There are 2 kinds of lists: rehashed and original. The rehashed list is as you say all to easy to sniff out. I don’t even click those kinds of links anymore. But there is still plenty of room for creative lists, as there is always a unique way to spin something that’s been done before, or do make a list of something nobody

On my own relatively new blog (bonfx.com), one article that took hours and hours to put together has ended up being my most popular (an article about font combinations). I did original research, original artwork and typography, and provided some other take-with-you resources (PDF downloads). Every day, that one article is the single biggest traffic pull right after any new content I may have submitted. So, it’s the slow steady drumbeat of hard-to-make quality content pulling in quality traffic over many months that is the way to go in the long run. When Google invariably updates their magic formula in the coming months and years, it’s original content that will retain decent rankings and relevance…

Douglas

It’s to a point where I don’t even try to look through roundups of ‘inspiration’ because I realize it will be a quick roundup of crap. Every once in awhile though I do find these types of posts that are truly inspirational, in which case of course the designer did take the time to compile them. (Thus the effort, thus the success of the post!)

Could you provide an example of an edgy, provocative piece were the author is inexperienced in the subject?

Thinking back to grade school and essay writing I can understand your point. As Students are not heavily experienced in a given subject when writing an essay, they are taught to back up their writing with specific examples from experts in that subject. Blogs are not taken to that extent but after the students reads up on the subject from their research, do they not become experienced to a degree?

@Paul: Thanks for the feedback, I’ll be sure to read that article. Your 2010 prediction is quite intriguing.

@Otto: Thanks for the feedback.

@Janko: That’s nice of you to say, thank you. Even if few linkbait authors read this, the visitors to those sites hold a lot of power; they just need to flex it every now and then.

@Victor: Thanks for the endorsement. Your example makes sense and I enjoyed your reference to teaching someone to fish for life rather than giving someone only one fish.

Regarding Typography, I appreciate the feedback; typography has never been one of my strongest areas on the web. I guess I never grew out of 10pt Verdana from the 90s. There will be changes made this week and I hope all of you can stick with me. Thanks again.

To take a spin on the idea of teaching someone how to fish, showing someone their ‘inspiration’ doesn’t help them in the long run but discussing how someone might find it on their own might be the inspiration in and of itself they need. I know that anyone can choose not to look at a site that publishes those lists but I just find that the time spent on those articles could be better used to educate one another about how to bring forth our own creativity from within.

No one taught me how to leaf through a pile of Print or Graphis magazines when I was younger because that’s not something that required instruction. However, these lists I see everywhere are telling me exactly that. And the difficulty at looking at all these examples of design is knowing they’ve already been distilled into great pieces of work. Not knowing what the creative or mental process those designs underwent to arrive in their ‘listed’ form is a detriment to our thirst for knowledge and really what I would prefer to read about.

I’m probably re-iterating a lot of your ideas so take this is as just another representative sample of someone wanting to read more about the ‘how’ and not the ‘what’.

One comment, once the comments on this site get approved the color scheme just makes them really hard to read. When I was writing this, it was yellow on black. The saved comments are light gray or blue on black.

My monitor is calibrated so, who knows.

My prediction for 2010: More blog authors will understand how to keep their readers attention by not writing paragraphs that few actually read.

Recommended: Slate: How we read online

@Tyler: I’m working on improving the layout over the coming weeks; I understand your pain fully. Thank you for the kind words and feedback.

@Matt: Glad to hear you enjoyed the article, thank you for the complement. Only time will tell how many sites tone down the linkbait.

@McBonio: Thanks for the feedback. I agree a ramble is not fun to read and, in my opinion, is just as bad as a list. I also enjoy the occasional list but will choose an in-depth, well researched and thoughtful article over a list. Although Smashing Mag has become popular for pumping out the lists, they have many quality posts that are not lists. Also, they have taken the criticisms of their content very well and promise to make changes towards fewer lists; for now I’m standing by them.

Ps. I have to agree with Tyler that I found it incredibly hard to read the whole post. A mixture of contrast, font size and shear amount of text just made my eyes hurt. That being said, you have a nice design and it’s just the typography that needs tweaking.

Reading the ramblings of someone bores me to tears, I just want the good stuff.

I notice you have Smashing Mag listed in your friends and faves, they are the kings of lists

That being said, your content is great. RSS FTW.

The ironic thing is that this post will wind up on numerous “Top 10 things wrong with people’s blogs” blog posts.

@Stuart: I totally agree that it’s become a bit cliché, but I also think that talking over these points a few times is important. This will be the last time for awhile that I get into this subject again. After reading a few of the calls for quality content I didn’t feel there were any alternatives being given, just a lot of fed up users. Hopefully most people have said what they needed to say.

I don’t mean it as any kind of criticism; quite the contrary, it’s wonderful to see such a wide call to action for quality-focused posts, especially as time goes on and people back up what they say. It’s just somewhat ironic that these kind of posts are sprouting up everywhere now, like the list posts which spawned their creation =)

First of all, just wanted to say that this article was a great read!

I agree with your points, it is definitely time for some more original content.

Artist Before Artwork

While this is great to do, I do think that artwork showcases have their place. I’ve done it in the past and will continue to do so. I do think however, that there should be a variety in your posts. I think if it was just list of artworks and sites every time, then the site will be very boring. That’s why I started “Ask the Expert.” I was tired of the same old interview format that everyone was doing, but I thought that interviews were great, so I wanted to throw a new spin into it.

I think what we need to do today is to find new and creative ways to present our content. While not doing a blogazine is necessary, there are some other creative ways that we can utilize. Take for example, the post on Line25 by Chris Spooner, it was excellent how he used a cartoon character to portray his points. Lots of content that we already know, but he put his own spin into it.

By the way, you also included some great sites. I’m also a very big fan of Soh Tanaka and his tutorials. Now that’s an original site with original content.

Anyway, keep up the great work on your blog and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of your articles.