The Best Of The Best

Everyone does recaps. I couldn't resist. From tense debate on story forms to The Day of the Rope, here are the top 12 Gangrey posts of the year, according to the number of comments they drew. Enjoy.

No. 12. 12 comments. October 5. A story about a frivolous lawsuit sparks some talk about what we should really be writing about.

No. 11. 12 comments. From July 18. A question is raised about low salaries and the impact on newspapers. Kruse bites. Then snake bites. Then Kruse comes back. Then Snake delivers the funniest thing ever to make it on Gangrey and one of the highlights of my year: "we probably can't do much to reverse industry wage trends. but we don't have to chide rookies for noticing them, do we? and if we pick a side in the salary question, it's probably better for the soul to take your collegaues' side, not the corporation side. wages are too low. period. anyone who says differently will be hanging from the nearest light post on the Great Day of the Rope with a sign around their neck that says: I Betrayed My People. I'll be holding the sharpened rake that day, by the way."

No. 10. 13 comments. August 7. We talk about Claire Hoffman's first-person piece on the Girls Gone Wild guy.

No. 9. 14 comments. From June 22. Tom Lake wonders how soft is too soft?

No. 8. 14 comments. From May 18. A strange fellow calls into question some things in a story by the Oregonian's Tom Hallman. We debate some. Then Jack Hart drops by for a minute.

No. 7. 14 comments. From March 18. The post was about Andy Newman's story, $65 Table and a tale to tell around it. We couldn't decide wether it worked. I'm still not sure. (Andy offered a little insight later.)

No. 6. 14 comments. November 21. David Finkel's fantastic piece about a black guy looking for work prompts a chat about how to do it right. Finkel offers us some insight.

No. 5. 15 comments. December 4. Post about the mojos got us talking about the future.

No. 4. 18 comments. From Feb. 13. Who's Hot?

No. 3. 19 comments. From Feb. 17. The post suggesting folks read Kruse's story about Love In Frozen Foods drew a comment from Snake, then a response, then another comment, then lots of comments. Good fun.

No. 2. 24 comments. November 25. Tom Lake's delayed lede launches a conversation on when it's appropriate and a Roy Peter Clark edit.

No. 1. 39 comments. December 1. If you could blow up your newspaper and reshape the beats, what would they be? From covering people who wear sweat suits to people who keep teeth in tiny boxes, we heard it all. And people across the country were talking about this one.