ORblogs Site News

Finally got caught up with the new blogs queue, so that means it's time for another look at the week in Oregon blogging. Here are the blogs and posts that made you click from April 6th to April 13th, 2008.

Most Clicked Posts

1. Message to park bullies: you bothered the wrong guy... [34 clicks]
   posted on The Write Idea (more info), April 13th
2. Decision to Bust [32 clicks]
   posted on The Crallspace (more info), April 10th
3. John McCain, angry misogynist [27 clicks]
   posted on Editor at Large (more info), April 8th
4. Strega first look [25 clicks]
   posted on Between the Lines (more info), April 9th
5. McCain Calls His Wife a "Trollop" and a "C_nt" [23 clicks]
   posted on Sunday Morning Hangover (more info), April 9th
6. Oregon Lottery behind vexatious billboard [22 clicks]
   posted on BJDorr.com (more info), April 7th
7. Barber Babes [21 clicks]
   posted on Metroblogging Portland (more info), April 7th
8. Oh no. The Doctor who was going to Pull My Tooth in Horrible Accident [20 clicks]
   posted on Cat Eyes (more info), April 8th
9. What You Haven't Read In Willamette Week [19 clicks]
   posted on Chuck Currie (more info), April 9th
10. How to Get Rid of Ants (Without Calling an Exterminator) [19 clicks]
    posted on Get Rich Slowly (more info), April 10th

Most Clicks by Weblog

1. Jack Bog's Blog (more info) [156 clicks]
2. Hot Fresh Now (more info) [140 clicks]
3. Mercury's Blogtown, USA (more info) [120 clicks]
4. Between the Lines (more info) [84 clicks]
5. Cat Eyes (more info) [79 clicks]
6. The Crallspace (more info) [75 clicks]
7. Just Out - Blog Out (more info) [75 clicks]
8. The Doc Is In (more info) [70 clicks]
9. The Write Idea (more info) [66 clicks]
10. BlueOregon (more info) [61 clicks]

Hot Topics This Week

obama (102), hillary (68), eugene (44), cheney (27), katu (27), multnomah (25), osu (25), iraq (21), blazers (17), climate change (17), fishing (17), oregon coast (16), psu (16), sun (16), timbers (16), god (14), iphone (14), and music (14).

You can see all Hot Topics for the past two weeks at the ORblogs Hot Topics page.

New Weblogs

There were 30 blogs added this week—with blogs around Albany, Bend, Corvallis, Eugene, Joseph, Langlois, Portland, Scio, Stanfield, Stayton, and West Linn. See them all on the Recent Additions page.

After a couple weeks off, we're back with a summary of the week that was in Oregon blogging.

March 23rd to March 30th, 2008

Most Clicked Posts

1. Handicap? [55 clicks]
   posted on edwardjoninoregon (more info), March 27th
2. Hundreds victimized during mass robberies. [31 clicks]
   posted on incursio (more info), March 29th
3. Keepin' it unreal [29 clicks]
   posted on Jack Bog's Blog (more info), March 27th
4. Ya gotta love The Onion [26 clicks]
   posted on Institute of Jurassic Tech. (more info), March 29th
5. A Pregnant Husband [22 clicks]
   posted on Just Out - Blog Out (more info), March 24th
6. On the bus with Barack [17 clicks]
   posted on BlueOregon (more info), March 25th
7. Paranoid Park is worth paying attention to [17 clicks]
   posted on Dave Knows: Portland (more info), March 28th
8. it's kind of annoying [17 clicks]
   posted on inclement reality (more info), March 28th
9. Humongous Beautiful Cat [16 clicks]
   posted on Cat Eyes (more info), March 24th
10. What it's Like to be Annoying in America [16 clicks]
    posted on please stop tickling me (more info), March 27th

Most Clicks by Weblog

1. Jack Bog's Blog (more info) [149 clicks]
2. edwardjoninoregon (more info) [75 clicks]
3. The Doc Is In (more info) [68 clicks]
4. Hot Fresh Now (more info) [67 clicks]
5. piglipstick (more info) [63 clicks]
6. Mercury's Blogtown, USA (more info) [63 clicks]
7. Just Out - Blog Out (more info) [59 clicks]
8. BlueOregon (more info) [53 clicks]
9. Uniquely Normal (more info) [41 clicks]
10. FURIOUS nads! (more info) [39 clicks]

Hot Topics This Week

obama (150), hillary (113), eugene (42), multnomah (35), spring break (24), earth (19), oregon coast (19), osu (19), blazers (18), iphone (16), cheney (15), fishing (14), iraq (14), music (14), rain (14), sleep (14), climate change (13), and craigslist (13).

