I’d Like to Thank All the Little People…
UPDATE: The image above is dynamically generated from the UnSpun site, so rankings will constantly change. The ranks given below were accurate at the time of the original posting.
Looky looky at #6!
I have no idea who all of you are that would have voted me up there right behind Jesus Creed. Does this mean Westminster might let me skip my last two years and just award me my M.Div. now?
Didn’t think so.
By the way, what you are looking at above is a fun new site sponsored by Amazon.com called UnSpun. You can create a list about anything (”Best places to eat in East Earmuff, Iowa,” “Top Blogs about Bunnies”…whatever!) and then other users can add nominations and everyone does their own ranking. The rankings are compiled into real-time lists. Loads o’ fun.
By the way….friends of Sacred Journey also ranked include:
- Art Boulet’s Finitum Non Capax Infiniti (same list, currently #13)
- Alistair Roberts’ Alistair.Adversaria (same list, currently #15)
- Cynthia Neilsen’s Per Caritatem (same list, currently #17)
- Justin Taylor’s Between Two Worlds (same list, currently #60)
- Joel Garvers’ Sacra Doctrina (same list, currently #67 - a travesty, let’s vote that one up, people!)
- David Wayne’s JollyBlogger (same list, currently #69)
- Adam Ochuk’s 20 Times Around the Block (same list, currently #71)
- Will Neilsen’s Neilsen’s Nook (same list, currently #75)
- Mark Horne (same list, #76)
- Tony Stiff’s Sets ‘n’ Service (same list, currently #81)
- David Williams’ Snubnosed in Alpha (same list, currently #89)
- Daniel Kirk’s Sibboleth (Best Blogs About Biblical Studies, currently #22)
Go ahead and add your own blog to an appropriate list (or start one appropriate to your blog’s title). UnSpun uses a new Amazon-developed algorythm called Amazon Mechanical Turk which gathers data from various web sources to assign you a ranking before people even start voting on you.
UPDATE: From the UnSpun site, here’s what the rankings mean: “List items have a computed score based on the number of people who have ranked the item and at what position it was ranked. We’ve indexed the score so that the 3rd item is always 1000. Items that are ranked higher and lower have their scores adjusted accordingly. This allows for general comparison of top items across lists. For example, if George Bush is the top item in a list with a score of 6914 and Angelina Jolie is the top item in another list with a score of 3118, and Verizon is the top item in a third list at 1427, you can deduce that George Bush holds a stronger first ranking, compared to other items on that list, than Angelina Jolie and Verizon in their respective lists.”
That explains why when I vote for an item I sometimes see it jump several points within a few seconds.
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May 13th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
That’s unreal. I didn’t even know about this!
May 13th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Saw it on Kirk’s blog.
But Art….there is a comment from you on the Pete Enns listing for Best Theologians (he’s #17 by the way….ahead of John Owen!)
May 13th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Ummmm, how did my blog get on that list?
May 13th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Yes, I did see best theologians, but not the best theological blogs.
May 13th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
David said:
“Ummmm, how did my blog get on that list?”
Mark whistles…..
May 13th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
I am glad to see Pat’s holding firm at #1 and #2 for best Philly Cheesesteak.
I mean, Rocky ate there…what more do you want?
May 13th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Woohoo, Sacra Doctrina just moved up to #2!
May 13th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
The internet can be so weird at times…
May 13th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
And the fact that Al Sharpton ranks above Tim Keller on the “Most Influential Preachers” list is a travesty, though I guess it depends what you count as “influence.”
May 13th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
That’s for sure. I wish I could figure out how they establish the initial ranking. When you enter something new in a list, it has an immediate ranking. They refer you to the Amazon Mechanical Turk, but that doesn’t seem to explain much.
May 13th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
OK, heading over to Most Influential Preachers right now to set things aright
May 13th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
The best part about the best theologians list is that St. Paul outranks Jesus. So, while Jesus is preeminent above all creation in Pauline theology, he is not preeminent on this list relative to Paul.
I don’t get it, and it makes my head hurt.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
What Sam said.
May 14th, 2007 at 7:58 am
These rankings lists really are quite silly. The results fluctuate wildly and a number of worthy people don’t even show on the lists. Someone can be in the top 10 one moment and outside the top 100 the next. The Theologians list is the most amusing; I always suspected that there were people out there who believed that Karl Barth was a better theologian than Jesus.
May 14th, 2007 at 8:37 am
I think the main reason for the wild fluctuations right now is that there is still a relatively small number of people voting. Therefore each vote has large significance. As more people join in, the list should become more balanced and “sane.”
Also, if you are logged in with an Amazon account, you can add items to any list. So register and add your “worthy” theologians!
May 14th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
This truly is nuts. Who are all these people voting me up?!? As of 5/14 at 2:30 p.m. I am #1 with over 3500 points!
May 14th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Alas, I’ve sunk to #71, though that’s probably more realistic.
May 14th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
I know, I saw you go into massive freefall this morning. My theory is that an army of people who love my LOST posts but despise philosophical theology all signed on to vote at the same time.
May 14th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
I think I bumped you up to #1, Dad… I was confused by how it worked, and voted you up (you were at #5 when I did it), and just kept voting the people on top down until you became #1. Didn’t realize really what I was doing or if my votes really counted, until I saw later that my results still stood. I think it’s pretty bogus.
May 14th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Ahh… and now that I’ve reread all the guff about how the polling works, I think I understand the point system better now.
May 14th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
I ended up contacting them about what I thought was a bug I’d noticed, and have ended up having a very pleasant chat with one of the developers. Really nice guy and very committed to improving this project.
And man, this is addictive!
May 15th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
I’m suddenly #14!!!!
May 15th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
#12 by the time I read your comment!
Now, return the favor and put Sacred Journey in your personal rankings
May 15th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
So I just went to the unspun homepage because I don’t feel like I really understand the rules organising this game. I notice that in the list ‘Most Popular Lists’, Best Theologian and Best Theology Blogs are at #2 and #4. All your doing? I think so!! Shouldn’t you be revising or something?
May 15th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
They were in the 30 day lists before I joined, but they have moved up that list significantly. I will take some credit for that, as I suspect a number of people have joined in due to my posting about it here.
May 15th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
I had to take a break from skimming Vos. I see you’re now #2. Well done.
Are all you voters hitting the primaries today with equal zeal???
May 15th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Why is Billy Graham on a list of Favorite Dead Theologians? Jerry Falwell can be added to the list now, but I think the death of Billy Graham is a bit exaggerated.
May 15th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Mark, did you know you’re ahead of NT Wright, Thomas Aquinas, and Meredith Kline on the “Best Theologians” list?
May 15th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
BTW….I did not add myself to that list. Although after my sterling answer on today’s Salvation I final, I do place myself slightly ahead of Meredith Kline.