It should not be forgotten that “meaningful” posts which get mad hits aren’t always meaningful, and niche blogs which receive no hits are often meaningful.

It is difficult as a blog reader these days to make headway through this vast universe of discussion. The “democratic nature” of blogs–as t-hag notes–limits discussion. Add to that the anonymous character of much of the speech online–even when the blogger tells us who he/she is–and you get the redundancy and banality of much discussion.

So we have some sort of a contradiction between particular self-expression and abstract generality. This seems to be the place where “established” bloggers step in. They carry some sort of authority for being there the earliest, and they become the “blogs of record.” Drezner himself is one such example.

So indeed it does matter who had right of first possession–as it were– on the blogosphere. The city on the frontier was named after the founder, and other erstwhile founders continued westward. Has the blogosphere reached the year 1890–the year FJ Turner tells us the US Census Bureau announced the closing of the frontier?

A good example of a good blog I feel is a very good ex. is HIPSTERRUNOFF.COM

great blog, fun reads, authentic, and alt doesn’t post a ton every day and is a blog I feel gathered an ‘audience’ fairly recently to say it wasn’t the first. And only one author.

I think the benefit+problem of this blog is that it’s very very niche oriented in a way. kind of hard to relate sometimes and fairly long w/o visual aids. In other words and bluntly said ‘boring’. but I still enjoy reading it b.c I feel that I learn something new about life.

Seriously, I do think that people search the internet for like-mindedness and self assurance. Not for a challenge or insight. I’ve certainly been guilty as such. It’s not hard to understand that while you are feeling awkward or weird in your beliefs it’s nice to find… concurring opinions.

It does seem odd to me, however, that people don’t really seek beyond that. I’m always fascinated by the other side, alternatives, and I do love to learn.

But do most people? I could make an argument in both directions. I don’t know what the answer is, but in this case I might be leaning toward an explanation of laziness or a sense of being overwhelmed by all of the information “information” out there.

You pretty much summed it up right there. Absolute hysteria dominates, if you read (as I do), the comments sections after any given article. Take the NY Times for example. If Krugman pumps out an article with a few talking points (how did this guy win a Nobel?), there are literally hundreds of sycophants that are just WAITING to say, “Paul, thanks for the great article! I completely agree!”

There have been a couple times that, upon seeing this trend, I have offered an opinion on the readers’ forum that didn’t quite fit squarely with the author. I was doomed to the bottom of the pile, with few people hitting the “I like this” (or whatever it is) button under my post.

Outside of those uber-mega organs, ie the Times, it almost seems like pure chance: I only find what I like by stumbling across it, literally. That’s even how I came across Rethink: just hit the Stumble button, and see what pops up.

I think you have a point about being first, too. Drudge really isn’t anything special, and the same even goes for RCP. There are any number of people who could do the same exact thing — those sites are basically echo chambers. But lots of ppl know of them! I just wonder if the democratic nature of blogs hasn’t ruined them — it seems like pharmakon, both a cure and a poison.