As someone who also gets most of his hits from animenano (and for the most part, I think most of the people who are outside of the “big ten” circle of anime blogging rely on the aggregators for hits), I’d have to say that I agree that they are at once a positive and negative force. Those who refuse to use them are doomed to obscurity (unless by the sheer force of their content and traditional link-trading abilities they manage to build up a large, dedicated reader-base), which means that some otherwise dissenting points may not be heard. However, they do allow readers to easily see any posts that are “dissenting.” In the end, it’s like you say – they’re a great thing for the community, even if they do shut out the people who don’t use them, and indulge our laziness.

Burrowowl, your right that people react in a knee-jerk fashion to new ideas. I agree that type of reaction can be used to get ideas out there in the public arena where they can be discussed. The problem is that with enough ambient information any idea can seem to have merit.

Once discussion of an idea starts up, whether it is slanted as something positive or negative, an opportunity is created to win public opinion. When people have some idea what the subject matter is, they can choose to weigh their options and form opinions.

Knee-jerk negative reactions may dominate a community that is newly-introduced to an idea. This is true in any social group. Once one or more members of that social group steps back from the initial “it’s different, I don’t trust it” attitude, if the new idea has merit, it may well take root.

Some different ideas, however, simply suck. Not all opinions are created equal.