Top Ten Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner Stories for 2011

Much of my effort in on-line reporting during 2011 has been devoted to regular contributions of articles to Examiner.com as the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner.

Last week, I decided to investigate the top ten most popular stories of 2011, based upon the preferences of the readers of the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner, using statistics made available through Google Analytics.  No real patterns emerged.  Several of the favorites were about Virginia politics, others were interviews with national celebrities; the number one story was about a movie.  All of them were published during the calendar year 2011 and none were carryovers from 2010.

Surprisingly, two articles that used "porn" in the headline did not break the top ten:  "Library of Congress collects pornographic films, violent video games" (published November 4) and "Porn king Larry Flynt defends free speech in Charlottesville" (published November 6).

Apparently adult content no longer has the cachet on the Internet that it once had. Not so long ago, using words like "porn," "erotica," "panties," or "scrotum" would be a surefire path to search engine optimization (SEO). Paraphrasing a Supreme Court decision and replacing "penumbra" with "aureola" was pure traffic-enhancing gold. But, it seems, no more.

For reasons of space, I ended up publishing three "Year in Review" articles on Examiner.com, dividing the top ten into groups of three, four, and three.

What follows is just the list of the ten most popular Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner articles of 2011. To see the annotations, please visit the original year in review pieces published on December 16, December 17, and December 18.

#10 - NEH chairman Jim Leach talks about ‘civility’ in Charlottesville
[Published March 17, 2011]

#9 - Disappointment as Va. House subcommittee votes to keep pot possession a crime
[Published January 17, 2011]

#8 - Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell says GOP stands for ‘equal opportunity for all’
[Published October 26, 2011]

#7 - Libertarian writers Welch and Gillespie unveil the ‘Declaration of Independents’
[Published July 19, 2011]

#6 - Virginia’s school supplies ‘tax-free holiday’ more complicated than necessary
[Published August 4, 2011]

#5 - Attorneys Ted Olson, David Boies discuss Proposition 8 and gay marriage at Cato
[Published May 18, 2011]

#4 - Charlottesville write-ins reveal voters’ allegiance, impishness
[Published November 9, 2011]

#3 - Libertarian reactions to the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces
[Published May 2, 2011]

#2 - Gary Johnson wins RLC straw poll, places third in CPAC poll
[Published February 13, 2011]


Drum roll, please...

#1 - 'Atlas Shrugged' movie: Audience reactions mixed, box office returns respectable
[Published April 17, 2011]

Next year will bring new topics, new stories, new personalities and -- eventually -- a new year in review article.

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