So, back to Berlind’s fact check — then I’m taking off the rest of the day. Let’s look. Bloglines wins: 8 times compared to Technorati’s 5 wins, so overall Bloglines wins the link contest. Ties: 1 …
Link: Setting Scoble’s record on Technorati straight
Taking on Berlind’s points.
1) That I didn’t count links to Sifry’s post properly. He’s right. I missed that when Technorati looks at links to a top-level domain it has two link numbers. Shame on me, but Technorati’s other pages don’t have two numbers, so I didn’t even think of looking at the bottom of the page on that one. Bad information design there! Technorati should put both numbers in the same place, not one at the top and another at the bottom of the page.
2) That Technorati doesn’t have duplicates while Bloglines does. I don’t find that to be true on links to specific blog posts, but he’s right when comparing links to a top-level blog like Sifry’s. I provided links to both engines, though, so the reader could define the quality. Neither engine wins on every search result. Overall, though, I find Bloglines to give me better results. Your mileage may vary. You should do your own homework (I provide the links so you can compare for yourself, something that David didn’t do on his blog).
3) “Had Scoble placed a phone call to Sifry (the two know each other pretty well), not only would he have avoided the mistake of publishing a false fact.” Ahh, so now I’m a journalist and being held to those standards, huh? David, did you call Bloglines’ CEO too and get his point of view? So, you’re only 50% done, right? Not to mention I know that David Sifry reads my blog within minutes of my posting (we talk a lot). He’s welcome to leave me a comment when I get things wrong or incomplete. By calling only one guy seems you have a footsie relationship there. David, are you Sifry’s marketing guy? By not doing any phone calls I don’t look like I’m on anyone’s side. I’m just reporting what I see. If I call anyone, I’ll report that too (I have spent a lot of time with Sifry and the Technorati group and reported on that previously).
4) “Technorati isn’t looking to provide its users with the be-all end-all list of all the links on the Web to specific blogs.” OK, but is that how his engine will be judged? I’d like to hear from more users on that one. In talking with other bloggers I am willing to say he’s wrong. We do want a be-all and end-all list.
5) “While I don’t know what Blogline’s methodology is, Scoble’s coverage could have been much more interesting had he uncovered some differences in methdology and started a debate over how best to measure authority.” Why didn’t Berlind call Bloglines to get their side of the story? If you’re gonna hold my feet to the fire, you should be perfect.
6) “I’m much more interested in who is actively linking to us today rather than who did it six months ago.” David, have you actually looked at the results I put below? Bloglines seems to do a better job over all. I’d like to see YOUR objective analysis.
7) “In a prior blog, Scoble defends his own methodology for writing, saying that he never claimed to be a journalist but that “I do occassionally do journalism here.” Perhaps we could use a little icon so we know how to recognize when he’s doing it.” Heh. David, how do you define journalism? Is it calling up one source in a two-horse race? (not to mention we’re all forgetting Pubsub and Feedster here). In journalism school we learned that real journalism always has three sources, not one.
8) “What about factual mistakes where Microsoft isn’t concerned?” It’s been, what, 48 hours, and we’re having a pretty interesting conversation here. My readers are well served, me thinks. If they don’t agree, they can leave comments here. Can they leave comments on David’s post?
9) “Writing first and then waiting for the phone to ring second is the perfect way to do both your readers and your credibility a huge disservice, not to mention causing tangible harm to undeserving parties.” Hmmm, you didn’t seem to mind when I gave Technorati two years of great reviews. No one called me on THOSE. Even though they, too, were done without calling Dave Sifry up.
10) “That phone does make outbound calls, doesn’t it?” Yes, it does.
11) “I tried double-checking that with Scoble (using the number on his blog, but he didn’t pick up).” I got the message, thanks for calling!
Robert Scoble is the founder of the Scobleizer blog. He works as PodTech.net’s Vice President of Media Development.
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