I just love this kind of article - it shows up from time to time in a mainstream media production - probably in order to reassure the author that he's still relevant. This week's entry in the "columnists are soooo much better than bloggers" sweepstakes is Andrew Binstock, a man I've written about before - often enough that it's more useful to provide this google search than to point at individual posts. Suffice to say, Binstock has a casual relationship with the concept of research. Having gotten that out of the way, let's move along to this week's dreck:

You can quickly come to 90 percent of content if you add up the self-absorbed blogs of tweens, teens and college kids; the hate blogs; and, of course, the many, many abandoned blogs. Of the remaining 10 percent, you then eliminate topics that don’t interest you. You now are way under 1 percent -- yet you have literally hundreds of blogs to choose from. If software development is your thing, you’ll want to skim off the blogs by engineers or CEOs who are shills for their companies; those who evangelize their pet technology; and most especially, those who are always attacking or condemning some person, some company or some technology. Finally, you’re in the clear, with the handful of truly useful blogs.

Maybe, just maybe, Binstock has heard of this recommendation notion; i.e., "if I like this guy's writing, perhaps I'd also like this other guy he seems to like". Nahh, that would require research, and he's just allergic to that. Far better to spin out a few hundred words, collect the check from corporate, and keep stumbling cluelessly along.

The funny thing is, his entire article could just as easily refer to media (online and offline) in general. Ever been in a suburban hotel that's away from most things, where the only place you can find to get a magazine is the local quick mart? After you eliminate the porn and the celebrity rags, there's not a lot left.