Gid, so close to "a congo line of suck holes" but not quite there. I'm still waiting to see the first JUer use it in a sentence--TW and LW have both promised but failed to deliver

MM, I don't read the home page so I have no idea who has been featured and who hasn't -but I do make a point of trying to read your stuff.

I was tempted...if I'd have known you were looking for it, I'd have obliged. But it's kinda late now.

lol!

We feature things that catch our eye.  It all depends on when someone makes the rounds to feature an article, and what's in the most recent list.  Sometimes I go digging several days back, sometimes not.

A good headline/subtitle goes a long way to getting noticed.  Do good articles go unnoticed?  Sometimes, sure.  Things get featured as we have time to read through the site.

so the title is what gets it done, well then I will try to oblige.

Brad's new theme song (lyrics compliments of Messr's Hetfield and Ullrich, as far as I know):


End of passion play, crumbling away
I'm your source of self-destruction
Veins that pump with fear, sucking darkest clear
Leading on your deaths' construction

Taste me you will see
More is all you need
You're dedicated to
How I'm killing you

Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master

Master of puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master

Needlework the way, never you betray
Life of death becoming clearer
Pain monopoly, ritual misery
Chop your breakfast on a mirror

Taste me you will see
More is all you need
You're dedicated to
How I'm killing you

Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master

[ Lyrics found on http://www.metrolyrics.com ]

Master of puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master

Master, master, where's the dreams that I've been after?
Master, master, you promised only lies
Laughter, laughter, all I hear or see is laughter
Laughter, laughter, laughing at my cries

Hell is worth all that, natural habitat
Just a rhyme without a reason
Neverending maze, drift on numbered days
Now your life is out of season

I will occupy
I will help you die
I will run through you
Now I rule you too

Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master

Master of puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master

I thought my toenail clipping article was quite captivating.

I am always surprised when one of my goofy articles gets a feature. And it's never the ones I think have a shot

Reply By: little-whipPosted: Thursday, May 03, 2007 ~flame on~ (WHOOOOOOMMPHHH)

 

wow..

Same here...I'll spend hours researching some article only to have an article I scribbled off the top of my head get front paged.

Of course, some of my researched articles make it, too, but like you said, often not the ones I'd expect.

I didn't see Trudy's article, but you're right, it's shameful.

Reply By: Gideon MacLeishPosted: Thursday, May 03, 2007 Brad's new theme song (lyrics compliments of Messr's Hetfield and Ullrich, as far as I know):

great tune gid, but now I have stuck in my head a picture of Brad with his pinky stuck in the side of his mouth ala DR> EVIL>

Reply By: MasonMPosted: Thursday, May 03, 2007 your latest adventures in toenail clipping just don't quite make it. I thought my toenail clipping article was quite captivating. I am always surprised when one of my goofy articles gets a feature. And it's never the ones I think have a shot

I personally thought your adventures with the nose picking bandit was quite exciting and entertaining.

Wow.

Honestly, features, points, and all that have ceased to matter to me. I don't even notice my points. I couldn't tell you how many I have.

HOWEVER, typically when something of mine gets featured (not often) it's something where I cringe over. I am not the most skilled writer, and most of my blogs are more like personal journals, so features, while flattering, are also embarrassing.

Although, I can understand being disappointed about not receiving a feature for a well-researched article that you have put a lot of effort into writing. I think timing is about as important as anything. Your chances of being featured are greater if you post when an admin is looking for something to feature.

(flame on)

MM's questions about being featured are legit. While MM is not above points whoring (I know, I know...but I've never been a closeted points whore!), his articles usually have substance. Trudy, on the other hand, bemoans not getting a free ride to another town so she can get a free monitor, when it apparently never occured to her to pay the gentleman's gas to go over, or (gasp!) foot the $50 it costs to get a small CRT monitor at Wally World, using the transportation that she bemoans for not giving her the Paris Hilton treatment on the public dime. Oh, and that's when she's not busy flaming other people on the same blog!

Honestly, I try to stay neutral. But if you're going to accuse me of being a sycophant and participating in a conga line of suckholes (happy, shades?) to get features, you deserve what you get. I don't care if your accusation was merely implicit, it was hurtful, wrong, and, quite honestly, showed me exactly what you're made of!

(flame off)

Now, back to the important stuff. How are you doing in recovering, MM?

Hahhahahhaahaha. Awesome. You deserve an award for that.

The assumption is that people have a right to be featured.  This isn't the case.  When I feature, I actually rarely look at who wrote it.  If it turns out a few people get featured more often, it's coincidence and little more.

Prior to working here, I had many articles that I poured a lot time and effort into that never got any notice.  And from time to time articles I never expected (and later regretted) were featured for the world to see.  Now that I'm on the other side of the equation, I understand it more.  Not everything is seen, and what is featured depends on what catches the interest of the person featuring it.

A good title (i.e. descriptive and catchy that actually matches to the contents of the article) helps draw attention.  It does not guarantee it though.  You may write on the serious issues plaguing survivers of the gulf coast disaster all this time later, but if I'm not in a disaster kind of mood at the moment, I may pass the article over.  It's not a mark against the article, it just didn't catch my attention/desire to read at the time.  Sometimes I'm looking for fun and goofy articles because that's how my mood is at the moment, sometimes I'm looking for political ones to reflect current events.

If a title hooks me, content then becomes king.  Is the article mostly a reposting of another news article with a paragraph or two of commentary?  Or is it mostly original thought and opinion that expresses the view of the author and not what they read?  Is it well written?  And by this I don't mean perfect spelling, grammar and punctuation...I lack that myself.  What I'm looking for is, does it communicate the point well?

There are always exceptions, like when someone links a particularly funny youtube video, or points to an article I think is particularly worth reading, but by and large my criteria are:

1.  Hook me with a good title.
2.  Follow up that title with something that keeps me interested

So don't attempt to use sensationalist headlines in an attempt to grab attention, if it doesn't match to what is written, it won't help you any.

I believe Brad wrote an article several years ago on what gets you noticed for featuring.  I'll have to dig that link up.

You DO have a difficult time controlling your behavior don't you?!

Too bad there isn't a seperate place for you to vent besides on other people's blogs....oh wait, it's called "your own blog".

This wasn't fair to MM, whether or not he minds I don't know. I just think it's pretty low to use MM's blog to attack me. Grow up Sabrina