On second thought, maybe we are the nerdliest joint on the RE.net. I actually watched much of the Super Bowl yesterday, but it was only because it was coming between me and the judging for the Carnival of Real Estate. BloodhoundBlog is host to the 28th edition of the Carnival, and, geek that I am, that was far more interesting to me than watching the Colts stampede the Bears.
And, yes, we are geeks with pride. Snotty sardonic surly teenaged web-programmer god Cameron built us a little bot that would permit multiple judges to view and score each article “blind,” with no knowledge of either the author or weblog. And wise winsome willowy spreadsheet goddess Cathleen Collins built an Excel bot that combined all the results into a one-page report.
These were our judges, six out of the eleven of us: Kris Berg, Brian Brady, Cathleen Collins, Michael Cook, Greg Swann and Jeff Turner. Of the judges, only I saw the articles in their original form. Everyone else saw the versions that I had anonymized.
So: Who won?
Rank Has Its Privileges, and I’m asserting one here. The winner by a significant margin was David Gibbons from Zillow Blog with Attracting a Conversation: Blog Comment Tips. But — I hope without diluting David’s glory — I would like to craft mini-laurels for all of the authors of Zillow Blog’s series on real estate weblogging. Here are the other articles in the series:
- Content is King, but the Voice is Queen
- Setting Up Your Blog
- Avoiding Legal Pitfalls in Blogging
- SEO & Syndication
And, yes, we’re weblogging about weblogging. But that’s beside the point. The Carnival of Real Estate should celebrate uncontested excellence in real estate weblogging, and David’s post — and the entire Zillow Blog series — are particularly good examples of how to handle this work wisely and well.
But now the pre-game show is over. Here are the top ten winners of the Carnival of Real Estate:
- David Gibbons outruns the Colts with Attracting a Conversation: Blog Comment Tips – Zillow Blog posted at Zillow Blog.
- REBlogGirl comes in second with Long tail, short tail and coat tail searches posted at Real estate blogs for busy real estate agents.
- Steve Leung grabs third place with When Not to Buy a House posted at 1SiliconValley.com.
- Kevin Boer brings us In dentibus anticis frustrum magnum spiniciae habes* posted at 3 Oceans — The San Francisco Bay Area Real Estate Blog.
- Tony Arko submits Know Thy Seller posted at real/diaBlog – tomorrow’s real estate trends.
- John Barker presents John Barker’s Mortgage Blog: Mortgage Insurance is Now Tax-Deductible posted at John Barker’s Mortgage Blog.
- Broker Bryant Tutas insists Monopoly my a..! posted at Active Rain.
- Toby Boyce offers up Watch Your Mailbox, Predators are Lurking posted at Sadie’s Take on Delaware Ohio.
- Tony allows that Mortgage companies losing business and getting out of business posted at Bad Credit Advisor.
- Dan Melson educates us on Stupid Negotiating Tricks: Appeal to Pity (or Falling for Appeal to Pity) posted at Searchlight Crusade.
In other real estate web carnival news, BloodhoundBlog contributor Brian Brady won the Carnival of Real Estate Investing with a post from his home weblog. Last week’s winner, BloodhoundBlog contributor Michael Cook took second place with The Savvy Investor: Watchouts for New Market Investing, one of four great investment posts he wrote last week. BloodhoundBlog will be hosting the February 19th edition of the Carnival of Real Estate Investing, so we’ll be honing our software and sharpening the blades on our propeller beanies for that.
The 29th Carnival of Real Estate will be hosted next week by ReyEstate.com. I know the competition will be intense, because one of Joel Burslem’s posts slipped in under the radar after we had already started our judging.
This was our second time hosting the Carnival of Real Estate and it was a blast. It’s a lot of work, especially putting together this link-filled post. But we believe very strongly in excellence in real estate weblogging, and we want to do everything we can to support and promote it.
To the winners: Well done!
Technorati Tags: blogging, real estate, real estate marketing
REBlogGirl says:
Congrats Kevin. And in honor of you:
Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
I have a feeling this applies to Greg as well.
February 5, 2007 — 10:24 am
Greg Swann says:
> Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
I used to drive my Latin teacher nuts by translating absolutely everything into NeoLatin. I would turn in my homework, and attached would be something from REM or Pink Floyd — with no English translation. She was a game girl…
February 5, 2007 — 3:17 pm
REBlogGirl says:
Greg, you crack me up. Oh, the folly youth, I once translated Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch that Stole Christmas on a whim, but REM… Pink Floyd… you are a genius.
Please share with us your musical latinisms…
Te precor dulcissime supplex!
For those with normal educations and far less time on your hands: Pretty please with a cherry on top!
Quick somebody get a harp and a digereedo – this could turn into the blogosphere version of the Partridge family.
February 5, 2007 — 5:50 pm
Greg Swann says:
> I once translated Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch that Stole Christmas on a whim
This is fun. I have the first book of De Bello Gallico as an Illustrated Classic.
Sed, vide:
That’s first year. There are things in the future indicative I would do in the subjunctive now.
February 5, 2007 — 6:44 pm
REBlogGirl says:
And people say Latin is useless…
February 5, 2007 — 7:38 pm
Broker Bryant says:
OK, you guys have definitely lost me with the Latin. I do however speak a pretty mean Southern.
Greg I really appreciate you taking the time to host the carnival this week. Judging from the 10 entries you have highlighted it must truly be difficult to read all these great post and narrow it down to 10. I’m honored to have made the cut. Thanks. See ya’ll later:)
And congrats to David for the win. A very deserving post.
February 5, 2007 — 8:17 pm
Brian Brady says:
Mary:
Don’t encourage him.
Linguas aqua vitae sum. (very rusty and difficult without a robed Jesuit looking over my shoulder).
Congratulations, David. Your post was excellent. I was most impressed with all of the entries.
February 5, 2007 — 11:09 pm
Maureen Francis says:
Oh no! Sr. Mary Latin Teacher had a bit of a memory loss problem. She could not remember her 8 students at the end of the school year, but I think Latin was her native language. Leave it to RE blogging for me to come across a few more people who studied Latin in school.
Great job on the carnival Bloodhound bloggers.
February 6, 2007 — 6:55 am
Tony Arko says:
I didn’t take latin but I did live in Germany, so from me to you, Danke. I appreciate the honor you have bestowed upon my humble post.
February 6, 2007 — 7:59 pm
Teri Lussier says:
googling latin sends me here. still can’t find what I’m looking for. Which I find quite hysterical. And typical. And delightful in some twisted way…
February 16, 2009 — 6:31 pm
Greg Swann says:
> still can’t find what I’m looking for.
“[We’ve] got to keep the loonies on the path.” The sentence should really be in the subjunctive, since it describes an idealized condition. IAC, in software, the profit is all in the “blades” — the upgrade/upsell/after-market path. If you can’t keep the loonies on the path, you won’t make money.
You asked…
February 16, 2009 — 8:17 pm