This is a bit of a follow up to my last post. I signed up for TotalFark last night. For those of you not in the know, Fark is kind of a class of web log (a.k.a. “blog”) that lists links submitted by visitors which may be of interest to other visitors. Since most Farkers are on the humourous/twisted bend, the links tend to reflect that. Of course, if every single link submitted were posted to the front page, it would scroll forever and, more than likely, fall prey to spammers and total idiots. Thus the links are moderated and filtered by other Farkers before they hit the regular Fark page. But not everyone wants their links filtered.

Enter TotalFark. For about $5.00/month you can get access to every link submitted. You help determine whether the link hits the main page and have access to and the ability to comment on stories before they hit the masses. All this and you support a site that is, really, one of the coolest places on the web.

What always fascinated me on regular Fark was how there always seemed to be several comments per story. I was surprised to see how many people cared about the stuff that got posted. Occasionally you’ll see numbers in the 200+ range, generally for politically charged or boobies links.

On TotalFark, however, there is row of seemingly endless row of empty comments sections. Zeros as far as the eye can see. One may look at it and, aside from the constant stream of link submissions, conclude that it’s not a particularly active site. They would be wrong, of course, as the Fark main page demonstrates. Just another example of the signal to noise ratio, and one particularly creative way of mitigating it.

TotalFark has not been a waste of money so far, but neither has it been the non-stop laugh fest I expected. It’s hard to determine which discussion to jump in on considering that I’d be the first post in most of them. I don’t really want to waste my time on a discussion or PhotoShop contest that no one else will partake in, but nor do I want to waste my status as a TotalFarker by waiting for it to hit the main page. I wonder how the other TotalFarkers handle it. Perhaps I should post a survey link…