Can someone explain this?

Why is there such an idiotic obsession with being "first" in a comment field on any blog?

First! Yay!

First! Whoo hooo!

I'm talking news or "waste the day filler" blogs and such -- not necessarily food blogs where honestly, I've never seen this problem crop up. Who gives a flying donut about First Comments? Is life so meaningless for these people that typing "FIRST! WooT!" on a post asking whether we are shocked that Clay Aiken is homosexual, is cause for celebration? Invariably these people say nothing else. Have they nothing to contribute to society?

I read a "blog rule" on another site which made me nod in approval:

"On many sites, such as [omitted], it is a tradition for the first commenter on a new thread to post a message of 'First' or similar. That tradition is not followed on [omitted]. Posting a 'First' message here is likely to get your comment hidden (see Rating Comments below) and/or yelled at."

Good! By the way, the humor of anyone typing "FIRST" on this post wouldn't escape me, so I beat you to it. Stay tuned ... tonight is Cream of Mushroom Soup for the Barefoot Bloggers Group!