I'm Number 10!

I'm Number 10!

This is kind of surprising and neat.

A little while back, Daniel Florien of the Unreasonable Faith blog came up with a list of his top 30 atheist/ agnostic/ skeptic blogs... and I made the list. I was honored and flattered (thanks, Daniel!), but I didn't mention it here, since "Hey! Some other blogger thinks I'm cool!" was a little too much tooting of my own horn even for me.

But inspired by this, Hemant Mehta of Friendly Atheist decided to come up with a list of the top 30 atheist blogs... based not on his own subjective preferences, but on an analysis of five different objective metrics measuring a blog's popularity (Alexa Rankings, Google PageRank, Google Reader Subscribers, Technorati Authority, and Technorati InLinks).

And I'm in the Top 10.

#10, to be precise.

Now, I'm not a statistician, and I don't know how accurate this measuring system is. (Hemant's a math teacher, so it's probably not completely wack...) I do suspect that the results may be somewhat skewed by Atheists and Anger, since a lot of these metrics measure how often a blog is linked to... and everyone and their great- aunt Martha seems to have linked to that post.

But I am tickled pink to even be on this list. The idea that I might even conceivably be in the Top Ten? By any sort of objective measurement? It's kind of freaking me out. In a good way.

One of the top ten atheist blogs in the blogosphere. That'll look good on my writer's resume. Neat!

Comments

[marty]

Greta, I've been reading your blog for a while now (although previously mainly when it was linked from other blogs) and your posts have been so clear and well-written: they have often helped me think through so many issues and concerns. You've brought so much calm, even-handed writing to the topic of atheism. If anything you would easily be one of atheism's leading lights in the blogosphere, if we had such a thing.

Thanks for your writing, your wit and perseverance. You're much more than number 10.

Is that enough fanboi gushing? Do I get a cookie?

[Ola]

Ah, I didn't know there was a program tracking Google Reader subscriptions. Good to know that my interest can be counted as a vote - that's exactly how I'd like it to be!

And for me, you're #1 :-)

P.S. But the cookie still goes to marty. First gush, first served :-)

[Claire B]

Yeah, this is definately a really great blog. I'm not much of a one for reading blogs by and large, there are only three I read regularly, and this is one of them.

I totally agree with everything marty said about your writing. I really admire your ability to think through an issue logically and then express the results of your thinking in such a clear and readable way.

On which subject, have you considered trying to get a collection of your blog-posts published? "In the top ten atheist blogs" sounds to me like something that might possibly make publishers prick their ears up somewhat, as it does imply an already-existing core audience. And hey, if Scott Adams can do it...

Or alternatively (coz I seem to remember Adams locked his archive once the book was out, and you might not want to do that), you could go around publishers with that recommendation and see if anyone is prepared to hire you for a non-fiction book on that basis. Something about atheism and theism in American society maybe, I don't know. I'm just making stuff up off the top of my head here.

Basically, this is me being selfish. Like I say, I don't read blogs much, and reading on-screen tends to give me a headache after a while. I'd love to be able to see your thoughtful analyses in a format that I could read more easily!

[Kit Whitfield]

Hey, congratulations!

[Vic]

Congratulations! But I agree with Ola - you're my #1. Who else does atheism *and* sex so well?

[nina hartley]

Yay! It's not surprising, Greta. You rock!

[OzAtheist]

You deserve to be in the top 10, in fact I'd say you deserve to be higher than #10.

I don't always get the time to read your blogs (you are so prolific and extensive) but have found you to be one of the most persuasive writers I've read. Unlike some of the other top bloggers (whose name shall go unmentioned) you seem to put quite an effort into writing your blogs.

Your Atheists and Anger post is still one of the best atheist posts I've ever read.

and for what it's worth you featured in my top 30 list as well

[Zipi]

Congratulations, Greta. I am not surprised. If I had to choose one single atheist post from the blogosphere that I could make compulsory reading for all people in the world, I would certainly include a few of yours in my short list.

The only thing I could wish for to make your blog "better" is that it were translated into Spanish, because there are so many of your posts that I would like to show to so many of my friends and relatives.