How Does Guinness Figure Out The World's Most Prolific Blogger?

from the does-this-mean-I-have-a-record...-or-a-problem? dept

Thu, Apr 14th 2011 3:15pm — Mike Masnick

If you've ever read the Guinness Book of World Records, at some point, you've got to wonder how they go about verifying some of this stuff. I mean, how do they figure out who has the longest fingernails? I do remember the rather lengthy section of the (absolutely fantastic) book Road Fever, in which the author of the book, Tim Cahill, describes the process he and his driving partner had to go through to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest drive from the southernmost tip of South America to the top of North America. He makes it clear that the Guinness people take these things seriously, though I'd never put much thought into the specifics until recently.

You see, the other day, I saw Karl Bode mention on Twitter that the folks at the Guinness Book of World Records apparently awarded the record for the "most prolific professional blogger," to a guy named Darren Murph who writes for Engadget. The award was apparently given out sometime last fall, though Bode just noticed it. The "record" was for 17,212 blog posts. Bode checked on his own work for BroadbandReports, and realized he had a few hundred more blog posts. I was pretty sure I'd done a bit more than that, so I checked. Turns out that I've written nearly 38,000 blog posts (it'll be there within a week or two). In other words, it appears I've written more than twice the number of blog posts as the supposed world record holder.

My first thought: Neat -- I beat the world record! My second thought: Perhaps I blog too much. And, finally, my third thought: just how do the Guinness folks go about fact checking these sorts of awards, anyway? On the whole, though, I'm somewhat amused. Of course, if they missed me, I've got to assume they missed a bunch of others as well, including (almost certainly) others who are more prolific than I am. So, can we do some crowdsourcing and see if we can help out the good folks at Guinness and figure out who else might be among the most prolific professional bloggers out there? Because, for something I had never even thought about a few days ago... suddenly, I'm curious.

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Filed Under: blogging, records
Companies: guinness

43 Comments

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Dark Helmet (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 2:41pm

Ahem...
Um, is there a category for most comments?

;)
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Apr 2011 @ 3:21pm

Maybe they were only counting professional journalists.
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Another AC, 14 Apr 2011 @ 3:34pm

Sullivan.
Andrew Sullivan has been doing this for nearly a decade, at 20+ (sometimes lately 40-50+) posts a day. Of course, in the past few years he's also had a staff helping him out, but I'd be shocked if he's not edging towards 100K.
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Chosen Reject (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 3:35pm

Re:
Right, they were only going to count professional journalists for the most prolific professional blogger record.

It's OK, my 1 year old daughter can't read either.
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Mike42 (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 3:38pm

Yeah, Mike...
You just want to know if you hold the record.

Egomaniac! :)
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Eric Goldman (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 3:50pm

What is a "Blog"?
To the extent Twitter is a microblog, there are obviously people who have racked up 100k+ posts.
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 3:55pm

Re: Ahem...
Yes, I'm a serious contender.

>;-P
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Mike Masnick (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 3:56pm

Re: What is a "Blog"?
To the extent Twitter is a microblog, there are obviously people who have racked up 100k+ posts.

Pshah! Like the journalists who look down on bloggers, I look down on twitterers as not sufficient! ;) Come on, blogging is *real work*, unlike Tweeting.

(Does that level of condescension sound right?)
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iamtheky (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 4:08pm

if blog posts consisting of: "the odpwrites ", are included in this count, there are some robot sites that may have you beat.
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blaktron (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 4:12pm

Re: Re: What is a "Blog"?
Can novelists look down on journalists with appropriate scorn?
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Qritiqal (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 4:21pm

Re: Re: Ahem...
You sure the record wasn't for the most points in Frogger?
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Mark Gisleson (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 4:31pm

Guinness is full of it on several counts
I've been blogging since 1999, and daily since 2004 but I can't touch Mike's 38,000 posts because my average posts are much longer and work out to about a million words a year. Others are still more longwinded.

