Freedom of expression

This is really interesting. I'm not used to such openness and honesty. The latest blog to join JBlog! central is Window Into Palestine.

JBlog! define themselves as:

JBlog Central provides an easy way to find Jewish blogs of interest.

It's amazing how the phenomenon of blogging has exploded into popular culture. And, as the popularity of blogs grew by leaps and bounds, so did the sheer volume of blogs. Each day, thousands more are added, to the point that it has become virtually impossible to get a handle on which blogs do a good job of covering any single topic.

That's where we enter the picture.

Five years ago, we launched the IsraelForum.com -- a site dedicated to providing information and discussion about Israel, Judaism, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and much more. Even though many similar sites exist, IsraelForum.com quickly became known as a place for high-quality discussion and debate. It has flourished ever since, because it was able to cut through the noise and make its voice heard.

These days, readers of blogs face two challenges: First, how to keep up with the rapidly expanding number of blogs and, second, how to know which of the hundreds (if not thousands) of blogs are worth a read.

In response to the first challenge, certain sites began to offer aggregation services, whereby they provide a single destination with content from many sources. But there is still another challenge to overcome. Finding a good-quality blog is like finding a needle in a haystack.

This site is our attempt to make sense of the Blogosphere. Not only do we aggregate blog entries from a wide variety of bloggers, but we also enable the audience to vote on their favorite posts. By analyzing the votes of confidence of our readers, it becomes apparent which blogs shine.

When they claim that they have a 'wide variety of bloggers' they really mean it!

Good for them. They still have a long way to go before they counter all the anti-Palestinian blogs, but this is a start. Doesn't mean I agree with this blogger, but isn't it great to have free speech/ blogging rights!

Well done JBlog!

A few words

I wanted to write a few words about the JIB awards. There has been quite a bit of moaning and complaining about the way it has been organised. After all, it has been hacked at least twice, people are ramping their own blogs on other media to increase votes, the vote counters are also entered in the contest, and Israeli and South African voters are ineligible. Doesn't sound too good does it. On the other hand, it is a lot better than any vote or election in Israel, which almost certainly has most of those problems. And the good news is that the winners of the JIB awards don't get to decide if and when Israel will attack Lebanon and/or Gaza!
In other words, who cares if it is not a true reflection of the 'best' Jewish blogs in the world? Is it worth getting upset about? We all know who are the best - don't we? (No, I won't list names. You can fill in the blank yourself, that way there will be no fighting afterwards). These awards are just a bit of fun. Why not just enjoy them.
I was pleased to be nominated, not because I thought I had a chance to win (in fact my goal was to try to get into double figures, which I just about managed in one category), but mainly for a laugh.
If I am honest, my other goal was to try and get a wee bit of traffic to my blog, because to be truthful the counter is very low. And the interesting thing is that I don't think it made any difference at all. Which led me to realise that the people who read this blog on www.rabbisedley.blogspot.com don't have a clue what I am writing about now, because they never look at JBlog Central or the JIB awards. Conversely, nobody on either of those sites clicks back to www.rabbisedley.blogspot.com to see it in the original. That is entirely reasonable, because when I'm reading blogs I also rarely click on the links to see the originals (or the copies), but it means that my readership is actually about double what the counter says (at least, I can pretend it is). That's a bit better for my ego.
There is one thing on JBlog Central that I don't understand, and that is the list of top 50 best blogs. I don't know how one qualifies for that. It doesn't seem to be just the cumulative total of votes, because the blogs are not in that order, nor does it seem to be the highest rated overall, because then the first post with 5 votes should always be at the top. My other blog www.parshatshavua.blogspot.com was not on the list at the beginning of last week, then by the middle of the week it was suddenly number 18! (I think it is now 19). Perhaps there is a threshold of 1000 votes before being allowed onto the list? I didn't find any FAQs about this part of the website, so if anyone can explain it to me I'd appreciate it.
Anyway, thanks to the people who run JBlog Central, and the JIB awards. You put in the work, and usually have something good to show for it, but not much thanks. So, here is my vote of thanks. THANKS! (but I won't necessarily vote for any of you for the next defense minister - don't take it personally).
Thus ends the 'few words'. Thanks for reading (and feel free to click on the links and look at the blog in a different context).