SALON BLOGS MONTHLY DIRECTORY AND COMBINED POPULARITY RANKING

salon The following chart shows (a) in red, the ranking among Salon Blogs in number of hits in the past month (to October 4th) and (b) in black, the ranking among Salon Blogs in number of inbound blogs (per Technorati ) at October 4th, followed by the number of hits during the month and the current number of inbound blogs. Blogs are listed in order of combined (a) + (b) rank. Last month's combined rank is shown in brackets.

It was a very troubling month for Salon blogs. Of the 2000 Salon blogs in existence, only about 200 were active in the last month, a big drop from the previous month. Two of the most popular bloggers, Reverse Cowgirl and Iraq Democracy Watch, called it quits this month. A significant number of Salon bloggers are either already using a tool other than Userland for their blog (using Salon as a 'mirror' site because they like the politically active Salon community) or are planning to migrate to another tool. The Julie/Julia Project is complete so the future of the #3 remaining Salon blog is also up in the air.

Salon blogs received an aggregate 950,000 hits during the month, a drop of over 20% from last month. The aggregrate number of inbound links was steady at about 3,000.

There is some good news, however. There are some excellent new blogs since June, some of which have a prolific amount of content and are getting some external attention, and being blogrolled by many readers. An increasing number of the more veteran Salon bloggers are browsing the Salon Updates list and giving some of the newbies some encouragement to continue, which is critical since the Power Law continues to prevail (the top 50 blogs account for 88% of all inbound blogs and 92% of the hits of the entire Salon community).

Notable new bloggers in the top 50:

Drug War Rant -- Pete Guither's plea for a more humane and intelligent solution to drug abuse than the long-term incarceration of tens of thousands of Americans for mere possession.
Life in L.A. -- Claire Smith's moving account of the unexpected death of her father, and her new life in California.
World O'Crap -- An anonymous female blogger's astute and hilarious deconstruction of the right's most notable wingnuts.
Glutter -- An astounding portrait of life in Hong Kong after the handover of political control to China by the British.
World According to Chuck -- Entertaining and very professionally written stories by a family man coping with the questions and struggles of everyday life.

Name and location of each blog's 'owner', when known, is shown below the blog name. The Salon blog # links to the blog's home page. Apologies in advance for any errors or omissions. Corrections gratefully accepted. If you're listed and your location is not, please drop me a line and tell me where you blog from.

1.
(2)
Real Live Preacher
5 / 2 39k hits 222 inbound blogs
Anonymous 1772 26.
(24)
She's Actual Size
44/ 19   1.8k 32 ib
Kat Donohue 1068 California

2.
(4)
Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment
4 / 3 53k 218 ib
Scott Rosenberg 0014 California 27.
(-)
World O'Crap
16/ 47 6.1k 14 ib
Anonymous 2874

3.
(3) The Julie/Julia Project
2 / 6 125k 118 ib
Julie Powell 1399 New York 28.
(28)
Gnosis
39/ 26 2.3k 25 ib
Morgan Sandquist 1081 New York

4.
(6)
Radio Free Blogistan / MediaJunkie
7 / 5 16k 145 ib
Christian Crumlish 1111 California 29.
(32)
neva, miss feva, blogging
42 / 26 2.2k 25 ib
Neva Cavataio 1216 Oregon

5.
(7)
David Harris' Science & Literature
3 / 9 54k 34 ib
David Harris 1092 Maryland 30
(30)
Tales of Drudgery and Boredom
12/ 58 6.7k 11 ib
Michel Vuijlsteke 1236 Belgie

6.
(5)
How to Save the World
9 / 4 12k 197 ib
Dave Pollard 2007 Ontario 31.
(-)
Andrew Bayer is Dreaming
31 / 40 2.8k 18 ib
Andrew Bayer 1033 Mass.

