BlogRoll Changes

Everybody's got a BlogRoll, but we here at MoltenThought HQ ever endeavor to build a better mousetrap---we're going to bring some science to ours.

Our blogs built around the patented "Hot, Blue, and Righteous" model: Hot being contemporary temporal issues such as politics, Blue being more timeless temporal issues such as WordGirl's family stories or humor, Righteous being associated with timeless spiritual issues. Most blogs focus in one of these areas; some hit more than one, few hit all three.

We've already structured our BlogRoll to bring you a flavor of each. Now we're going to rank them on our HB&R Scale (patent pending).

This scale represents 1-10 rankings for each of areas covered by our model.

Here they are:

Rating Description
10 Innovator; daily must-read
9 Trend-setter; daily recommended read
8 Synthesizer; weekly recommended read
7 Early adopter; weekly recommended read
6 Fast follower; weekly recommended read
5 Influencer; monthly recommended read
4 Late adopter, periodic recommended read
3 Recycler, occasional recommended read
2 Behind-the-curve; not recommended reading
1 No coverage

We simply apply these to each HB&R area and we have an index of how useful a site might be for information and analysis in each area.

For example, Mark Steyn consistently puts forth new ways to view contemporary politics. For anyone who really wants to be savvy in the Hot area, you need to read Steyn frequently. We would rate him a 9 on this scale---he doesn't produce innovations, per se, but it's hard to imagine providing smart political commentary if you're not reading Steyn.

Likewise, our buddy Pat over at Brainster's tends to be well plugged into conservative thought and politics, so much so that his blog's got to be read at least weekly. Moreover, he's a great bellwether of how mainstream, savvy conservatives view things---he's an early adopter, and we'd rate him a 7 on the Hot scale. What's great about his blog is it's not just about politics---he covers the Blue zone as well. There, he covers reality TV, comics, and movies, and we'd rate him as an influencer, a 5.

How would MoltenThought rate on this scale?

For Hot, we'd probably self-rate an 8. We typically synthesize other commentary and strive to make connections others do not. We don't typically generate a bunch of new ideas, nor are we influential enough to set any larger trends (there haven't been any blogswarms started on account of this blog, as opposed to, say, Buckhead's role in Memogate.) For Blue, I'd generally say we're a 5. We cover a lot of areas, we're sometimes ahead of the curve (have you noticed Art Deco's back? We embraced the trend over 2 years ago, as reflected in this site's logo). Our Blue posts do get picked up periodically. For Righteous, I'd have to peg us at about a 4. WordGirl in particular does a great job reflecting on spiritual issues, but we're not really pushing the ball forward for any movement nor school of thought, nor are we considered a GodBlog. Thus our rating's would be H:8 B:5 R:4. Not bad, but tons of room to improve.

As we add new members to the BlogRoll, we'll provide you these ratings as we see them.

It's just one more way we're trying to work up that innovation curve and truly live up to our name.