Those of you who spend a lot of time in the blogosphere are undoubtedly aware of the Ecosystem, sponsored by The Truth Laid Bear. The purpose of the Ecosystem is to classify blogs based on links. The most popular are names you probably know: Instapundit, Daily Kos, Eschaton, Andrew Sullivan, etc. The Top 10 are referred to as Higher Beings. The next 20 are Mortal Humans, which is followed by 70 Playful Primates, thus rounding out the Top 100. The blogs that I read most often (other than Times & Seasons) appear just below that level and are called Large Mammals. Almost 400 blogs currently make this cut.
Times & Seasons is three levels below that — past Marauding Marsupials and Adorable Rodents. We are a Flappy Bird. I should note that we are advancing up the food chain. Much of our young life has been spent as a Slithering Reptile or a Crawly Amphibian. We passed rather rapidly through the earliest stages of Ecosystem blog life: Flippery Fish, Slimy Molluscs, Lowly Insects, Crunchy Crustaceans, Wiggly Worms, Multicellular Microorganisms, and Insignificant Microbes.
TTLB also ranks blogs by traffic, although this ranking is restricted to those blogs that use Site Meter to monitor traffic. Still, 2784 blogs are ranked as of this moment, and T&S comes in at 213. If the blogs were classified by traffic rather than links and the proportions in each category remained the same, we would be a Marauding Marsupial.
I have noticed some bloggers speculating about the “true nature” of their blog along these lines: is it really just a Wiggly Worm, or does this blog have a greater purpose? This is a cyberspace version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, I suppose. As for Times & Seasons, I don’t find the Flappy Bird to be a particularly apt metaphor (despite the possible seagull connection). The word “flappy” makes me think of those birds that get stuck in oil slicks. Or young birds just learning to fly. No, that is not this blog.
Perhaps I am biased by my fondness for Australia, but I find the Marauding Marsupial a more appropriate metaphor. The image of a mob of kangaroos hopping frantically in search of food … I can see that. Especially on a day like Monday, when seven bloggers posted eleven entries and comments were flying all over the site. Also, it already fits us in terms of traffic. On the other hand, we still need 43 unique links to reach this new level. That is on top of our current 27. (If you have not already linked to the site … hint, hint.) It may take some time before we are truly Marauding Marsupials, but like Jonathan, I can dream.
yeah! the T&S flappy bird just landed on the wrong side of its head…upside down…and apostatized! neat!!!
Gordon, help me out here. I went to the Ecosystem and couldn’t figure it out. How do you get listed there?
Nevermind, I got it. Thanks.
Yesterday, we were marauding marsupials.
Alas, it’s back to rodent-hood for us today. (We’re currently #8 on the depth chart for the rodents, so we may be moving back to marsupials soon).