Fine Fools Community

I am obsessed with the statistics of the blogosphere. I crawl Technorati and PubSub regularly and am always amazed to see the new sites creeping their way up the charts. One site that always sticks out though is Xiaxue’s site. Never heard of her? Well the site is run by Wendy Cheng and it isn’t about blogging, politics, business, Web 2.0 or anything else that you may think only top bloggers write about. The site is about her and that’s all her readers care about.

Now for a second (just for a second) let’s ignore how great looking she is and let’s focus on the pull this woman has on the web. As of this writing, according to Technorati, she has over 3,564 sites linking to her. Not links mind you, actual sites. That is unbelievable and places her at #31 on the Technorati 100 ahead of:

• Scoble
• Defamer
• Joel Spolsky
• Jeff Jarvis
• Joystiq
• Seth Godin
• Steve Rubel
• Signal vs. Noise

I know all these statistics, must be taken with a grain of salt, but they do provide a small glimpse of the web.

Things are definitely getting more and more interesting in Fine Fools land. Ridiculous.

Well you didn’t think that the Fine Fools writers or Mike Rundle would let me get away with keeping my bland template for all Fine Fools sites did you? Too see where we are going with the Network checkout Jack of All Blogs. A bit funky eh?

Now I can’t exactly tell you the reasoning behind the design, but let’s just say we wanted something different than the other networks that gave us a unique feel. We didn’t want any controversy like Creative Weblogging had with WIN. No sir, if you take our look (not the two colummns, the actual look) then there is simply no mistaking it. At least that’s what I asked for and what Rundle gave me is a design that is so different from his other stuff you can tell he was getting a bit anxious working under my iron grip.

For all Fine Fools writers, take notice, your sites will be sporting new designs as well. JOAB just got it first because we knew we could mess with that design because absolutely nobody likes to read his site . The templates will be the same, but new color schemes for each site will exist.

Just another chapter in trying to make us stand out from the rest of the crowd because we are a tad different. Can there be improvements? Of course and things will be ironed out over time, but when you have a Network with a personality such as Fine Fools it deserves to be dressed up in a design that share its personality.

Those wonderful f*ckers at Blogebrity have apparently learned how to use Technorati too well and are reporting our new sites before even we get a chance to. We don’t mind though since it’s not like we are keeping secrets or releasing something new. Just something different. Like sites with content you wouldn’t mind coming back to read.

Anyways, today is the official announcement of Hollyshow, written by Melody Ralls who describes the site as being done by “a semi-psychotic film fanatic who really needs to get out more.” Well good thing the Writing Standards strictly prohibits Fine Fools writers from writing on the weekends (although more and more are starting to break that rule, tsk tsk).

Currently the site is being loaded with a ton of movie reviews and over time I can see new content and subjects being added, but let Melody get her feet wet and go over to disagree with her ratings. I mean only giving Constantine 3 stars?! Come on. I guess you don’t have to agree with the writer to still like the site .

Well I was going to wait till Monday to announce this controversial site, but since it has blown up before I even got a chance to I figured I might as well do it now. Jack of All Blogs is the site that I always wanted to do on my own. I am a snarky, pain in the ass type of person who isn’t all that well-liked by many people on the web, but after reading what David Krug has to say I really won’t be liked by these people.

He doesn’t hold back and in all the insults in jokes you can also see a bit of the truth which to me makes this site special. The site has already broken 1,000 pageviews today because has been linked by:

• tech.memeorandum
• gothamist
• Joi Ito

Not bad for a site that wasn’t even supposed to be announced yet.

Every time I look at the network list on the left side of the Fine Fools sites I have to smile. Where else can you go from I Like Cameras to Successful Blog to A Man’s View to Proud White Trash? Hopefully no where else, otherwise we aren’t being too original.

Proud White Trash is being written by Rhys Alexander and is simply the category she wrote over at Damn I’m Cute. We decided that the content deserved it’s own site so it could stand on its own two feet and so here it is. Easily one of the best writers in the network Rhys is definitely one to watch.

As I mentioned in the A Man’s View announcement, I am introducing two sites that are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. While AMV focuses more on the bachelor aspects of life, Love Translated focuses solely on relationships and romance. To best understand what the site is about I asked Kristene Hekmi to offer her own description.

So who says housewives have to be boring? Who says that serious loving relationships, valid relationshps only have to be between a man and a woman? Love Translated hopes to examine the different stages of relationship, the different ways people express love, need love, and keep love.

The site is geared towards making the world love, commitment and relationship approachable again because the topics will be dealt with in a fun and playful way. From tips on how to remain sexy (including tips for the guys), picking on a man ’s brain as to their views on relationship, and lots of (protected) sex talk, the site aims to be the antithesis to Romantic Comedies that has guys running the other way.

Seems like Fireman and Starfisher would be wise to subscribe to this one.

The next two sites that I am going to introduce into the Fine Fools Network are so far apart that it’s quite funny…to me at least. I have made it no secret that girlspoke is my favorite site in the 9rules Network and I knew that I needed a male equivalent in Fine Fools. However, I knew that I couldn’t write it because i would probably piss off every single girl in my life: past, present and future. Fortunately I found two friends (not necessarily my friends) who were willing to take the torch and try their hand at this blogging thing and after reading what they have so far there isn’t really any words to express how I feel.

A Man’s View is the site that can get me in trouble, but I am never one to shy away from trouble (ie. wait till you see Monday’s site), but it’s also a site that expresses a viewpoint that you really don’t see that often on the web. Now it isn’t called A Gentlemen’s View because these guys are anything but that. We are talking college-aged guys doing what guys do in the movies and speaking like only frat boys speak (not sure if they are frat boys or not).

The site will more than likely cover relationships, sex, and the art of “courting” women. The site is pretty ad-heavy, which I am sure I will hear some complaints about, but I have to try this format sooner or later and I’m sure things will change some once the new redesign is out the door. If you are easily offended I suggest you stay away from this site, but if you want to have a little bit of fun diving into the mind of a horny male then you will probably like this site.

Please send any and all complaints to the guys at Blogebrity.

If you know me well enough then you know that I am a sports fiend. I love almost all sports and am constantly checking ESPN.com for anything new. Unfortunately, I don’t really have many options when it comes to checking out sports blogs since there aren’t that many quality ones out there. So what do you do in this situation? Start your own of course, but obviously I am too busy to maintain one on my own and fortunately Matt Berg has stepped in to help me out with Sports Four.

The site reads like a sports radio program. It isn’t just news, but opinions and that’s what makes sports so great. Everyone has their own and arguing about them makes you that much more passionate about the sport. So head on over to Sports Four to voice your opinion on the world of sports.

A quick introduction to the latest blog in the Fine Fools lineup…Bill’s Baby. Bill’s Baby? WTF?! Yeah, good should make you click over to it . The site is all about Microsoft, nothing more and nothing less.

More on the site later as it builds up, but drop on over and see what Bart has in store for you.

Things have been quiet on this website for a couple of reasons (mostly having to do with 9rules stuff), but that doesn’t mean other writers haven’t been making an impact on the web. Over at Successful Blog, Liz and Hanni had their first full week of working together and I think it’s safe to assume that they will be creating one of the highest quality blogs in the Network, which I guess only makes sense considering the theme of the site.

Liz has an uncanny ability to get her entries linked from a lot of places quickly. Sometimes I get the feeling that her entries get linked before they are even published. When you are good, you are good.

Looking forward to watching this site grow and seeing what these two women can do and hopefully I provide them the resources to get what they need done.