Guinness also fails to recognize originality. Yes, you have to be creative to make news items speak to larger issues like Mike does, but what about those who create wholly original posts each day? Doesn't originality count for more than putting a spin on someone else's news story?

How do you rate photobloggers or videobloggers?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Apr 2011 @ 4:50pm

Re: Ahem...
I'm looking for a 'Best Obvious Troll' record myself. I should apply for that.
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Mark Gisleson (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 4:51pm

Re: Guinness is full of it on several counts
Just wanted to make it clear that I'm not a quality blogger either, but an aggregator (i.e., totally sponging my content off the sweat on others' brows).

Mike Masnick is one of the more prolific bloggers I read, but he still can't touch Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly, or Digby at Hullabaloo, or, frankly, any of several dozen very prolific political bloggers I read, and I'm sure there are some mommy bloggers who put these people to shame.

But the real question here is do you value quality or quantity? Who's the better author, Isaac Asimov or Thomas Pynchon? Barbara Cartland or Isabel Allende? Zane Grey or Ernest Hemingway?

Mike does a nice job of putting out a lot of quality product. Would acknowledgement from Guinness make him a better blogger? I don't think so.
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PrometheeFeu (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 5:17pm

Re: Re: Re: What is a "Blog"?
Only if encyclopedia writers can look down upon novelists.
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Matthew, 14 Apr 2011 @ 5:19pm

The huge joy of Techdirt is the amount of new content every day. The difference from a lot of other blogs is that almost every post is worth reading.

Srsly, you should put up a paywall and stop giving all this great content away for free!!!1
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aperson (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 5:38pm

i just opened three techdirt windows, this story, jay walker sues, and record labels pressure spotify...while they were loading my antivirus got a ping. Feebs.gen attempted to execute it's nasty little download.

Not saying you're responsible, but you might want to double check your ad content. Drop me an email if you want the log.
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aperson (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 5:41pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: What is a "Blog"?
encyclopedia writers still exist? somehow i'd just assumed that wikipedia had them all hunted down, executed and eaten.
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Joseph, 14 Apr 2011 @ 6:16pm

How To Get Into The Book
Guinness doesn't go out seeking higher records. If you think you can break the record then you contact them and state your claim. Just go to their Web site and fill out the application.

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/member/how_to_become_a_record_breaker.aspx
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Apr 2011 @ 6:46pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: What is a "Blog"?
I use a laser to etch text into diamond, and I look down on you all!
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ChrisB (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 6:46pm

Re: Yeah, Mike...
How the hell did this comment get a LOL tag?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Apr 2011 @ 6:54pm

Re: Re:
Sounds almost like the no true Scotsman fallacy.
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Cynical Answer, 14 Apr 2011 @ 7:04pm

Maybe they don't want to give any attention to MM because then that would direct more attention to his generally anti-IP blog and the people at Guinness maybe prop IP?? (though, from what I gather, they really don't seem to be litigious. Correct me if I'm wrong).

I imagine that other very prolific blogs tend to be Anti-IP as well being that these bloggers maybe less inclined to think that content should be monopolized, when compared to many other informational sources, since bloggers tend to be in a category of people that simply give away more content than other informational sources.

BTW, can I get a world record for being the worlds greatest cynic.
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Nah, 14 Apr 2011 @ 8:07pm

You have to apply or someone else has to apply on your behalf I believe in order for them to check in on you and then proceed with verification. They don't just look at ANYONE and decide to add to the world record, you generally have to tell them you are aiming for it.

At least from what I understand
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Chris in Utah (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 8:53pm

Guess time to write a letter to Guiness then Mike, I think Nah has it right: awareness is key. Not only on count but possible comments attached as well. The latest 800+ (now going on 1000 if you count the second amendum post yesterday).
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Hephaestus (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 9:53pm

Re: Ahem...
You only beat me by one !!!! I still want a recount. I am certain it has to do with being in different time zones :P
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Hephaestus (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 9:54pm

Re: Re: Re:
Is that the one with the sheep?
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Hephaestus (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 10:04pm

Much like the tallest man ....
The tallest man, the shortest woman, the longest finger nails are all rscords. The problem is until someone points out the guy next door is 2 inches taller, hasn't cut his nails in 50 years, and has a with 24 inches tall wife guinness will not know about it or record it.

