LiNKED — Summer 2008 - (Page 8)

8 | BLOGGING you’re looking for a few controversial tidbits for your trip to the proverbial water cooler. “If it were all lists or all quizzes or all links to other fun things on the web, our site would get monotonous.” Monotony is deﬁnitely not the adjective to describe Mental Floss. Better words might be quirky, irreverent, ironic, intriguing, humorous. English says Mental Floss receives lots of story pitches. “The ones we run have one thing in common—they leave us eager to learn more about that topic, whether that topic is Chester A. Arthur or heavy metal in the Muslim world.” Mental Floss’ stable of bloggers includes some writers who originally started at the magazine and now contribute to both. Others were begged to write for the blog, and a few tracked down Mental Floss’ e-mail addresses LINKED SUMMER 2008 “IF IT WERE ALL LISTS OR ALL QUIZZES OR ALL LINKS TO OTHER FUN THINGS ON THE WEB, OUR SITE WOULD GET MONOTONOUS” and pitched irresistible story ideas, such as would you like to read a complete history of the Bud Bowl? (You now can at www. mentalﬂoss.com/blogs/ archives/11593). English says that regular (daily or weekly) contributors create their own assignments— whatever inspires them that they want to learn more about—historical ﬁgures who married their cousins, musicians who sued for plagiarism, or why New Jersey drivers can’t pump their own gas. With freelancers and interns, Mental Floss has a more structured environment for topics— brainstorming ideas often inspired by upcoming events. Last June, those events ranged from Father’s Day and the Kentucky Derby to Jenna Bush’s wedding. Mental Floss doesn’t yet have a blogging handbook, though English says it’s on the to-do list. “If we did, there would be a section about not being too political, and a chapter on keeping it clean,” he explains. “A sidebar would include a chart showing all the people reading the blog at work.” English says daily bloggers do their own posting because they can be trusted “not to post naked pictures or turn all the text on the site bold.” Freelancers and interns work with English and Mangesh Harttikudur, co-founder of mental_ﬂoss, who edit and post their entries. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/11593

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LiNKED — Summer 2008

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