Yes, I’m not talking about the hoopla about the border control stuff. I’ve moved on.
There’s been a lot of hoopla recently about how the top dogs in the blogosphere are white and male. Lots of people pissed off.
To me, it doesn’t make any sense. Doesn’t every blogger have a personal list of people they look up to? Isn’t that their “A List”?
On my A List are
Hell, here are my top 10 people I respect in the blogosphere right now. This is my A List. And note that while at least half are white and male, a fair number aren’t. Not that it matters, but to those to whom it does matter, this is how I view the issue. Here they are, in no particular order:
Lee Lefever - for being one of the nicest people I’ve ever met
Dave Shea - for being able to have a laugh and to chat with a nobody like me without rolling his eyes even once
Renee Blodgett - for always wanting to “just chat”
Neville Hobson - for having the class to go with his hoity toity British accent
Stowe Boyd - for being himself all the time, anytime, anywhere and for knowing when to support you and when to take you to task
Suw Charman - for being so cool I didn’t realize I’d only known her for a few days before calling her “the rockingest chick ever”
Robert Scoble - not for the normal reasons. I respect Robert for pioneering the “be yourself online, in spite of what others say” side of blogging, and doing it better than anyone else while earning more kudos than anyone can count.
Marc Orchant - for having the guts to say yes, and the balls to say no, whenever I ask him to participate in something
Mike Hillyer - for being just as good at kicking my ass at games as at having his ass kicked
Pudd - for being cooler than cool, and funner than fun all while being hotter than hot
Who’s your A List? Why are they on it? Does your A List include your mom? Isn’t this what is important? Who cares about the guys with all the links from 5 years ago who are quoted in the media.
Blogs are about you and your relationships. So, who is your A List?
Update: I forgot a lot of very cool people in my list. Including Darren. This is the problem with only including a certain number of people 
Sorry to everyone I didn’t include. It wasn’t meant as any disrespect.
#1 by Marc Orchant - March 20th, 2005 at 19:51
Great post mate! Thanks so much for including me on you’re A List. Of course, the feeling is entirely mutual. I just posted my A List:
http://blogs.officezealot.com/marc/archive/2005/03/20/4378.aspx
#2 by Darren - March 20th, 2005 at 21:17
Hey, mofo, how about a little love for your business partner?
#3 by Neville Hobson - March 21st, 2005 at 04:07
Wow! First time I’ve been on any kind of A-list. Thanks Jeremy!
‘Class’ is nice. Obviously I need to work on the hoity-toity thing, though…
#4 by Suw - March 21st, 2005 at 05:05
Gosh! Thanks! I’m on an A-list! And a ‘rockingest chick’. Honoured, I am.
But I have to agree wholeheartedly here, and to reiterate what I said at Northern Voice when someone asked about gender balance in blogging. It doesn’t matter that the metabloggers are all white males because their actual importance in the grand scheme of things is very, very small. What’s important is that men and women of whatever race or heritage can use blogs to create or tap into a community which is, and this is the important bit, relelvant to them.
Who cares if the top 100 are mainly male and white? Not the other 7.5 million bloggers who are busy doing their own thing, that’s for sure. The 52,000 knitting bloggers have probably never heard of Doc Searls or Dave Winer, probably never will, and almost certainly couldn’t care less.
Sometimes I think this hoopla is not really about diversity in blogging, or diversity in the alleged A-list, but down to the frustration that in blogging it’s sometimes easy to feel isolated from the community you want to be a part of. We are all social creatures after all, and our position in society is important to us (whether we realise it or not), and it gets frustrating if we see a glass ceiling above which we fear we will not be able to go.
Certainly I feel with Strange Attractor that no one is really reading it, and that it is but a gnat on the face of the blogosphere that occasionally gets swatted by the Glenn Reynolds of this world, but is generally ignored. Some days, that feels a bit crap. Mostly, though, it means I don’t have to feel bad about not being able to post every day (and yes, I know that not posting every day is not helping my ranking!). So it’s all swings and roundabouts really.
#5 by david Hume - March 21st, 2005 at 09:06
Wow, this A list blog idea is going to catch on like wildfire, TONIGHT, NOW, around the world, and be copied around the globe, blog by blog, blogger by blogger, and the old Hollywood definition of an A list will be supplanted by this new concept. Nice. You just made the world go round one more sweet revolution.
But I must say one thing: i hate it when people write in and say thank you for putting me on your A list. it’s like so, er, lame. If you get an award, be humble and accept it silently. whatever happened to humility in today’s blogosphere? ouch!
me me me, everyone is saying me me me. Get over it, everyone. you don’t matter. We matter. Us. not me me me!
jeez.
#6 by Marc Orchant - March 21st, 2005 at 09:11
David: Oh I don’t know about that. One of the cool things about what Jeremy has started here is that unlike that other A List, this one precipitates conversation. And a pick up and forward of the idea as you describe so passionately. Is there really anything wrong with acknowledging your gratitude when a friend recognizes you as such - especially in such a public fashion?
#7 by david Hume - March 21st, 2005 at 09:26
Marc just emailed me, and thanks Marc, nice letter, QUOTE:
“David: Oh I don’t know about that. One of the
cool things about what Jeremy has started here is
that unlike that other A List, this one
precipitates conversation. And a pick up and forward of the
idea as you describe so passionately. Is there
really anything wrong with acknowledging your
gratitude when a friend recognizes you as such -
especially in such a public fashion?”
——————
MY REPLY:
yes, yes, i salute the coining of the A list concept and it’s great, that was my main comment, my side comment was just a side dish.
1. yes, “this new A list precipitates conversation”, like you said so well. file that quote away. it’s a good one.
2. and the pick up and forward worldwide is great, too…
3. and there is nothing wrong in acknowledging one’s gratitude when a friend recognizes you, but this acknowledgement should be done by private email or phone or face to face, not publicly in the me me me public space…. IMHO only
4. too many people are using the blogonet to pat themselves on the back. that should be done in private, i have always felt. just my personal opinion, i might be wrong. i usually am…
#8 by Kreg Steppe - March 21st, 2005 at 10:50
Interesting…I don’t really know if the blogs that I follow are created by Blacks, Whites or Whatever background.
My criterea: be interesting, and/or informative, or be funny and you will make it on my list.
#9 by Darren - March 21st, 2005 at 10:56
That’s right. Ya gots to represent.
Er, sorry about that.
#10 by Lee LeFever - March 21st, 2005 at 13:30
Oh god, the pressure. I have to be nice all the time now! Thanks for the very nice compliment Jeremy. I’m honored, and blushing a little.