#45255: — 10/24  at  05:21 PM
This sounds suspiciously like a cover for a phylogenetic reconstruction. Clearly it’s a materialistic approach to understanding the evolution of weblogging. “Pharyngula is sort of a virgin birth” - a rootless tree or ID?

#45261: coturnix — 10/24  at  06:18 PM
I am assuming we are supposed to do this on our own blogs. I may do so later. But for now, will you be my blog-Uncle?

#45263: Zeno — 10/24  at  06:29 PM
It was CalPundit (now Political Animal) that first made me think, "Hey, I can do that!" However the thought wasn't exactly father to the act because I dithered like a Bush administration official with negative information to suppress until after an election. Finally, though, I launched Halfway There just this past August. My readership is as microscopic as that of most new blogs and I have yet to work up to a personal posting rate of one per week. (Blogging is a bit like work, but posting on other people's blogs is more like letting off steam.) It's certain I haven't spawned any blog children.

As for Pharyngula, I visit it compulsively multiple times a day because it smites evil and the trolls fear to tread its threads.

#45264: — 10/24  at  06:30 PM
Actually, after months of lurking on your blog I was inspired to start my own - reading Chris Mooney's blog also played a part. Mainly because your explanations of biology are so good and look so effortless.

#45265: — 10/24  at  06:30 PM
Virgin Birth?

Well, we know PZ isn't a liar. And we know he isn't a lunatic...

#45271: — 10/24  at  06:54 PM
I don't blog, but Pharyngula inspired to me to post links to other people's blogs on my tribe.net profile. Pharyngula holds the place of honor at the top.

#45272: Roman Roth — 10/24  at  06:59 PM
Inspired?! I based my bloody title on what you said:

"I think the point being made on this thread is that blogs are just vapid rants written by clueless people for a similarly mindless audience, so I suspect maybe it just tapped into my strengths."

That said, I've neglected it for quite a while now, I should get writin' again.

#45274: coturnix — 10/24  at  07:31 PM
OK, I did it.

#45276: John Wilkins — 10/24  at  07:48 PM
Papa!

#45279: Keith — 10/24  at  08:28 PM
That's alright, Zeno. i've been blogging for 2.5 years and my traffic is still minimal compared to the likes of the big guys (or even the moderate guys like Corrente or Steve Gilliard)

Could be that I write about library issues and books. I figure, there aren't enough Librarian blogs out there, so i'm fillign the niche. Hows that for speciacian?

#45281: Evil Monkey — 10/24  at  08:52 PM
I'll go on record as saying your blog inspired me to start one up. I've had my hands full with family shit lately though, so I hope I've not let daddy down. :p

#45290: Kele — 10/24  at  10:18 PM
Your blog was part of the reason I started blogging but if I had to name only one parent it would be I Am at Evangelical Atheist. I don't know if you can count me then.

#45296: Schwaumlaut — 10/24  at  11:59 PM
Pharyngula got my brother and me to start blogging. We don't blog terribly frequently, having exams and so on, but you're definitely to blame, Dr. Myers.

#45306: — 10/25  at  02:11 AM
I'm right now in the middle of formatting my own website and weblog... aside from the usual general science issues, my specialty is agriculture, particularly genetic engineering. I couldn't put down a date for when it will begin, although it should be within the month... why am I telling you all this, PZ....


Can I be adopted?

#45310: — 10/25  at  04:45 AM
Well, wouldn't Phawrongula be one of your blog-children?

#45312: The Commissar — 10/25  at  05:18 AM
Outstanding. Thanks. I am delighted to balance out the tree.

I had hoped to construct a monophyletic clade, but it is not to be. I have way more than 35 phyla.

#45313: The Commissar — 10/25  at  05:21 AM
It will be easier for me to add info from comments on my blog. I'll try to pick up what's here, or even on blogs linked here.

#45314: — 10/25  at  05:47 AM
As a blogger, I'm reincarnated (a couple of times over). My original incarnation was when the internet was restricted to just a select few at universities and in the military and was not a blogging one in any meaningful sense.

