Sam Krehnbrink on the evolution of community blogging:

The problem with the traditional user driven content model is that content submission by users has no regulations. There are no requirements that must be met to become a user, nor are there any incentives or penalties for content submission. This results in a sort of quasi anonymous role for the users. Thus, users are not as motivated to make a conscious effort to submit quality content, instead, content is submitted without much discretion.

The solution to this problem is to limit user membership based on credentials. In addition, create more incentives for quality content submission, and penalties for poor content. This establishes users in a more prominent role and causes them to become more passionate for their contributions to the community.

He then includes Wise Bread in a list of what he calls "Blogging 2.0" sites. Content quality was definitely a consideration for us when we drafted the community blogging model for WB.

I was an avid reader of the old Performancing when Nick Wilson, Chris Garrett and Andy Hagans were the primary contributors. Their posts were extremely useful when I was just getting started on web work. I was intrigued by their new community blogging idea and hoped to find equally satisfying information beyond the front page. Alas, 99% of the posts by bloggers that weren't named Nick, Chris or Andy were total crap.

We were fortunate to learn that lesson before launching WB. By limiting contributions to elite bloggers, we create much more value for readers. That makes for happy readers, which makes everyone else happy.

Setting a high recruiting standard was one of the better decisions we made. It's nice that people notice.