You had to go and tip off the trolls didn't you?

1. Hugh S
2. RightKlik
3. Baron Von Ottomatic

Jennifer the least.

So much for this "troll" eh Jeff?

JFO,
That reverse psychology stuff isn't going to work.

1. Baron Von Ottomatic - Intelligent, original writing and prolific. Besides, it's Karmic. Just as Jay was as a winning caption contest winner turned Wizbang author...

2. RightKlik - Not so prolific but I like his stuff.

3. Not ready to decide. Competition is fierce.

Last - Jennifer. Nice thoughts but she just can't write. She's more of a linker.

Next to last, Sisson. Nice writing, but ideologically in left field.

I'm disturbed to be so aligned with JFO...

Correction:

"Just as Jay was a winning caption contest writer turned Wizbang author..."

OK, here are my votes:

1. Baron Von Ottomatic
2. HughS
3. Shawn Mallow

1 and 2 were close, I'd like to see both on board.

And I also vote Jennifer in last place. And I agree with Jeff as to why.

DJ,
To be blunt, where's "AOTA"?
It's been a great deal of fun (and tremendously informative) to read & watch various posters grow as writers over the past few years, and I had hoped to see a new "crop" come on board, and be allowed to grow - or fail - while trying.
To be blunt, this approach - of multiple writers, some good, some not so good, but all improving and refining the task of writing - is one of the keys that has me keeping Wizbang near the top of my reading list for a long (at least when it comes to the internet) time.

My $.02,
Jess

PS - AOTA = all of the above

1. Baron Von Ottomatic
2. HughS
3. Tough call. Michael Laprarie.

Least favourite: Cassy Fiano

Good experiment you've run here, DJ/Kevin. Intersted to see what will come of it.

It's Kevin's experiment. In this, I am Igor.

1. Jennifer
2. Shawn Mallow
3. Baron Von Ottomatic
It's almost a toss-up - I'd read a blog with almost any of these guest posters on it.

Least - Edward Sisson. 3 reasons: (1) If Kathryn Parker feels the need to change her name to Ed and write on a blog, that's fine, but I don't need to read it. (2) If he got lost on the way to Wizbang Blue, we can helpfully point him there. (3) Irrational name calling at the conservative wing of the republican party isn't likely to make any friends or influence people. If his article on why Republicans are more than just "conservatives" (Social conservatives? Fiscal conservatives? They're not the same people) had been about building up a coalition, instead of just tearing down and throwing pot shots at them, it might have been a good article.

Did the Democrats write off Move-On.org after Ned Lamont lost, or Kerry? No, I don't think so. You don't win an election by scaring away constituents. You win by building a larger consensus, de-emphasizing the things that make people argue about, and having your opponent act like a putz. The people who vote republicans include most people who consider themselves conservative, and getting rid of them isn't going to work so well. Lumping them all together as a bunch of anti-intellectual cave-dwelling rednecks is a sure fire way to lose them as readers.

1. Shawn
2. HughS
3. Baron
last- Jennifer.

1. Baron Von Ottomatic

2-3 Michael Laprarie, HughS, RightKlik & Shawn Mallow have all been good reads.

Pimping ain't easy so I'm not going to disparage those that make the attempt.

1. Shawn Mallow
2. RightKlik
3. whatever, nobody else would bring me here regularly.

wow, it's like choosing sides for recess kickball...who wants to be picked last? But, I'm in agreement with many of those above, Jennifer has to go play right field and be up last.

1. Baron von Ottomatic
2. Shawn Mallow
3. no vote

last: Edward Sisson, not because I disagree with him, but because his writing and his reasoning are both subpar. I wouldn't mind - in fact would welcome - a more center-left voice here. But it needs to be someone who presents arguments and evidence, instead of mere accusations, and who does so in an engaging manner.

I mainly agree with Jeff Medcalf

I go:
1. Baron von Ottomatic
2. Shawn Mallow
3. HughS

last: Edward Sisson

1) the baron
2) David Marcoe

OK, here are my votes:

1. Baron Von Ottomatic
2. HughS
3. no vote

last. Jennifer

1. Baron
2. Hugh S.

Least: Jennifer

Suggestions for All #1: Write hot, edit cold. Some of the posts were entirely too long.
Suggestions for All #2: Please pay attention to grammar and punctuation.*

* Not that I'm frakkin' EB White, just sayin'....