You can see all Hot Topics for the past two weeks at the ORblogs Hot Topics page.

New Weblogs

There were 22 blogs added this week—with blogs around Beaverton, Bend, Corvallis, Eugene, Florence, Lake Oswego, Molalla, Newberg, Portland, Salem, and Yamhill. See them all on the Recent Additions page.

A technical glitch kept ORblogs from updating from around 9:30 pm last night (Mar 18) until just now. The ORblogs automated checker is scrambling to catch up. But if you updated your blog between then and now (9:00 am Mar 19) it couldn't hurt to hit the ORblogs Ping with your blog URL. When I woke up this morning I first thought maybe the Oregon blogosphere was just really, really quiet last night. Of course I know better; blogging never sleeps.

It's time for another installment of the week the was in Oregon blogging.

March 2nd to March 9th, 2008

Most Clicked Posts

1. I WON $18 MILLION IN THE LOTTERY!!! [31 clicks]
   posted on Where's Your Brain? (more info), March 3rd
2. That Sexy, Sexy Photoghraph of the Mayor of Arlington, Oregon [30 clicks]
   posted on Skull / Bones (more info), March 5th
3. Metrobloggers Being “Fired” for Voicing Disagreement Publicly [29 clicks]
   posted on VanPortlander (more info), March 4th
4. Bummer [29 clicks]
   posted on Jack Bog's Blog (more info), March 5th
5. Brought to you by the City of Santa Ana [21 clicks]
   posted on William Bragg (more info), March 4th
6. Extreme Makeover House Going To Foreclosure [21 clicks]
   posted on Mike Rohrig On Real Estate (more info), March 6th
7. World's 50 most powerful blogs... [19 clicks]
   posted on Hot Fresh Now (more info), March 9th
8. They made a spoof on the soldier throwing the puppy off the cliff [17 clicks]
   posted on Hot Fresh Now (more info), March 6th
9. US Soldier from Washington throws puppy off cliff... [16 clicks]
   posted on Hot Fresh Now (more info), March 3rd
10. Footage of mother raped in front of her children posted on YouTube... [14 clicks]
    posted on Hot Fresh Now (more info), March 4th

Most Clicks by Weblog

1. Jack Bog's Blog (more info) [162 clicks]
2. Hot Fresh Now (more info) [161 clicks]
3. Mercury's Blogtown, USA (more info) [101 clicks]
4. piglipstick (more info) [52 clicks]
5. Where's Your Brain? (more info) [47 clicks]
6. VanPortlander (more info) [46 clicks]
7. The Doc Is In (more info) [41 clicks]
8. FURIOUS nads! (more info) [41 clicks]
9. Cat Eyes (more info) [41 clicks]
10. UtterlyBoring (more info) [35 clicks]

Hot Topics This Week

obama (170), hillary (141), eugene (64), multnomah (29), fishing (22), cheney (19), oregon coast (17), blazers (16), overheard (16), psu (16), vote (16), american idol (15), music (15), edwards (14), heart (14), iphone (14), mccain (14), steve novick (14).

You can see all Hot Topics for the past two weeks at the ORblogs Hot Topics page.

Obama and Hillary have been the top keywords for about a hundred weeks now. I'm thinking about making them permanent fixtures somewhere and letting new stuff bubble up to the top. Hot Topics is due for an overhaul anyway.

New Weblogs

There were 16 blogs added this week—with blogs around Bend, Corvallis, Creswell, Portland, Redmond, and Sisters. See them all on the Recent Additions page.

Here's another installment of the weekly stats from the world of Oregon blogging.

