Thanks to ampersand and the others for the invite, though in Amp’s case I suspect that it’s part of a cunning plan to get rid of me from Alas…
About me? Ho, hum, well I’m 41 years old. I was born in England, but moved to Scotland sixteen years ago. Politically I’m a liberal, which means different things on different sides of the Atlantic, but both hats fit. My interests are eclectic, but I am particularly interested in gender issues, where I often find myself opposed to both feminist and antifeminist schools of thought.
My hobbies are drumming, juggling, and riding the unicyle. I don’t do any of them very well.
Creative Destruction 
Welcome aboard, Daran.
Now if we can just get Nobody.Really to blog (*cough* lazy *cough*)…
Comment by Robert — May 7, 2006 @ 7:31 pm |
That can be my tag-line then.
Daran – the blogger who’s not as good as Nobody.Really, but he’ll do.
Comment by Daran — May 7, 2006 @ 7:43 pm |
I didn’t say you’d do. 😛
No, seriously, I’ve always enjoyed reading your comments and am sure you’ll have a lot to contribute.
Comment by Robert — May 7, 2006 @ 8:05 pm |
Welcome! Hey, if you’ve got three blogs you’d like to add to our blogroll, just drop me a line and I will make it so.
Now, a question I can’t help asking: are you able to juggle drums while riding the unicycle?
Comment by Adam Gurri — May 7, 2006 @ 8:44 pm |
http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/ would give him a few more readers to complain to about not having any readers.
http://www.osmond-riba.org/lis/journal/ because I like the way she thinks.
I’ll hold the third in reserve.
I’ve tried juggling balls on the unicycle, but I fall off. I notice that Amp is a juggler too.
Comment by Daran — May 7, 2006 @ 10:41 pm |
Thank you.
Actually, blogrolls bring in very few readers. Though all readers gratefully accepted.
Comment by Seth Finkelstein — May 8, 2006 @ 12:20 am |
Glad you decided to pick up the offer. Looking forward for your perspective.
Comment by Tuomas — May 8, 2006 @ 1:55 am |
Seth: Blogrolls can bring readers in indirectly, by giving your blog a better status on search engines.
Comment by Adam Gurri — May 8, 2006 @ 8:16 am |
Something tells me you haven’t read his site. I recommend you remedy that.
In fact, the operation search engines, rankings, and the effect on traffic is one of his areas of study.
Comment by Daran — May 8, 2006 @ 12:06 pm |
Maybe I should change the title of this post to “Introducing Nobody.Really and Seth Finkelstein”
Comment by Daran — May 8, 2006 @ 12:09 pm |
I remember having a big argument with Seth about porn and censorship on a comic book Usenet group many, many years ago. It was pretty much the first time I had an intelligent disagreement about that topic online.
I still think Seth was wrong about the Jake Baker case, though.
So, hey, welcome to the group, Daran! 🙂
Comment by Ampersand — May 8, 2006 @ 12:18 pm |
In fact, the operation search engines, rankings, and the effect on traffic is one of his areas of study
Cool!
Maybe I should change the title of this post to “Introducing Nobody.Really and Seth Finkelstein”
Sounds great! Who are you again? :p
Comment by Adam Gurri — May 8, 2006 @ 1:36 pm |
In fact, the operation search engines, rankings, and the effect on traffic is one of his areas of study
Cool!
Hey, Seth, how can I move my PR6 site up in the rankings? Bribes? Selected assassinations?
Comment by Robert — May 8, 2006 @ 4:06 pm |
Link spam.
Comment by Daran — May 8, 2006 @ 4:47 pm |
You’re not Seth! You’re that worthless Daran fellow.
Tricksy, these hobbitses are.
Comment by Robert — May 8, 2006 @ 5:13 pm |
I will admit to being absurdly jealous of his surname.
Comment by Daran — May 8, 2006 @ 6:06 pm |
Hit him with your drums and take it off him.
Comment by Robert — May 8, 2006 @ 6:10 pm |
That would be violence against men.
I think I shall just appropriate it. Henceforth I shall be known as Daran Finkelstein.
Comment by Daran — May 8, 2006 @ 7:35 pm |
Adam: While what you say is technically true, in the average case, the PageRank effect is minuscule. Transfered PageRank is divided by the number of links on a page. So if there are 20 blogs in a blogroll, it’s down by *at least* a factor of 20. And usually, sadly, it’s not all that much to begin with. At the very, very top, with high-ranking A-listers linking to just a handful of A-listers (living link farms!), or multiple alliances, there might be a boost. But otherwise, the numbers just don’t work out.
Ampersand: Wow, that was a while ago. Thanks for the compliment :-).
Robert: PageRank is just one part of overall ranking. On-page factors matter too. For example, your posts are very short, and that matters.
Daran: ??? “Finkelstein” is a common Jewish surname.
Comment by Seth Finkelstein — May 8, 2006 @ 10:03 pm |
Seth, so which is better – short posts or long posts? Speaking as someone who writes extremely long posts, I’m curious (although I don’t forsee changing my ways, of course).
Comment by Ampersand — May 9, 2006 @ 2:30 am |
I’m willing to change my ways. In fact, I’m willing to whore my writing skills with remarkably few scruples. Please, o master, enlighten us.
Comment by Robert — May 9, 2006 @ 2:52 am |
There’s no simple answer, except that posts which are too short (or too long) don’t rank well. A very long post will tend to suffer because the “density” of the target term will be diluted by all the other words. But the Google people are smart enough so that a post of just one word is not going to be the highest ranking. Lengthy essays aren’t optimum either.
Nobody knows the exact sweet spot. But it can safely be said to be more than a paragraph and less than several pages.
Comment by Seth Finkelstein — May 9, 2006 @ 3:46 am |
Thanks for the info, Seth.
Comment by Ampersand — May 9, 2006 @ 10:54 am |
Even better. I can now join the Global Jewish conspiracy.
Um, when do you meet?
Comment by Daran Finkelstein — May 9, 2006 @ 6:39 pm |
Saturdays, naturally.
(They let me come because in my capacity as a puppet of the international Zionist regime, I can do a very entertaining little dance.)
Don’t forget the secret knock.
Comment by Robert — May 9, 2006 @ 6:48 pm |
Good. I’ll bring my unicyle.
Comment by Daran Finkelstein — May 9, 2006 @ 7:47 pm |