analytics

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

A reply to Top Ten concerns...

I completed the Top Ten today, a little later then normal, but still in a reasonable amount of time as far as I am concerned. When I got to work tonight, there was a message in my email box that someone had commented on it. Cool! I love reading them! So I open it up, and HOLY WALL OF TEXT BATMAN! Hehehe... So I read it, and there are some concerns listed. Ok. I try to go to the FtW website to reply... and work has decided to block From the Warp. Yay. So, Ill paste the email here, and reply here, and maybe pop a link there in the morning.

Xgtd has left a new comment on the post "Tuesday Top Ten #58":

Hi Ryan, thanks for scouring the blogs again to bring us some hilights. I have a complaint though. Same names, same stuff appearing again and again. Heavily biased towards Spase marines. Frazer and Big Will getting a lot of love lately. Other names popping up frequently. Sandwyrm for example, I recognise that name from TT10s of the past. Probably the others too. I'd like to see more variation. Where's the other systems? I see some Cryx at the end there - has Dicewraith featured lately? Seems familiar. Anyway yeah that's it really, this feature seems to be "stuff Ryan likes, from blogs Ryan likes", maybe that's how it's supposed to be, I'm not sure, but it's getting so I don't want to read them anymore, I've seen enough IF marines. Any chance of mixing it up a little? Maybe with some different compiler? (since different people obviously have different bias) Or perhaps some concerted effort to feature different blogs. I know there's good stuff out there. Cheers :)

Short answer is also very easy. Yes. Long answer: Yes, there is favoritism. I wouldn't be human if there wasn't. Is it intentional favoritism? Some of it. Space Marines are my favorite army, and I have a great amount of respect for people who can make yellow paint look good. I have painted Imperial Fists, and I know what a huge pain it is. The names that pop up over and over are not exactly intentional favoritism, they usually just happen to put up stuff that catches my eye.

As far as "Stuff Ryan likes, from blogs Ryan likes", yes and no. I have never claimed this list was anything but stuff that catches my wandering eye. I do try to spread the attention around, but I will admit Ive been getting a little burnt out a bit lately, and have been slacking on getting the wider variety of choices. I'm expecting that after I get back from California/Arizona, Ill be ready to go again.

Other systems... That is not easy for me. I tend to pay most attention to the GW games, and FtW is primarily a 40k group. I do like to see other games from time to time, and Ill occasionally sneak one or two into the Top Ten to broaden the horizons of others. Im pretty sure, however, that if I lost the 40k focus, someone would have my head on a pike. Malifaux was listed because I'm sorta interested in it right now, and the Cryx Warmachine models because they caught my eye, and I collect Cryx myself.

Lastly, getting other people to help out. The Tuesday Top Ten is my baby. There is exactly one person Id be willing to pass the torch onto if I were to give it up, and he has already stated he doesn't think he could do it. Having said that, I have attempted to get others to pass links, and open it up for others to have a voice... I got exactly one person expressing interest. I would love to have a few links from the "peanut gallery" each week, but it does not seem to be in the cards for now.

Heck, you know what I really want to see? A rival Top Ten list. Just because I am doing one is no reason for everyone else to decide its not worth doing. I would so check that out every week... Now that Ive built my own wall of text, Id better hit publish...

14 comments:

Mike Howell said...

I have to laugh a bit self consciously here. I scan the top 10 to see if anything I've done has caught the eye. That said, I almost always go on to take a look at what is in the list and it always puts a smile on my face.

There are a lot of blogs that people contribute to and subscribe to. My own google reader list gets hard to keep up with if I'm offline for a few days. Maybe one of us develop a digg/reddit/stumbled upon equivalent to automate the collection posts that people find cool .... they'd have to be some kid of computer programmer though. (Wait a minute... I'm some kind of computer programmer!)

John Gaszak said...

If you are throwing the challenge out there, I will do a rival top ten list for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.

Unknown said...

Mike - Even I occasionally look to see if I made it, before I realize I couldnt! ;)

Equinox - Good luck with that, and get me a link when you do your first, so I can send traffic your way! My only advice is to do it because you want to do it, and link stuff that YOU like. You will never please everyone, so may at least please yourself.

Gavin Conway said...

i dont think it need to be changed.

on occasion ive been a little gutted not to find myself on the list but thats life... its a top 10 and there are hundreds of blogs.

also, this group is 99% 40k blogs... ok the odd bit of fantasy if its just that good, but i dont want to see the top ten scraping the barrel just to fit in some "token" lord of the rings model...

maybe the top ten could add a final section... i.e. the top ten from the 40k blogs as per usual... but then with a "best of the rest" where one item from another game or system or company gets chosen???

good work mate... your top ten is a little frustrating at times but ive always felt that if my work is good enough it will get added... and if it dosent ill be the first to pester you... :)

Vinci.

Khorneguy said...

I agree with Equinox here and i reckon I could do a rival top ten too. I've wanted to do it for while, i just didn't want to tread on your toes

I'll send you a link when it goes up

Xgtd said...

