30 seconds
Anyone's blog is not for everyone. You might think my blog is terrible or that my opinions are ridiculous. I may find someone's blog topics boring. Surfing on BlogExplosion is an eyeopening lesson in diversity.
If you are here from BlogExplosion and you are surfing for more than the credits, I commend you. I'd give you a mystery prize if I could. Sometimes 30 seconds can seem like an eternity if you are staring at someone's blog that isn't remotely interesting to you. But surfing through the blogs is like opening yourself up to finding jewels in a laundry bag. Every so often something glimmers at you that makes you look longer than the half minute speed read round.
When you meet someone new, the first impression takes few seconds to formulate. Perhaps you shake hands, exchange pleasantries, and then have a conversation. With BlogExplosion, you are forced to meet many people through their blogs in a cyber speed dating round. You view the layout, try to see who it is that's writing, and read a few entries. But real socialization doesn't work that way, and you don't talk to everyone you see. You don't get .125 credits in real life, and we are selective in who we associate with. Perhaps I meet someone named Joe and he really likes chess. Well that's great for him, but I don't play that much and don't have much interest in hearing about his latest moves. Now the rating comes in.
If you are in person meeting Joe, and you decide you don't want to listen to chess what do you do? Do you slap him to make him stop? Do you yell that he's a moron and walk away? Probably not. But if you're rating the blogs, that is perfectly acceptable. Give him one star. You could leave a nasty anonymous comment and click the proper number to move on. My point here is that because you are unknown to the blogger, and you have taken 30 seconds to get to know someone that you might not have otherwise, you may feel more empowered to make judgements.
Or perhaps you may see the experience as a leap into the unknown. Many of us read certain blogs in our blogrolls that reflect ourselves. Venturing outside that bubble opens us to new ideas. Value the experience for its intrinsic diversity. Although you may not agree with everything, read all interesting entries, or even understand the nature of a compulsion that someone has, you will have opened your mind to something new. Doing that is a core component of being human - of understanding the world around us. BlogExplosion may not change the world as we know it, but we may change because of it.
But change for the better or for the worse? I'm a big believer in holding off on giving an opinion until you have as much info as possible - something that is disappearing more and more, in my opinion. The idea of being exposed to new ideas is great. The idea of passing judgement on that in 30 second increments...I'm not so sure.
I agree - 30 seconds is no where near enough time to pass judgement. Nor should it be. B.E. can be viewed as something that forces us to expose ourselves as judgemental or more open minded. And if you are open to what you see when you surf the blogs, perhaps change for the better is the answer.
You got me through the Explosion.
I'm back. Your "boycott yard signs" banner is exceptional. It was a must click that led to "hey, wasn't I just here?!"
Nice work!
You have to agregate the 30 seconds too. I have passed over a few blogs first time, then after repeated views via BE, read a bit more and find them interesting. I don't know that it is about passing judgement (I have been on a rant with a few people lately about the blogs who feel slagging off other bloggers qualifies as 'content'). It is great to be exposed to the option of reading further on blogs that you otherwise might not have come across. The good, the bad and the ugly.
[/my $0.02] :)