If it weren't for cliches and other forms of homespun bullshittery I don't think I'd even be able to talk.

What constitutes the A-List? Are these the blogs with the most traffic? Cliques?

Kat - if you google 'a-list' you'll most likely find a ton of references... I'd say it's partly traffic and most definitely cliques.
you know, just like high school, only electronic :-)

the thing about cliques is that you don't voluntarily join them because there are so many - people say that i'm an A-lister and i HATE that. i'm zoe, author of 'my boyfriend is a twat'. there are some so-called A-list blogs that i enjoy, but i don't read them to become one myself.

an A-lister is someone who is popular. fullstop/period.

Zoe -

If there's an A-List in Europe it's less mentioned (unless I have missed the discussions) than the A-List here in the U.S. (who have a tendency to blog as if the Web was U.S. only. )

I know you and you don't conduct yourself that way; it's true an A-Lister is popular, but in this neck of the woods, it also involves A-Lister clique linking. If you acted that way you wouldn't have me on your blogroll. See the difference? Here it's the A-Listers and then there's everyone else. As I wrote in my comment to Kat, it's just like high school.

I'm quite happy to be on the Z-list. What seems to differentiate the A-list folks is that there is hardly an original thought amongst them. Just a collection of links with 'I like this' or 'this is funny'.

I also have fallen into disfavor with anything beginning with 'blog'. I was writing online for 20 years before I heard the term used. Say it out loud. Isn't that the sound you make when you're puking up a bottle of Southern Comfort? Blllooooooghhhhh! Consequently, I have to laugh everytime I hear 'blogosphere'. No, offisher, I'm not drunkenut... my blogosphere ish woggly.... oooopsh... Blllooooooghhhh!

Mike - you're not the dinosaur 'round these parts who's been writing in this space a long time. :-) I have a post I wrote back in '03 where I ask what the hell is a blog and what makes it different from what I've been doing all along. Eventually I figured it out -- the only difference was the software, not the content.

BTW, that line about puking up Southern Comfort was just... just... well it was really, really funny.