I was a writer long before I was a blogger. Now that I do blog, I find I spend a fair amount of time polishing my posts before I hit “publish” (and sometimes after). And I also admire other bloggers who craft well-written posts, even when I don’t agree with the blogger’s position on an issue.

So, unsurprisingly, I think Mr. Snitch’s “Best Posts of 2005” concept — a compilation of posts that are compelling and well-written enough to transcend their default “thought of the day” status — is brilliant, and serves an as-yet-unmet market need:

Millions of bloggers, thousands of good posts, all statements that could describe the fabric of a year. But there’s no way to access them, because traffic alone won’t point the way. The 25 most-trafficked blogs (assuming for a moment that traffic is the standard of excellence) produced only 4 of the most-trafficked posts. (Figures from BlogPulse.) This crudely demonstrates our basic contention that compelling posts are not necessarily the product of ‘popular’ blogs.

Beyond that, quality posts don’t necessarily set off traffic alarms. They fly right under the radar, through no fault of their own. For all the self-publishing software tools we enjoy, the primary work of a publisher is not (and never has been) to get books printed. The job of a publisher is to discover, expose, elevate and promote worthwhile work. In that regard, the blogosphere is almost completely barren. Glenn Reynolds and Lucianne.com do the job day to day, but such trusted editors are in short supply. And they don’t produce a yearend archive, a wrapup – a time capsule.

Here are the posts. And here is information on how other bloggers can get involved.