As far as I can tell, a Freshly Pressed post has one or more of the following:
- current events
- arguments
- unique takes on celebrity
- stunning photographs
- food recipes
- political satire
- social commentary
- religious relevance
- highly stylized writing
- extensive research
- reference to classical literature
But mostly they’re a startling mix of past and present, some future thinking, myriad writing styles, pertinent thoughts, and an introduction to ideas that are quite possibly new and/or eccentric. I used to go out and read every single post on the Freshly Pressed main page to start my day, in a search to make some sense of what could only be described as chaos. Perhaps this mix can be attributed to the cadre of editors involved in picking out posts for FP. Or maybe they simply skim each post and pick randomly from those that happened to contain good quotable material.
I want to believe in Freshly Pressed like I believe in Christmas, that the interesting will always outweigh the uninteresting, that the cream will rise to the top and I will never be disappointed in any posts that show up there. But I would be kidding myself if I though that were the case. You see, the individuals who pick the posts that end up there are still individuals, with their own view of the world that might not square with mine all the time. Which is fine. It just means that, like in a mine field, I have to tread lightly when visiting FP.
And I also wonder at those who still check it religiously, trolling for what they think will fill their souls, or just to add numbers onto each post, “voting” for everyone down the line without even looking past the images that grace the intros of each blog post. Don’t even get me started on the comments, those words typed in languorously by people who live to argue, or who exist as mere yes men, or who are only interested in hyping up their own blogs, leeching off the perceived success of others.
Then there are those who try to emulate the Freshly Pressed blog entry, thinking that the formula for inclusion in that grand, select company is all in sussing out and imitating patterns they find. These copycats tend to post entries on their own blogs with a mix of the above topics, with each one more vague and overreaching than the next. Then they bitch and moan on their own blogs a few days later that they have not joined the ranks of the CHOSEN ONES, despite the fact that they catered to the masses with their spectacular missives.
It’s kind of funny to type in the tag “Freshly Pressed” and see what shows up, though, because for every person who is legitimately identified as “worthy” there are about 50 others who are hating on them. Because there is no real formula for getting Freshly Pressed, just a general understanding that every single post on that page was interesting to at least one person long enough to get published. From there it’s up to you to validate it.
You know, or to hate on it.
Sam
Sam's Online Journal 