Hi Ryan, thanks for the response (my wall is a mere dwarf wall compared to your mighty construction). I appreciate the time you've taken to reply and also the work that you do on TT10. I am happy to see that you usually try to get more variation and that you expect to do so in future (I've only been following since December) and I appreciate that sifting through endless blogger pages must make your eyes water.

Of course certain subjects will catch your eye more than others this is fair enough, but (in my opinion) the trouble with marines in the top ten lists is that, to some people, red marines are the same as yellow marines, so when red, blue, yellow, and spikey marines all make an appearance, well you see what I mean.

Also when I suggested a different compiler I meant something along the lines of "guest compiler", but I see this can be covered with rival top ten lists.

Thx

Warhammer39999 said...

Like most bloggers, I tune in to the top 10 list in the hopes that I made the cut, but alas, I must try harder.

I'll agree with the original poster in that there is a heavy bias towards marines (and Imperial in general) and would like to see more stuff out there. Seeing the same people on the list time and time again could get old, but if they're doing nice work, then I'm all for seeing their stuff. I am, however, not a fan of seeing one person make the list multiple times in the same week, as it cuts out the chances for other people (ex. Mike has good rules . Mike also has some good minis . That could be written as "Mike has some nifty RULES and MINIS that are worth checking out.").

As for a bias towards 40k, since it's featured on a 40k blog (FTW), I think that part is appropriate.

One thing I really liked though was the week that you posted the links you liked that didn't make the top 10. I found that helpful to go through, and really just a nice way to see more content that I might've missed during the week. Doing that on a regular basis would be a nice touch.

And just in case you missed it, this was my hope for making the top10 this week: http://www.warhammer39999.com/2010/03/death-from-above-mycetic-spores/

Ferran said...

Hi!

I'm one of those guys that used to like marines a lot, painted several dozen, and as a result now doesn't like them so much, but still enjoys looking at the occasional marine. I am sure there are many like me :) So yes, another vote for "bit less marinez pls". A few ideas that you might want to ignore or not -

Quota - Try to get 4,5,6 different armies in the list, plus painting tips/rants/random musings, before the marines.

Catchement - Try to get 4 blogs from FTW group expansion one, 4 from expansion two, and 2 from expansion three.

I imagine that trawling the blogosphere can be quite trying at times, but if the same names keep popping up we may well just follow Ryan's reading list instead. Then again, some of his favourites do some nice work...

Final note, I'm painting =][= 54mm stuff in my blog, something a bit different to most out there. I asked Ron last month how the top ten is compiled, he said I just need to catch Ryan's eye and hope he likes the blog. Well, any time you want to have a look Ryan you're very welcome :)

Cheers
JS

Faolain said...

So what everyone's clamoring for is some kind of affirmative action? :)

I've been on the top 10 a few times for non-Marine stuff so it does happen. When a huge chunk of GWs sales are Marines there's going to be a lot of guys with Marine blogs. I don't even play Marines and they're featured regularly on my blog.

I think the best suggestion here is amalgamating one person's stuff into one post, as WH39999 suggested.

I've always seen the Top Ten as something casual and fun. In a free market competition makes things better for a consumer, so it would be good to see some rival top 10s.

Warhammer39999 said...

LOL @ Faolain's affirmative action plan.

I think the problem is that people view the top10 list differently. If I understand correctly, the unstated mission of the list is to just post 10 things that catch Ryan's eye each week. Naturally, that is going to be biased more towards what Ryan likes.

That itself is fine, the problem arises when people have differing views of what the list *should* contain. Sure, everyone would like to see their name in lights, but it just means that those of us who play something other than marines have to try a little harder to turn his head.

Ferran said...

Hi!

I am not talking of affirmative action, though the terms "quota" and "catchment" might lead some to this conclusion. The aim of affirmative action is to benefit the individual. I'm under no delusion that any one person would reap some sort of benefit from being featured in the top ten. You won't recieve any accolades or followers, not to any noticeable degree anyway (in my opinion). The suggestions were to benefit the overall readership of the top ten list, and to some extent Ryan too (might make it easier to pick a nice list when referring to these proposed changes) :)

Unknown said...

Ho... ly... Cow...

As of right now, Ive only had one other post generate more comments then this one. You people love your Top Ten!

Its actually rather inspiring. I guess sometimes I need a kick in the pants like this to keep me from slacking off. Your comments have been read and considered, and I will (hopefully) use some of that starting when I get back from visiting family.

Rusty Dice said...

I have managed to get in the top 10 a few times, but Xgtd didn't drop my name, so I guess I should paint some yellow marines soon :)

I enjoy the list, I look at them all and enjoy the content. It's hard to view all the blogs linked to FTW, so the top ten gives me at least someone's idea of great posts to look at.

I'd be interested in tryng out a top 10, but frankly I have enough fun making my own tutorials. Perhaps I could tie it in somehow to help promote FTW more.

Death 0F Angels said...

of course space marines are gonna show more. They are the biggest most prevelant army. Of course the same people are gonna show up. Its the top 10 and not all blogs are created equal.