Welcome, all you Brothers and Sisters of the Z-list!
Back in January (has it been that long already?) I posted a heartfelt Thank You to all the bloggers who stepped up and showed their support for Spocko during the KSFO scandal (which we were happy to be involved with).
[Meta-Update] – I want to add one very, very important thought before I let this post slip away.
As I mentioned in one of the original thoughts below, I spent a lot of time watching the buzz on this story building over the weekend. (And kudos to Mike Stark for dropping it on dKos – not that Thers wasn’t on the ball at OBI, as well.) I don’t have an exact number right now, but yesterday Stark claimed over 500 blogs pushing Spocko’s story. And one of the beautiful things, as I watched this unfold over the weekend, was the sheer number of ‘unknown, 27th-tier’ blogs who picked this up. (their words, in response to Spocko’s ‘self-proclaimed 5th-tier blogger’ comment)
Jeebus…. When I say it was ‘beautiful’, I mean it was truly beautiful. I don’t know how much traffic these folks get – evidently many of them are in the same corner of the Web as I am – but some of these bloggers went above and beyond the Call, in my opinion. Some gave short excerpts with links, some wrote impassioned calls for Justice, some gave brilliant analyses of the situation. And most of you/us have probably never heard of them.
Bloggers who never make the A-, B- or C-list blogrolls. People who never get a lucky link or h/t from Atrios, never make the Recommended List at dKos, never get quoted by anyone that some people think matters… But they took 2, 5, 15, 30 minutes of their time and gave their slice of real estate to stand up for another Z-lister because they believed in what Spocko was saying and doing.
As I rummaged around in Technorati and Google, and drilled down into the links, I came across dozens of bloggers who deserve more attention. I wish I’d copied blog addresses, so I could give all of you great bloggers some real cowbell – I’m sorry, I didn’t think of it at the time. But I did leave comments on quite a few blogs. Nothing fancy or particulary deep – just a quick note to let them know we were paying attention.
So, if there’s a comment on your blog that said ‘Thanks for helping to spread the word! Rip – (Team Blog Integrity)’ – that was me. I know I didn’t catch all of you – again, I apologize.
I wish I could do more to thank all the bloggers who grabbed Spocko’s story and ran with it. Without you, this would have been another unheard rant on a few blogs, that slipped away like a frat boy in the early morning after a one night stand. Every one of you deserves more gratitude than I could possibly express.
I’m sure I speak for Spocko and all the scalliwags from Online Blog Integrity when I say:
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! You have our undying gratitude and appreciation. Keep up the good work!
Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
When Thers, NTodd, Phila, The Black Cat and I were discussing the option of moving OBI to a new site and adding some new contributors, I brought up the idea of a series of Sunday guest posts by Z-listers who deserved more attention for their work. Everyone seemed agreeable, because that's the kind of folks we are, and the time has finally come.
I'll have our first guest post up in a little bit. I hope you'll enjoy the series and hip us to some bloggers who deserve more recognition. Thanks!
Rip -
All power to the civillic mother£µ©λing discoursers of the Z-list.
Spocko's struggle really crystalised a number of things for me regarding the blogosphere and the peculiar silence that has followed the total and continuing fiscal and moral bankruptcy of the USA, by and of the Republican party and its related crew of bacteria in particular.
Without the Zed, one could never be civilized.
Posted by: Metro | May 08, 2007 at 04:44 PM