Doc’s push-backs and posts like this one by Brandon seem to want to ignore the very real responsibility and power of the “A-List” within their group.

There is a problem with the terminology swirling around this issue. The term “gatekeeper” has a negative connotation that doesn’t fit the way Doc seems to work, and he rightly chafes. But the point of many posts in this argument is about the power wielded by those who have become A-Listers, inaccurately labelled as gatekeeping. This power does exist and it does matter. Doc may not have sought power, and he may have been a victim of traditional gatekeeping… that doesn’t change things. A lot of the power may come from the way Google and search engines work (subverting the subversion of hyperlinks, or something like that), but that doesn’t change things either. The issue here is that many in this debate use the term “Gatekeeper” when what they mean is “powerful connector” or something of that ilk.

For Doc or anyone else with their influence to claim they aren’t powerful connectors because they don’t seek to be such is like a famous actor or musician claiming they have no political power because they are in the entertainment business. It’s a bit mystifying.Their circle of influence may not be broad, but it is deep… and it is very real to those in that circle.

Google and Technorati and other tools might be the mechanisms of this power, but the race-car is the mechanism of the driver’s power and we still hold the driver responsible. Power connectors, however they got there, and even if they used to drive Yugos, are now driving Ferraris. I suspect many of the posts in this debate come from connectors with far less power who simply want the drivers of the Ferraris to recognize that and not pretend their Escalades are just like our Isuzu Troopers because they have the same general shape.

Maybe this wish comes from a desire to salve egos, maybe people just think this will lead to more recognition. I don’t know. The fact of the matter is, when Doc or some other A-Lister links to you, they have used their power to expose you to their vaster audience. That’s just the way it works. It isn’t gatekeeping, per se, but it is power… and that seems to me what people want recognized.

The dynamic of this argument, ultimately, seems to be people wanting high-traffic bloggers to recognize the influential power they have and the amount to which they tend to link inside their circle and that other worthy people don’t get that link love. The idea of gatekeeping is just a misnomer.

It’s also in one way largely irrelevant– as I pointed out, we all have our own A-List, so there is no traditional gatekeeping, and as Doc points out, the left-hand side of the long-tail distribution is probably not really relevant anyway.

[ ]