February 24th to March 2nd, 2008

Most Clicked Posts

1. Kontur-Gronquist recalled [46 clicks]
   posted on Oregon Independent (more info), February 26th
2. Disturbing development [30 clicks]
   posted on Jack Bog's Blog (more info), February 25th
3. I Hate this Billboard [29 clicks]
   posted on Life and Times of Michael5000 (more info), February 26th
4. Hate Radio Thrown Under The Bus By Their Own [29 clicks]
   posted on dharma::vision by Amadeus (more info), February 26th
5. 3 changes implemented at Starbucks [29 clicks]
   posted on Hot Fresh Now (more info), February 27th
6. WHAT IS TIM ROBBINS DOING IN PORTLAND?! [26 clicks]
   posted on Mercury's Blogtown, USA (more info), February 28th
7. The Poor Systematically Being Driven out of Corvallis [22 clicks]
   posted on Cat Eyes (more info), February 27th
8. Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour - a 30-something Portlander’s flashback (#2) [22 clicks]
   posted on Dave Knows: Portland (more info), February 27th
9. Flash Mob in front of Powell's Books [21 clicks]
   posted on On the Teleportaloo (more info), February 25th
10. Be gentle when ending a relationship. [20 clicks]
    posted on A.R. and Proud (more info), February 25th

Most Clicks by Weblog

1. Jack Bog's Blog (more info) [168 clicks]
2. Hot Fresh Now (more info) [159 clicks]
3. Mercury's Blogtown, USA (more info) [136 clicks]
4. Oregon Independent (more info) [79 clicks]
5. Cat Eyes (more info) [71 clicks]
6. Just Out - Blog Out (more info) [67 clicks]
7. FURIOUS nads! (more info) [57 clicks]
8. piglipstick (more info) [56 clicks]
9. Metroblogging Portland (more info) [48 clicks]
10. Dave Knows: Portland (more info) [46 clicks]

Hot Topics This Week

obama (147), hillary (88), eugene (51), multnomah (28), nader (28), blazers (26), william f buckley (19), oregon state (18), iraq (15), leap day (15), psu (15), john mccain (14), osu (14), craigslist (12), oscars (12).

You can see all Hot Topics for the past two weeks at the ORblogs Hot Topics page.

New Weblogs

There were 22 blogs added this week—with blogs around Corvallis, Eugene, Hillsboro, Portland, and Salem. See them all on the Recent Additions page.

Fast Cache

Got under the hood in the past week and improved the caching system. In addition to zippier performance, the front pages now refresh every five minutes (instead of 15), and the city pages refresh every 10 minutes or so. I also finally got around to some of the server configuration details like setting expires headers, Gzip compression, and a bunch of other boring technical stuff. The bottom line is that the site should feel faster all around—especially for repeat visitors.

Once again, here are the most clicked posts and weblogs from last week. (Sorry I missed the previous week.)

February 10th to February 17th, 2008

Most Clicked Posts

1. Gun safety is no accident [36 clicks]
   posted on Kevin Allman (more info), February 13th
2. The Times-Picayune continues to scrub its coverage of the Nagin photo [31 clicks]
   posted on Kevin Allman (more info), February 14th
3. Police identify a suspect in Hummer road rage case [24 clicks]
   posted on Bike Portland (more info), February 13th
4. Fatal bus/bike crash in Beaverton [23 clicks]
   posted on Bike Portland (more info), February 11th
5. How to get TurboTax to handle your Oregon "kicker" [21 clicks]
   posted on Jack Bog's Blog (more info), February 11th
6. Bojack's Backflips [19 clicks]
   posted on Mercury's Blogtown, USA (more info), February 14th
7. I forgot my kicker refund. Should I let IRS correct it? [18 clicks]
   posted on OregonLive: Tax Help (more info), February 11th
8. Horror on Street of Nightmares--Over Twenty Cats Dead So Far [18 clicks]
   posted on Cat Eyes (more info), February 12th
9. Slap on the wrist [18 clicks]
   posted on Jack Bog's Blog (more info), February 13th
10. Sickos of South Corvallis [17 clicks]
    posted on Cat Eyes (more info), February 10th

Most Clicks by Weblog

1. Jack Bog's Blog (more info) [148 clicks]
2. Mercury's Blogtown, USA (more info) [115 clicks]
3. Kevin Allman (more info) [111 clicks]
4. Bike Portland (more info) [86 clicks]
5. Cat Eyes (more info) [81 clicks]
6. Hot Fresh Now (more info) [67 clicks]
7. piglipstick (more info) [65 clicks]
8. The Doc Is In (more info) [59 clicks]
9. Just Out - Blog Out (more info) [53 clicks]
10. OregonLive: Tax Help (more info) [53 clicks]

Hot Topics This Week

obama (129), hillary (83), oregonlive (61), valentine's day (56), valentine (40), eugene (36), barack obama (26), mccain (20), john mccain (18), microsoft (18), osu (18), oregon coast (17), democrats (15), edwards (15), global warming (15), gop (15), hillary clinton (15), iraq (15), mercury (15), super tuesday (14)

You can see all Hot Topics for the past two weeks at the ORblogs Hot Topics page.

