUMMARIZE:
SCN=number of times the "Next Blog" button must be pressed before finding a more engaging blog.
ASCN includes Spanish and Spanish-ish language blogs.
X=number of tests run.
RESULTS:
THE SCN(1) FOR CLINOMANIA=130
THE ASCN(1)=189
We encourage readers to run SCN tests on Clinomania, and also to submit other blogs' SCNs. It may take several hours, but the cursory clicking is generally an entertaining enough pastime.
WHAT WE DISCOVERED WHILE RUNNING OUR TEST
People are interested in: their own inconsequential lives, their families, manga, graphic design, flawed poetry, System Of A Down. Nearly all English blogs include one or more of these phenomena. A perhaps startling number of blogs are from Australia. Spanish is common, but Portugese perhaps a close rival. Of 189, only 1 appeared to be homosexual pornography - an equal number to Canadian monarchist propoganda. This accords with our general theory that homosexuals are a much tinier scintilla of the general public than most realize, and than their cultural impact would indicate.
We thought Jack might be bested early by actorschmactor.blogspot.com, or nycbeard.blogspot.com. But the ultimate winner, after 189 clicks, was http://wiscghostnet.blogspot.com/
Note that we do not claim this blog is more interesting, of more depth, or more literary merit. We merely claim it is more interesting to the general reader.
