Top 8 Reasons Why I Don’t Like “Top X Lists” [aside]

One irritatingly common type of blog post out there is “Top X” lists. Here are some posts with 67 item lists:

• “67 Ways to say ‘Thank You’“
• “67 Science-Backed Ways to Lose Weight“
• “67 Ways to Change The World” (c/o Nelson Mandela, no less)

Just enter “{number} ways to” or “top {number}” into Google and you’ll find something. These lists drive me a little nuts…so I wrote one myself.

Between 7 and 9 Reasons Why I Don’t Like “Top X Lists”

1. Entries are often redundant, repetitive, unoriginal, copied, facsimiles, reused, and recycled.
2. Sometimes, entries are practically repeated.
3. There’s a general focus on quantity over quality.
4. Some items included in the list may be totally inappropriate for the subject matter. ((My WP Inline Access plugin—which is explicitly not intended for general use—was recently listed as one of “65+ New Handpicked Goodies for Web Developers & Designers.” These may have been hand-picked but I question if they were eye-read.))
5. Today is a beautiful sunny day in Seattle.
6. Posts usually tend to be utterly unmemorable. ((What does that say about this one?))
7. The order is frequently arbitrary.
8. The content provides no synthesis or new ideas. Some lists contain almost no original content at all, ((Again, see:  “65+ New Handpicked Goodies for Web Developers & Designers.“)) just copying text from the linked sites.