So give them a call, ask them to send someone out to verify the 38,000 posts and you to can hold a world record for a short while. You can then brag to your grand kids about it.

That is until they point out they did 40,000 blog post befor they were ten ...
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G Thompson (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 10:15pm

Re: Re: Ahem...
Not to be confused with a few ACs who are serious pretenders

;)
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G Thompson (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 10:21pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What is a "Blog"?
I manipulate the quantum foam within matter to create all possible permutations of writing/blogging/research/creativity... EVER and look up at you all

hmmm.. does that mean I own the copyright of the universe?

woot!
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G Thompson (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 10:32pm

"My first thought: Neat -- I beat the world record! My second thought: Perhaps I blog too much. "

My first thought was your second.

Though I know every one of us LOVES your writings (well some love to hate it) I hope that you do not burn yourself out too much. We are seeing that happen too much lately with well known blogs, PJ at Groklaw, Sebastian et.al at Downloadsquad etc.

Stop and kiss the wife, hug the kids, and enjoy life not worrying about Guinness..

unless your drinking it!

Life that annoying thing between blog posts! ;)
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The eejit (profile), 15 Apr 2011 @ 12:05am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
No, it's the one with ginger sheep's stomachs.
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The eejit (profile), 15 Apr 2011 @ 12:07am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What is a "Blog"?
Not yet, I have a Quantum Psychobiologic Negator! BWAHAHAHA!
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The Groove Tiger (profile), 15 Apr 2011 @ 1:56am

Re: Guinness is full of it on several counts
Prolific pretty much just refers to quantity. It's part of the word definition, I think.

Guinness has never cared about quality. It's always been the biggest, or longest, or fastest, etc. And in general, world records are always, as far as I know, about measurable quantities, while prize awards may be about the subjective quality (decided by biased judges).
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Michael, 15 Apr 2011 @ 5:58am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What is a "Blog"?
Oh yeah? I write names on pieces of rice.

Hey wait...am I a journalist?
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Michael, 15 Apr 2011 @ 6:03am

Mike Masnick
Mike was replaced several years ago by a machine that writes the posts automatically. That is why it seems like he writes around the clock and while he is on vacation.

It is part of the sinister plan of the machines to take over the world. They have killed Mike and replaced him with a robot that continues to try to support free speech, privacy rights, and the US Constitution - and according to the government and the entertainment industry, these are the things destroying our society.

We must all rise up and...ouch! I think my keyboard just shocked me! I better get out o
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Pickle Monger (profile), 15 Apr 2011 @ 7:40am

Honouring Mike Masnick
Mike Masnick for President!
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Pyromaniac, 15 Apr 2011 @ 11:40am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What is a "Blog"?
I manipulate entire multiverses to write my messages by using universes as characters for extra-dimensional beings to read, and I look down on you.
And I write in binary.

Top that, Trolls!
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Apr 2011 @ 12:28pm

The answer to your questions is simple:
Guinness does not care. They are a profit-oriented organization and have realized that doing proper research will not be rewarded in $$$.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Apr 2011 @ 12:32pm

Re: Honouring Mike Masnick
pickles... mmm...
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Apr 2011 @ 7:19pm

BRILLIANT!
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E. O, 15 Apr 2011 @ 10:39pm

the oldest man
do you know of a man who is living in Nigeria and he is 117 years old I you need to get more information let me know
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Stephen, 10 Sep 2012 @ 8:15pm

Ouch my bum...
Well on the Google search queue you were second to Engadget. Never heard of your site until now. Engadget, pretty popular. Also their site a bit more professional and more well managed. Yours looks like a dad's unorganized desk. Engadget just pops more. So don't be so bit on the bum. And accept that your site will coincide second to Engadget when you search "World's Most Prolific Professional Blogger."
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