New Weblogs

There were 19 blogs added this week—with blogs around Astoria, Corvallis, Eugene, Hillsboro, Manzanita, Milwaukie, Newport, Portland, and Salem. See them all on the Recent Additions page.

Bug Fixes All Around

I had some time to work on ORblogs this weekend, and in addition to the iPhone interface I fixed some long standing character encoding bugs, a long-time bug with topic pages and topics with spaces in them (don't ask), and the site is now grabbing thumbnails for youtube videos in posts if there's no other image available. Feels good to get some new code written for the site.

I just set up a stripped-down version of ORblogs specifically for iPhones. To try it out, point your iPhone's browser to m.orblogs.com, and you'll be able to browse post excerpts from Oregon blogs in an iPhone-friendly way. Here are a bunch of screenshots so you can get a sense of what it looks like:



As the screenshots show, you can browse all posts, Oregon-related posts, popular posts, and the top 15 topics from the last seven days. Clicking a post excerpt will take you directly to the post on the original blog. (I think this makes sense on the iPhone because it handles regular web pages so well. I hate that Google Reader for iPhone takes you to a mobile HTML version of pages, but that's a topic for another time.) If you get to the bottom of a listing of posts, you can click "Load 15 More Posts..." to bring them up inline just like the iPhone mail client. I also whipped up a special ORblogs icon if you add the site to your iPhone Home Screen as a web clip.

I know you can browse the standard ORblogs site on the iPhone, but I thought it'd be fun to have this special interface. And it was fairly easy to put together thanks to the open source iUI package. If you have an iPhone, check it out and let me know if you see anything wonky. I'm hoping to add some more features to this down the road including city pages and a list of larger images from posts.

Once again, last week in Oregon blogging via some ORblogs stats...

January 27th to February 3rd, 2008

Most Clicked Posts

1. Do I include the state kicker as income? [62 clicks]
   posted on OregonLive: Tax Help (more info), February 1st
2. What line on the federal return do I put the kicker refund? [31 clicks]
   posted on OregonLive: Tax Help (more info), February 2nd
3. Not to brag or anything, but Tina Fey TOTALLY reads my blog [27 clicks]
   posted on Pregnant Cornbread (more info), February 2nd
4. In support of Arlington's first female mayor [24 clicks]
   posted on Oregon Independent (more info), January 28th
5. I know people who kill Nutria [24 clicks]
   posted on Cat Eyes (more info), February 1st
6. Canceling the Garbage Service [22 clicks]
   posted on The Crallspace (more info), January 29th
7. What line does the kicker refund go on my state tax return? [19 clicks]
   posted on OregonLive: Tax Help (more info), February 2nd
8. Coffee Shop Scrutiny [17 clicks]
   posted on Nearly Normal (more info), January 29th
9. Barack Obama for President!! [16 clicks]
   posted on just communication (more info), January 30th
10. I'm Sorry. This is Bullshit, I Need to Vent. [16 clicks]
    posted on Gay Rights Watch (more info), February 1st

Most Clicks by Weblog

1. OregonLive: Tax Help (more info) [160 clicks]
2. Mercury's Blogtown, USA (more info) [152 clicks]
3. Jack Bog's Blog (more info) [124 clicks]
4. BlueOregon (more info) [98 clicks]
5. Just Out - Blog Out (more info) [87 clicks]
6. Hot Fresh Now (more info) [87 clicks]
7. Oregon Independent (more info) [80 clicks]
8. Cat Eyes (more info) [68 clicks]
9. Gay Rights Watch (more info) [55 clicks]
10. The Doc Is In (more info) [52 clicks]

Hot Topics This Week

state of the union (31), barack obama (27), domestic partnership (26), john edwards (23), mccain (23), rally (23), john mccain (21), bush (20), hillary (20), equality (19), steve novick (19), super bowl (19), partnership law (18), jeff merkley (15), mercury (15), obama (15), republicans (15), democrats (14), rain (14), edwards (13).

