The Official Bleacher Report Statistic for Measuring An Article's Effectiveness

This is an article for anyone who has ever wanted to measure the effectiveness of one of their articles on Bleacher Report—anyone who wanted a way to know which of their articles were their most successful and which were their least successful. For anyone who absolutely loves writing on Bleacher Report and wants to find a way to compare their writing statistics to other writers around the league.

As I state in my profile, I am an avid fan of Bill James, the baseball historian for the Boston Red Sox. Bill James specializes in sabermetrics, which are basically extremely in-depth statistics that measure the effectiveness of a baseball team or baseball player.

This is my first attempt at creating a statistic. I think I have a statistic that will ultimately help to determine the overall effectiveness of an article on Bleacher Report.

This statistic has been tested and I find that it helps to rank my articles on productivity.

I encourage you to use this statistic to rank your articles as well. I want to know where each of you rank in your writing. I want to see who averages the highest score per article. I want to see who has the most successful article in the history of Bleacher Report.

Now, time for the statistic:

• Assign one point per 10 article reads. Add seven extra points per 100 reads. Add an extra 25 points for every 500 reads.

• Assign one-and-a-half points per comment received. Add two points for every fifth comment above 20 total comments. Add an extra 20 points for every 50th comment.

• Add 10 points per Pick of the Day vote. After the first five Pick of the Day votes, each additional POTD is worth 15 points.

• (The following may be difficult to measure for old articles. It also may not apply to some articles, in which case ignore) Add 12 points if the article is the top article for that specific team or 20 points if the article is the top article within the division; if an article is top for a team and top for the same division, only add the 20 points.

• Add 50 more points if the article is the top article for that particular sport/category (NFL, F1, Fantasy, etc.), even if the article was also top in its division.

• If the article is one of the top five rotating articles on the front page of Bleacher Report, add 100 points.

• If the article receives the Bleacher Report Official Pick of the Day, add 300 points.

Here is an example, using my recent, and most successful, article (Top 10 Absolute Worst Types of Sports Fans).

• 596 total reads. One point per 10 article reads = 59.6 points. Seven extra points per 100 reads (7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7) = 35 points. 25 extra points for 500 reads. 59.6 + 35 + 25 = 119.6 points.

• 122 comments received. 1.5 points per comment received = 183 points. Two more points per fifth comment above 20, so 102 comments above 20. 102/5 = 20.4, rounded down to 20. 20 x 2 extra points = 40 points. 20 points per 50^th comment, so 122 total comments = 40 extra points. 183 + 40 + 40 = 263 points.

• 12 Pick of the Day votes. First five = 50 points. Next seven (x 15) = 105 points. 50 + 105 = 155 points.

• Zero points for specific team or division. 50 points for top NFL article. 50 points.

• One of top five rotating articles on front page. 100 points.

• Not official POTD. 0 points.

Overall: 119.6 + 183 + 263 + 155 + 50 + 100 + 0 = 870.6 points

This statistic is probably not completely accurate, but I have tested and perfected it for a long time. It provides an accurate point system, without being too biased towards any particular method of scoring points.

Let me know if you find this statistic to be effective or ineffective, and if you need help figuring out your total points for an article, post your stats below and I will try to help you out.