November 10, 2003 7:59 AM

You like me, you really like me!!

Top 50 Interesting Recent Blogs With Context

Imagine my surprise yesterday morning when I found TPRS at #6 on this list. I was flattered, of course, but I couldn't help but wonder how this list was arrived at. So, being the curious sort that I am (and we all know what curiosity does to cats...), I went here to see if I could find out what it is that makes TPRS an interesting weblog. What I learned left this old History major's brain spinning like Linda Blair's head in The Exorcist.

So, I started playing around with the ranking algorithm. Now, a power law looks something like this:

y = ax2 + bx + c

Or, a more skewed graph looks like:

y = ax3 + bx2 + cx + d

Remember high school algebra? I'm sorry to make your brain hurt. The key point to remember is that equations that follow a power law start to get really big really fast as you increase x. You start to get a graph that looks like a parabola.

What I wanted to do was to give some of the lesser-known bloggers some visibility. The way I did this was to invert the power law when I did my rankings. I looked at two variables: The number of new inbound links to a blog, and the current number of total blogs already linking to it.

In order to reverse the power law, I used the following as the ranking algorithm for the Interesting Newcomers page:

n = Number of new inbound links
c = Current number of inbound blogs (as of the day before)

(n3)/(c+n)2 where c > 30

And I'm using a quadratic equation for the "Interesting Recent Blogs" page:

(n2)/(c+n)2 where c > 40

The results are very interesting.

Umm...could you repeat that? Wait, on second thought, don't. Anyone out there have some Advil??

I can understand the math, but this seems like WAY too much work, doesn't it? Wouldn't it just be easier to write something disturbingly controversial and throw in a couple nude pictures of, say, Jennifer Garner or Camryn Mannheim?

Thanks for the kudos, guys. Next time, I'll just accept the recognition and leave it at that. Sometimes, it's better not to worry about the whys and wherefores, eh??

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 10, 2003 7:59 AM.

Well, this would be one way to silence them pesky Democrats, eh?? was the previous entry in this blog.

Yes, some questions really ARE better off left unasked is the next entry in this blog.

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