You can see all Hot Topics for the past two weeks at the ORblogs Hot Topics page.

New Weblogs

There were only 2 blogs added this week which means I'm behind. I'll get caught up this week and you should see a few more here next week. You can see those two on the Recent Additions page.

Here's a look at the week in Oregon blogging via ORblogs stats...

January 20th to January 27th, 2008

Most Clicked Posts

1. Call to Rename the “Mars Explorer Spirit” the “Patterson-Gimlan Spirit” [56 clicks]
   posted on cliffdweller (more info), January 22nd
2. Portland Attorney Rips Into Oregon's Anti-Gays [28 clicks]
   posted on Gay Rights Watch (more info), January 24th
3. Kid tells mom he's an atheist... [28 clicks]
   posted on Hot Fresh Now (more info), January 25th
4. Does anyone honestly take him seriously? [27 clicks]
   posted on stoney moss (more info), January 26th
5. Soda - Nutrition - Health Effects - New York Times [26 clicks]
   posted on Longview Hills (more info), January 22nd
6. EVERYBODY PANIC!!11!!eleven!!!! [26 clicks]
   posted on UtterlyBoring (more info), January 23rd
7. Geekiest Tatoo Ever [24 clicks]
   posted on Peridyd's Progress (more info), January 21st
8. Al Gore Speaks Out on Gay Rights [23 clicks]
   posted on Gay Rights Watch (more info), January 23rd
9. Is my kicker taxable for federal or state purposes? [23 clicks]
   posted on OregonLive: Tax Help (more info), January 25th
10. The Whores at the Oregonian [22 clicks]
    posted on Oregonlies (more info), January 27th

Most Clicks by Weblog

1. Hot Fresh Now (more info) [192 clicks]
2. Mercury's Blogtown, USA (more info) [179 clicks]
3. Jack Bog's Blog (more info) [141 clicks]
4. Just Out - Blog Out (more info) [111 clicks]
5. Idea Whiplash (more info) [97 clicks]
6. Oregon Independent (more info) [94 clicks]
7. Bike Portland (more info) [93 clicks]
8. cliffdweller (more info) [83 clicks]
9. Metroblogging Portland (more info) [78 clicks]
10. media monarchy (more info) [73 clicks]

Hot Topics This Week

obama (65), martin luther king (56), hillary (42), heath ledger (28), edwards (26), blazers (22), south carolina (22), cnn (16), fred thompson (15), and bill clinton (14)

You can see all Hot Topics for the past two weeks at the ORblogs Hot Topics page.

New Weblogs

There were 13 blogs added this week—with blogs around Astoria, Bandon, Corvallis, Portland, and Reedsport. See them all on the Recent Additions page. Oh, I should add this blog to the directory!

One of the ways ORblogs helps people find blogs near them is by reporting what city the author is in. And for as long as I've been running the site, the only way I've known where a weblog author is located is via an ICBM meta tag in their weblog's HTML (aka. Geotagging). I always took a fairly hard line on this, and if a weblog didn't have an ICBM tag I didn't associate it with any particular city. Right now, if you check the bottom of the city page you can see that "642 weblogs in the directory aren't associated with a specific city." That sucks.

So I'm lightening up on the whole location is only reported via ICBM tag thing. A while ago I started asking for a location when people ask to add a weblog to the directory, and starting this year I'm going to go with that reported location even if there's no meta tag to back it up. (I always visit a blog to make sure there's a mention of their location before adding it anyway.) And if I spot other blogs that are currently in the directory that don't have a location—but I know they're in a specific city—I'm going to add that city to the listing behind the scenes. I already did this for blogs that have a city name in their title.

One long-standing issue this change will help with is that Typepad doesn't let you customize your meta tags unless you have one of their upper-tier subscriptions, so there are quite a few Typepad-powered blogs that aren't associated with a city. And a lot of people probably didn't want to muck around with their templates to add an ICBM tag. (I'm still impressed that so many people do figure it out!)

So, long story short, if you have a weblog that's not associated with a city, please let me know where you're at via email and I'll make it happen. And of course you can continue to use the ICBM tag to report your location, that's still the primary way ORblogs is picking up that info.