1. Baron von Ottomatic - not just a superfical swipe at a topic, but something that has some meat for discussion attached to it with the apporpriate linkage. (Plus when I taught myself to shoot pool 35 years ago, my invisible opponent was Baron von Automatic.)

2. Hugh S. - similar to the Baron's.

3. undecided

least - Jennifer, one Kim is enough.

DJ-

Please record my vote the same as Jess (AOTA). And for the same reasons. More voices = more informed viewpoints.

Hmmmmm... suppose we bring everyone on board, use the extra mojo to do a hostile takeover of WizBlue, and set up a new site we can call, hmm, Wizbang New?

I like Drummond's idea...speaking from someone banned from just one post...Geesh.

But, here are my votes.

1. Baron
2. Hugh
3. Shawn

Jennifer's ok, but not enough meat.

DJ:

You're not the boss of me!! :-) I can't narrow it down to just 3.

I can tell you my number 1 is Baron Von Ottomatic. However, I also like HughS, Michael Laprarie, RightKlik, and Shawn Mallow. But I just can't put the second group in order yet. These guys would all be nice additions to the Wizbang crew.

Jennifer's heart is in the right place, but she's not ready for this gig.

Rose is good, but just not quite up to the ones I listed above.

And Edward Sisson should have his guest posting privileges revoked immediately.

I am gravely disappointed that hyperbolist didn't try out. I would have dearly loved to reverse the tables on him and pick apart his articles.

J.

ALL of the people had somthing of value to say and should be commended. I read Wizbang instead of the the MSM to get the straight scoop on what's going on in the country. Your regular writers are excellent, but the "newbies" have shown a good deal of promise and I recommend using all of them.

Sincerely,
Ed

AOTA

My reasoning is the same in that more voices makes for more opinions from a wider field. FWIW no one is perfect, Jeniffer made some interesting points as did the rest.

With practice they'll all make fine posters here.

1. Baron Von Ottomatic, by a longshot
2. HughS
3. No vote

Last: Jennifer.

And I think DJ has a really good idea:

"Hmmmmm... suppose we bring everyone on board, use the extra mojo to do a hostile takeover of WizBlue, and set up a new site we can call, hmm, Wizbang New?"

I really think that WizBlue needs a revamp...as of now it's pretty pathetic. As far as presenting a liberal viewpoint, it falls pretty flat. Why not add another writer here on the main site that presents an alternative view???

I completely agree with Jeff Medcalf:

"I wouldn't mind - in fact would welcome - a more center-left voice here. But it needs to be someone who presents arguments and evidence, instead of mere accusations, and who does so in an engaging manner."

Why not? A good opposing viewpoint on the main site might add some interest--and Blue sure isn't serving it up. Not much traffic over there...

1. Hugh S
2. Baron Von Ottomatic
3. Michael Laprarie

Don't really have a "worst".

and RA - how long would a new poster last over there before Lee and Paul tried to ban him, took their vapors when they couldn't, declared the entire sanbox a sellout and moved on?

Hmmmm.

Tempting.

Aw shucks, Jay Tea, it'd be fun to see you pick apart whatever wine-fueled diatribe I might inflict upon the readership here, but we both know your heart lies with mantis.

HB, you know mantis wouldn't have a prayer here, and your bacchanal (or is it backanal?) reveries would be dissected with Lechterian finesse that I would enjoy. Have a go at it. Really.

I have to agree with the majority and say that Baron Von Ottomatic is probably the best of the "new" bunch. I totally agree with dumping Lee and Hooson as well. I don't get having a centrist or leftist portion of the site. I'm sorry, but that's what trolls are for on a conservative site. We feed them, they poop out some nonsense reBUTTal, we swirl it around with a logic stick to see if any of it is worth looking at, and then we hope it doesn't stink. That's the purpose of trolls. Why have a whole site devoted to crap?

"Lechterian finesse"? That's some pretty tasty verbiage right there, epador. You've a way with words; when can we expect your audition piece? Regale us with your wry wit!

And where the hell are Clay and Mac Lorry?

pvd:

"and RA - how long would a new poster last over there before Lee and Paul tried to ban him, took their vapors when they couldn't, declared the entire sanbox a sellout and moved on?"

