Guru Just Called Me A Fraud, and My Authority Only Went Up By 1...

By now, some of you know that I run a poll I call the HR Blog Power Rankings.  I use Google Reader to track the blog entries across 112 HR-related blogs, then rank them according to the posts I would recommend to my HR cronies.

Simple enough, and not without work.  Most people liked it.

But not Guru, a writer for a British print and web property call Personnel Today.  Here's his take:

"Guru has (inexplicably) not yet been inducted into any of these human resources blog halls of fame, and now notes that his arch enemy Peter Gold of Hire Strategies is celebrating his own inclusion in such a list (albeit at 97 out of 100) and rubbing Guru's nose in it.

In response, Guru has decided the best course of action is to expose this league-table scam for the self-serving propaganda that it really is.

The idea is simple, ingenious and fraudulent.  The latest exponents of this 'art' in the HR blogosphere are: Bootstrapper (Top 100 HR Bloggers); and The HR Capitalist (producing the bi-weekly top-25 HR Blogs Power List)."

Ouch.. So one of Guru's friends smacks him around, and I get kicked like a dog as he walks in the door?  I actually like Guru's writing, and he's part of the 112 blogs that are in my reader.  He writes pretty broadly, and not always about HR.

As far as the bootstrapper list, there's a lot of great bloggers on that list.  But, in my opinion, there were also a lot of blogs that have been updated 2-3 times since May, which isn't frequent enough to keep my attention or subscribe to.  With the Power Rankings, I incorporated a method where the folks who work on their blogs frequently are rewarded, as long as the quality is there.

The real downside?  My Technorati ranking that Guru references in his post hasn't grown that much.  If I was really after a higher rating on Technorati, I would feature a different 25 blogs each week, because your authority only grows if new blogs link to you - the same ones linking multiple times doesn't count.  Since the top 25 is fairly consistent, I won't grow it that way.

The one link that was new to my mix based off the 9/26 Power Rankings?  Guru!  With that in mind, I'm going to make sure he's in my next poll (at least in the "also receiving votes" category).  At the end of the day, his post was funny, his writing is very good, and he deserves it. 

Guru, be on the lookout for your emergence into my next poll.  Be sure to rub it in Gold's grill that you are in one with an actual methodology that requires at least monthly writing!!   

Comments

[HR Wench]

I like your blog. I think you know what you are talking about even if I don't always agree with you on certain topics.

Some people speak the same language in very, very different ways. For example, in your post above you say, "As far as the bootstrapper list, a lot of bloggers I feature are part of that list, so there's some validity to the list."

Read that again. Okay read it one more time. Third time is a charm.

You're basically saying "If you read blogs I do then you know what you are talking about". Now I understand what you are saying here - you are an HR professional and can walk the talk. But you are very clearly tooting your horn in that sentence. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's necessary to be meek. You are where you are because you're a smart guy and worked your way there. But when trying to gain street cred on the 'net my personal opinion is that you gotta let your knowledge speak for itself. Don't tell me you're a smarty pants. Show me you're a smarty pants! And while you're at it, keep yer pants on. :)

Does that make sense?

[Kris]

HRW -

Fair statement, thanks for proofing for me. A better way to say it would be "in my opinion", so I am going to change it that something like that given your feedback... My intent wasn't to toot my own horn with that sentence, but rather to say I agree with the fact that a lot of blogs in that article are very good. Since this is an Op/Ed blog, that's pretty standard fare...

One observation about the other top blogs on the list. The folks I follow and enjoy the most are the folks who write at least 3-4 times a week and are really trying to stay consistent with the frequency and quality of their observations. The Top 100 blog listing had a lot of blogs that have a post a month, and that's not frequent enough for me to realy follow and be interested in.

Once again, my opinion. Thanks for stopping by and commenting...

KD

[Guru]

Ahah! Guru's cunning ruse has worked. Not only has his Technorati rank increased thanks to the HR Capitalist's link (above), but he has bullied his way into the next league table!
Don't take it personally Kris - Guru is only jealous that he didn't think of your top 25 idea first!

[raj]

Guru, besides referring to himself in third person, is wrong. I didn't write the Boostrapper list, but I know that it's not a ranking list. A lot of people fail to realize that a list can't all be #1. It's merely a numbered list broken into categories of 100 HR blogs that the writer thought were worth attention.

Having written many lists like that, it's very hard to rank 100 blogs properly.