7.
(8)
Secular Blasphemy
9 / 8 12k 76 ib
Jan Haugland 1561 Norge 32.
(22)
My so called lesbian life
43/ 30 1.9k 23 ib
Penny 1883 Florida

8.
(9)
Why Your Wife Won't Have Sex...
8 / 13 15k 38 ib
Julia Deckham Grey 2153 33.
(29)
Everything That Sucks
31/ 42 2.8k 17 ib
Amanda 1691 Florida no more

9.
(10)
The Devil's Excrement
11 / 12 11k 43 ib
Miguel Octavio 1330 Venezuela 34.
(38)
Doublethink
51/ 22 1.5k 28 ib
Anonymous 2551

10.
(12) filchyboy
1 / 22 406k 28 ib
Christopher Filkins 1512 35.
(31)
Pipeline
27/ 47 3.5k 14 ib
Doug Hennessee 1739 Minnesota

11.
(11) different strings
23/ 6 4.0k 118 ib
Kriselda Jarnsaxa 1542 Kansas 36.
(33)
Struggle in a Bungalow Kitchen
35 / 40 2.6k 18 ib
LL Adams 1754 New York

12.
(13)
Fried Green al-Qaedas
22 / 11 4.1k 44 ib
Mark Hoback 1424 37.
(45) Dr. Omed's Tent Show Revival
38/ 37 2.4k 19 ib
Dina Pattillo 2296

13.
(-) Drug War Rant
14/ 20 6.4k 31 ib
Pete Guither 2762 Illinois 38.
(35)
The Barbaric Yawp
54/ 22 1.4k 28 ib
Christopher Key 1811 Washington

14.
(17)
Rayne Today
25/ 10 3.9k 52 ib
Anonymous 1549 Michigan 39
(37)
Marprelate Tracts
21/ 59    4.4k 10 ib
Martin Marprelate 1797

15.
(14)
Conclusive Evidence
6 / 32 25k 21 ib
Dave Cullen 1137 Colorado 40.
(42)
The Monster Limo Weblog
36/ 44   2.5k 16 ib
Marc Hatfield 1956 New York

16.
(16)
Second p0st
23/ 16   4.0k 35 ib
Phillip Pearson 0002 New Zealand 41.
(36)
Fiona
49/ 31 1.6k 22 ib
Fiona 1705

17.
(23) Emphasis Added
34/ 14 2.7k 36 ib
Rob Salkowitz 1454 42.
(-)
Glutter
28/ 63 3.4k 9 ib
Yan Sham-Shackleton 2681 Hong Kong

18.
(18)
WIFLblog
13 / 37   6.6k 19 ib
Ted Ritzer 1455 Alberta 43.
(36)
Driver 8
51/ 44 1.5k 16 ib
Charly Z 1118

19.
(19) Pesky the Rat
18 / 32 4.7k 21 ib
Susan McNerney 1293 California 44.
(39)
Le Prêtre Noir
66/ 32 1.0k 21 ib
Father Bojangles 1823

20.
(27) Playing with my food...
26/ 28 3.5k 24 ib
Paul Hinrichs 1444 North Carolina 45.
(45)
FarrFeed
36 / 63   2.5k 9 ib
John Farr 1107 New Mexico

21.
(20)
Standing Room Only
19 / 37 4.6k 19 ib
Hugh Elliott 1573 California 46.
(-)
Patriotically Incorrect
57 / 42 1.2k 17 ib
Anonymous 2379

22.
(34)
The Agora
45/ 14   1.7k 36 ib
Doug Anders 1147 Ohio 47.
(-)
Sexy Mothers Do Exist
47 / 59 1.7k 10 ib
Anonymous 1917

23.
(-) Life in L.A.
14/ 47 6.4k 14 ib
Claire Smith 2608 California 48.
(43)
Rich, Pure & Simple
54/ 53 1.4k 12 ib
Rich 2200 Hawaii

24.
(25) A blog doesn't need a clever name
30/ 32 3.1k 21 ib
Bruce Umbaugh 1004 Missouri 49.
(40)
explodedlibrary.info
56/ 53 1.3k 12 ib
Morgan Wilson 1429 Minnesota

25.
(28) Toby's Political Diary
45 / 17 1.7k 34 ib
Toby Sackton 1282 Massachusetts 50.
(-)
World According to Chuck
72/ 37 1.0k 19 ib
Chuck 2813

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