Summary: Ding Dong! The lists are dead. Which old lists? The blogging lists! Ding Dong! The blogging lists are dead. Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed. Wake up, the blogging lists are dead. They've gone where the goblins go, Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out. Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low. Let them know The blogging lists are dead!
I haven't had much to say on Techmeme's Leaderboard, because I haven't had much use for Techmeme, or any of the other 'hot' story sites. As Sam Ruby, Tim Bray, Jeneane and others have mentioned, we've moved beyond the need for such things. The Techmemes are focused on one small group of people, the Silly Valley folks, and one type of topic: tech marketing. I, and most of the people I know, just aren't that interested. Too much Microsoft, Apple, Twitter, and definitely too much Facebook. Even the squabbles between the people have been repetitive and rather dull.
I find all I can possibly want to read, and write about, on my list of subscriptions. These include two major planets of interest, Planet RDF and Planet Intertwingly and the O'Reilly Network weblogs feed, in addition to subscriptions to many excellent individual and group weblogs.
I also downloaded Sam's Venus planet software and have started to pull together a few of my own planets on subjects near and dear to my heart. One is Planet Cephalopod, since the giant squid is now the official weblogging mascot (having eaten all the cats). Another is Planet Reality Check, consisting of the people who say, "Hey, wait a sec. What about…" any time someone comes up with the universe's Next Great Thing. I know this might be a shock to you all, but the planets I create will actually include links to women.
I'll post links to the planets when they're ready. Probably not until after the book is finished, since I've now become a slave to the deadline. (Becoming increasingly grumpy because of such, too, I might add.)
The point is that the days of the Tops, the Lists, the Biggests, the Baddests, the Heavies, the Leaders are done. We don't need you any more. I'm not sure we ever did.
