Silflay Hraka

Via The Daily Gut

Hmmm…what to do? I’m trying to determine whether there’s a theme for this week’s Carnival and, if so, what that theme might be. There are two good themes in today’s posts and I don’t know which one to honor with the Carny’s top spot.

Maybe you can help. My options are these: a post-Valentine’s “men and their foibles” theme, put forth by Carny regular Mad Kane and supported by erstwhile Carny bobbarama OR a “how to interpret blog posts and their value” theme proposed by the also-regular Wayne Hurlbert with support from “Money Online”.

Part of me wants to revisit last week’s Carny and my complaint about the lack of general quality and the flack I received for voicing my frustration. That would give the top spot to Wayne & Co because Wayne speaks about taking what you read with a grain of salt. “Money Online” talks about what makes a blog post valuable or “helpful”.

But…I think Wayne is being too kind to me. I do think you should read what you find online with a thick skin but, sometimes, it’s good to get riled and sometimes a little offense is intended and necessary to shake people out of their comfort zone. Sometimes it’s good to lose it a little, even if you might regret it later.

I also do not like the idea of rewarding “Money Online”. People giving simple and obvious advice in order to build an online business model is not what CoTV is about. It’s actually what’s wrong with a lot of the material sent to the Carny. It’s not good, it’s not accurate, it’s not interesting, it’s not insightful and…it’s not getting the top spot in any Carny I edit. It’s a coin toss as to whether I’ll include it at all.

Plus, I don’t want to revisit the past.

So the top spot goes to Mad Kane and this week’s theme is “things guys do that drive women crazy”.

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Madeleine Begun Kane is Surmounting Marriage and probably patching a whole in the bottom of her slacks. Glad you made it down the mountain safely, Mad. And congrats on leading this week’s Carny.

bobbarama, in a supporting role, lists 11 things women don’t know about men. Something tells me most women know about these things but put up with us anyway.

Wayne Hurlbert obviously read last week’s Carny post and probably followed the comments too. He writes about Blog post themes: Missing the point.

The thematic support from Money Online appears at the bottom of this carny.

When I first started reading Carny posts, I thought Richard Miles would make the top of the list. He talks about the state of public schools in the U.S. I agree with most everything he said.

Leon Gettler asks Is 2007 the year to prick the CEO pay balloon? I hope not. I haven’t made CEO yet.

Yet. But it’s only a matter of time.

Money Online talks about Quality Content. The main problem I have with the post, other than the commercial nature of the blog, is that it argues that a blog post’s “helpfulness” is what makes it valuable. I will agree that “helpfulness” is a good quality for website content, but it isn’t at the top of the list when it comes to value. Providing information, insight and entertainment are greater value drivers by far in my mind.

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That’s it for the Carny this week. It’s short and sweet but, by and large, the posts are of a higher average quality than in weeks past. I’m pleased.

If you want to be in the Carnival of the Vanities, please submit your posts through Blog Carnival.

See you next week!