Probably about 3 minutes. I have never seen Hooson go overboard, but Ward is out of control. The guy just DOES NOT listen to anyone but himself.

I just think that there are some voices that would better represent an opposing viewpoint. Lee presents a cartoon counterpoint to the main site. But maybe that's the purpose of keeping him there.

Still, I think that it could be a lot more interesting. Alternative views are a good thing--it helps though when they are well-presented. Hooson does okay, but Ward drags the whole project into ridiculousness.

Chad:

"I don't get having a centrist or leftist portion of the site."

Coming from a more center-left position, I would argue that alternative viewpoints and discussions are always a good thing. Why do you only want to read something that affirms your views? I like reading different sides of issues.

One reason why I can't stand DKos is because it's often just a liberal echo chamber, just as Hot Air tends to be a conservative echo chamber. Wizbang tried to offer a balance, but the Wardbang Blue has crashed and burned. Nobody reads it, unless they want to get banned for expressing a counter opinion.

I vote with DJ, why not keep them all?

RA, you just made my point. There's no reason for "Blue". You came to Wizbang for the discussion, and possibly to disagree, and you didn't even get banned! At Hooson and Ward's all you get is one point, no discussion, no validation of logic, no civil discourse on the merits of my opinion versus yours. Strictly liberalism, venom, vitriol, and Sarah Palin is not Trig's mother garbage. And if you disagree, you get banned. I don't get the point to having that, when you already have a couple of writers here that I would hardly consider conservative. At least not by the 1989 version. Wizbang already allows Centrist and "Socially liberal" points to be made. How many times here have I seen someone say that "Gay marriage" is o.k. by them? How many times have we seen "pro-choice" is fine so long as it's not "legislated from the bench"? Those are very centrist views, and I tolerate them because the people that wrote it have the right to do it, as granted by the 1st amendment. This site is hardly "rabidly" conservative, and over all, it's pretty squishy. Really the only area that this site sticks to it's conservative guns on is fiscally. The rest, well, it's pretty wishy washy, and that's why it's so active. You can agree to disagree here. Blue, not so much.

Chad,

Ya, I think you provided a good assessment of the differences between Blue and the main site. WizBlue can be scrapped for all I care.

And I think you're right when you say that centrist views are fairly well tolerated around here. It's true...this site is not really rapidly conservative. Good point. That's probably why I have hung around here for a while. Although, there are a couple of authors here who sometimes resort to the kinds of nonsense that Lee does, just from a different perspective.

About the whole center-left position on here: I guess I think it would be good if there was a solid counterpoint provided--and one that did not devolve into superficial rhetoric or low level flame wars.

hmmm.. ALL good but to play along..
here's mine.
#1) Shawn
#2) Baron Von
#3) HughS
#4) Jennifer

least ..Ed Sisson

For ME, reading blogs matter for one simple reason. CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT
I leave 5th grade grammar critique at the door, which in MY case is probably a good thing.

I haven't really paid attention. However, one stood out; he's the only guest poster whose author credit I actually bothered to check after reading his post.

Shawn Mallow. His analysis was spot-on.

The only one whose notes stood out from the crowd enough for me to think, "I might like this post" was Baron von Automatic. So he's in first place, the rest of them get a collective "meh".

Don't get cocky Baron, you didn't exactly blow me away. You were acceptable.

Least favourite: Cassy Fiano

I'm sure that Cassy is just crushed by your low assessment of her. My advice to Cassy would be to console herself with the consideration of whose opinion it is.

And where the hell are Clay and Mac Lorry?

Heh. Your funny. I wouldn't survive you're scrutiny.

Haven't heard from Cassy in awhile, actually. Perhaps she's too sad to post anything, what with her exclusion from this marvellous piece of fine art. It would be absolutely crushing to know that somebody picked mAnn Coulter instead of you to model something other than an Adam's apple warmer...

Apart from you, Clay, and Mac Lorry, I also expected Oyster to post something...

1. Baron Von Ottomatic
2. Jennifer
3. Michael Laprarie

BTW, I like Cassie. And Lorie Byrd, the reason I first started reading Wizbangblog; where has she been lately?

I may not comment often, but I read almost every post on a mostly daily basis.