The Whelk (User #80649) is a cartoonist and has a personal site as well as a blog with more regular updates. Recent fun bloggy additions include 26 scarlet letters and the all-too-identifiable 11 outfits of the urban freelancer. In real life, besides being a real working cartoonist/illustrator, he is the co-host for Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School
glider (User #20964) has a small set of websites including his personal site zentastic. However, he has many other sites that are fun for a quick or a long look. For example, he is building a submarine. He's created a webzine for people who are living with and through chronic pain. He maintains a site for things that looks like ducks. And there is the tantalizing BodModSex claimed to be "coming soon."
User #63968 has a fun well-curated blog pointing to fun stuff on the web. Not totally different from other blogs but it seemed to point directly to my sensibilities and I enjoyed every post I read on the main page, except maybe the one about leotards.
Knappster (User #77551) maintains a blog called The Genealogue which makes the usually staid topic of genealogy fun in a bloggy sort of way. Subtitled "Genealogy news you can't possibly use!" it's a fun read. The first page includes posts on topics like "the first possible use of the emoticon?" and someone cleaning out their mom's basement and finding a civil war discharge signed by Abraham Lincoln. You might also enjoy the collection of Top Ten Lists including Top Ten Banned Family History Books. Chris's Blogger profile lists his profession as "Unprofessional Genealogist" so you may want to take his Exclusives with a grain of salt.
emjaybee (User #18778) has a hopscotch of websites past and present. Her profile links to Grabapple with six years of posts and another few years of blogging before that. Then it takes a turn and becomes, briefly Grabapple on Wordpress with a few more posts and another redirect. Finally we touchdown at SmallTrueThings, longer posts same strong reflective voice and hey a Flickr sidebar. A nice meander through the personal blog of a longtime MeFite.
the_epicurean (User #35809) does a blog about cricket. I don't know a darned thing about cricket except vaguely how to play it but you don't need to know much about cricket to enjoy the six word reviews, for example or FAILCRICKET.
Vaike (User #63027) is also known as Alex in Welderland who, with other artists, makes custom pet urns and a lot of other nifty looking metal stuff.
moxiedoll (User #64952) watches movies, actually she specifically watches "documentaries about ambitious outsiders" When I first saw her blog, the top few reviewes were all about religion (1, 2, 3) making me wonder whether that was her theme (before I'd read the about page) but no, she also goes on to talk about Prince, Roman Polanski and this Herzog film I've been wanting to see.
Jeanne (User #1941) on MeFi is also Emily Horner, Brooklyn librarian, in real life. Her website, Swarm of Beasts is a straightforward YA book review site. She reads a lot, and she's frank. She states "The only thing I have is my own ornery and honest reactions." which is a decent explanation for the last sentence to her One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest review (also appearing on Goodreads which ends "It's hard to like a book that expects me to seriously believe that the world is ruled by an evil matriarchy. At that point it's hard for me to have any response other than 'Aaaaaaaargh.'"
AllenSalkin (User #60254) has been a MeFite since 2007 and made his first comment today! His eponymous website has a cute photo of him, his mom's blog, some Salkin geneaology and links to all the stuff he's written for the New York Times.
doubtfulpalace (User #82680) came to my attention via this great song in the music challenge. Apparently Tim has a holiday music web site up year round with holiday songs going back to 1993 as well as a roundup of other talented artists.
cjorgensen (user #59453) follows in the same great tradition as Lazlo Toth, satirically typing and mailing actual letters in an enthusiastic, friendly persona. Who do these letters go to? Corporations, cultural icons, pills, the Care Bears... and many more. The site is intended to explore the ensuing correspondences, but it seems he gets way fewer replies than Lazlo Toth ever did. Still, cjorgensen's initial volleys are pretty funny.
So I decided I'd aim for the low MeFi user numbers. The lowest numbered user I could find who also has an associated webpage is jjg (user #16). And this is where he keeps his hidden agenda. It is a site that really works, fulfilling his strategic objectives while meeting the needs of his users. (OK, I just lifted that off the page that hawks his excellently-reviewed book, The Elements of User Experience.) But really, the "Hidden Agenda" isn't hidden too well; I found it, and it's full of useful aphorisms.
