I really like the name "Concensus Web Filter" to describe tools that use a community and/or algorithms that help uncover the best (or most popular) of the web. They are super-zeitgeists. One site that I use occasionally when trying to discover new stuff and new bloggers, related to my interests, is findory. Unlike memeorandum, Findory doesn't determine what's the hottest stuff right now. Instead, it tells me what I'd like based on what I've looked at - and what other people have looked at - that is similar. It creates recommendations unique for me based on the community's reading history. Since it isn't a popularity contest, it isn't as susceptible to "herd-thinking" or "spam".

Greg Linden, founder of Findory, recently published a rant about how these link popularity sites need to be designed to avoid spam issues. He took special note of memeorandum. What he didn't go so far as saying - is that maybe the whole genre of "Concensus Web Filters" are not really capable of uncovering original constructive thinking and dialog, like Scoble recently realized.

There's an interesting make-nice conversation between Gabe Rivera, founder of memeorandum and Greg in the comments of his rant. In favor of making nice, they stayed out of the ring. But, I'd ponder to say that Greg thinks that Findory's approach is the better long term solution for uncovering worthwhile information in micro-chunked micro-content land. I'd agree. Memeorandum's approach has, of course, been more popular. They've had viral growth and continue to highlight the most popular controversial conversations - that people seem to be the most attracted to.

The question is: Do you want to use blogs to discover, learn and have interesting conversations. Or do you want to get involved in what's HOTT and NOW?

If you're the latter, memeorandum is for you. If you are the former, findory is for you. Or maybe you want both.