However, my first independent existence (on CiX) included a sort of blog section before there even was such a thing as a blog, 1996-7. I started commenting on the great gaping holes/flaws in news stories which no-one else seemed to have noticed. Then I moved ISP and didn't keep updating that section.

Earlier this year, I was reincarnated again on someone else's site and, having had to sign up to comment, I eventually started a blog again - deliberately choosing the 1st April for the first entry. It's now more of a set of sibling blogs really. Pharyngula is the most obvious parent of that brood. Though overall they are rather mixed parentage spawn. Who said inheritance had to be male+female anyway.

I have no idea whether my pre-blogging blog was much seen or inspired the blogging movement for everyone else at all. However, I doubt my new bloglets have any children (yet), though they definitely do have readers.

#45315: — 10/25  at  05:52 AM
I can't out the soon-to-unveil family blog yet (that has to wait until Friday), though I suspect that I can identify sources for both my wife and myself. For me, it's absolutely Ginger Stampley's Game WISH project (on which she threw in the towel a year or so ago). Although I suspect that I know what my wife's inspirations were for getting the family blog set up and going, she maintains a more anonymous 'net presence than I do, so I'll let her answer this if/when she chooses.

#45316: — 10/25  at  05:59 AM
I took a look on the current list, and LGF is not the only wingnut site mentioned. I wonder if Atrios and his multitueds of spawn will get into the game (I can think of four, maybe five, blogchildren of his on the top of my head).

#45318: The Commissar — 10/25  at  06:38 AM
Re: Leftie genealogy. I seriously would like to list (at least) the major, long-time Leftie influencers. I recall that Kos cited Taegan Goddard as his inspiration. And I think Crooked Timber (noted by PZ) would be another. But if anyone would leave me a comment indicating 3-4 other Leftie 'ur-bloggers,' I'd appreciate it. I guess Atrios, as well.

#45319: The Commissar — 10/25  at  06:39 AM
Kristjan,

Sorry I didnt read your comment. But that's exactly what I'd like. Pls let me know in my comments.

#45321: coturnix — 10/25  at  06:55 AM
Kos has a list of 'blogchildren' as a separate category on his blogroll. I am assuming that the list is much longer than what he has posted there. The problem with DailyKos is that it is so huge there are meny people there who post two Diaries per day - in a sense have their own blog WITHIN DKos, without ever starting their own.

I am assuming that Kevin Drum, Pandagon, Josh Marshall, Jim Wolcott and others have spawned...

#45324: — 10/25  at  07:31 AM
While I understand the fun of the activity, it ultimately sounds like a rather fruitless endeavor. I suspect that few bloggers are inspired by a single blog to begin blogging, so an attempt to reconstruct a blog clade is doomed to incompleteness.

Instead it sounds like an attempt to bolster the egos of some blog authors, particularly the ones who think they are articulating the ‘voice of the people’™.

That being said, I think it is particularly fun for blogs like Pharyngula to join in and point out that blogging is truly a populist activity.

Rather than simply construct the inspirational tree alone, I think it would be useful for a descendant blog to also indicate their average daily hit count. Influence in the blogsphere is not strictly related to the number of spawned blogs. If all the wingnut spawn from The Politburo Diktat are echo chambers getting 100 hits a day, it is reasonable to be somewhat dismissive of their importance.

Finally, I have not yet begun to blog, but I’m planning to. I’m in the process of writing a small bank of articles to post during busy times. When I do being blogging, I will consider Orac and Pharyngula to be my progenitors. They are the two blogs I visit daily, and I respect both of them.

Mind, I’m not going to be blogging about biology or surgery. I’m an automotive engineer, a card-carrying democrat, and a voracious reader. I’ll be sticking mainly to those strengths, although I’m currently working on an article about the economic fallacies of libertarianism (Inspired by the MBA courses in economics I’m taking).

Cheers,

-Flex

#45356: Candice — 10/25  at  10:32 AM
This idea has already been carried out at Blogtree.com, but they seem to have exceeded their bandwidth for the month. Which is sad, because now that I've remembered the site, I'd really like to check out my old profile (probably haven't thought about it in three years!)