However, the key issue here is "ecosystem."
Scoop is a good thing, but ecosystem keys into how both technorati and google and other search engines work. People find scoop sites because of the ecosystem. They stay because of the quality. But you need the ecosystem.
Also, lots of good bloggers are (for better and for worse, I suppose) stubbornly individualist and self-promoting. Out in US lefty-land I read stuff by people like Juan Cole, billmon, digby. Sometime I only read it because it's been linked by someone on ET or dKos, but the fact is, the "individualists" produce a lot of the good content that keeps discussion on the big US scoop sites going.
That's part of what is missing. Not just blogrolling, but the sort of regular reading and referencing each other. And no, I'm not sure how we "make" it happen, but it's worth thinking about.
[Now I think about it, perhaps "specialists" is better word than "individualists".]
I agree wholeheartedly. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
I'm personally interested in all kinds of blogs (also Billmon, Eschaton and Juan Cole, though politically I'm closer to Talking Points Memo in US terms).
But I do miss a sensible center-right blog in this picture. EURSOC is as sensible as they get, but still too far right and eurosceptic for my taste. The electoral plurality in the EU Parliament is the pro-European center-right, not raving libertarians or nationalists. They should get blogs.
I also think that the overall number of blogs is way too small for the European Blogosphere to be taken serious as a new or even emerging force in politics. The European Tribune has the largest potential for political organizing and is the most lively blog, so in that sense it's unbeaten. But it's still worthwile to read more, a couple of these other blogs are very intelligent and also generally left.
Nanne, if you read Spanish I suggest you take a look at "Libertad Digital". This is what the self-described "pro-European centre-right" looks like in Spain. I think you may be thinking of the CDU which seems not to be half as rabid as Spain's PP. Nothing is 'mere'. — Richard P. Feynman
The Dutch counterpart of the CDU is the CDA, from which Balkenende himself comes. They are as center-right as you can be while being on the right wing in the Netherlands (the balance having shifted somewhat).
The French UMP is also fairly center-right, I think. Here too it is the person (Sarkozy) who on the right wing of the party, from which you also have de Villepin.
In terms of orders of magnitude we have about one registered user (not regular commenter) per million English speakers. We have a lot to grow. Nothing is 'mere'. — Richard P. Feynman
