Scripting News: Top Dave

Scripting News, the weblog started in 1997 that bootstrapped the blogging revolution.

Top Dave

Randy Morin notes that I've been gradually changing the way Scripting News works. It's true. I'm trying some experiments, to learn, but not to improve the rank of the site, rather to make it more useful to readers, and make it more likely that the things that I want to get attention, get attention.

For example, I noticed that I was always in the choir on TechMeme, but rarely did people discuss what I was interested in. Over time this got more pronounced. So I decided to opt-out of TechMeme, and rebuild, and see if I could reposition Scripting News as an originator of ideas, which it always has been. It seemed to me that Gabe's engine had drawn an incorrect conclusion about this site. I've noticed that Scoble can get an essay near the top of TM, even if no one is pointing to him, and if three excellent sites point to an essay here, it barely makes a blip on TM.

So I don't think his system is fair, or right. But unlike the B-list complainers, I'm not going to try to guilt Gabe into fixing it. I think a route-around is the web way of doing it. Make it all happen outside Gabe's world, and that will get his attention.

Now I may not be into SEO, but the changes are improving my rank, nonetheless. I've noticed that my articles now are showing up closer to the top of searches in the areas they cover. Of course I like this. Nothing wrong with a little respec!

BTW, I've been doing this with O'Reilly for a long time. I don't get invited to speak at their conferences, but they talk about what I want them to talk about anyway. Blogging, RSS, podcasting -- these are always big topics at ETech and the Web 2.0 conference. Same with SXSW. You think people don't know I'm behind these things? Heh. Of course they do.

You know the old Godfather rap, keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer. Seems Tim and Hugh could learn a few tricks from Don Corleone. ";->"

Last update: Thursday, June 3, 2010; 4:00:35 PM

~About the Author~

Dave Winer, 55, is a visiting scholar at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. He pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in New York City.

"The protoblogger." - NY Times.

"The father of modern-day content distribution." - PC World.

One of BusinessWeek's 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

"Helped popularize blogging, podcasting and RSS." - Time.

"The father of blogging and RSS." - BBC.

"RSS was born in 1997 out of the confluence of Dave Winer's 'Really Simple Syndication' technology, used to push out blog updates, and Netscape's 'Rich Site Summary', which allowed users to create custom Netscape home pages with regularly updated data flows." - Tim O'Reilly.

Mail: scriptingnews1mail at gmail dot com.

Feb Apr