With almost 200 published essays about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Middle-earth, it's nearly impossible to determine which one is the most popular, but some essays are mentioned more often than others.
The essay which was copied onto most sites without permission is unquestionably "Legolas, You're just so darn...CUTE!" However, most if not all of the infringing sites have now vanished.
But the essay which receives the most mentions seems to be "Celeborn Unplugged". Apparently, people have much more divided opinions about Celeborn.
Another popular essay is "He Shall Be Like A Tree Planted By Rivers of Water".
Another possible contender is "Look What They've Done To Middle-earth, Ma", Michael's review of the special Internet Preview of the Lord of the Rings movies that was released in April 2000. The article, the first review to be published, was quoted in newspapers around the world.
Numerous debates which draw upon citations from Tolkien's works also refer to Michael's essays on canon, "Is Your Canon On The Loose?" and "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Canon".
And, of course, "Do Balrogs Have Wings? Do Balrogs Fly?" deserved an honorable mention. It is often referred to obliquely.
In Michael's technical writing, humor seems to have competed heavily with advanced expertise. In October 2007 Michael published 20 Hard Core SEO Tips which were designed to both challenge conventional SEO wisdom and help SEO technicians improve their skills and resources. It quickly became one of the top ten most popular listings on Sphinn, the SEO community's social media site.
However, the all-time most popular article published on the SEO Theory blog was this SEO Jokes piece, which poked gentle fun at members of the SEO and search engineering communities. Sequels to both articles published a year later received much attention and praise but did not upstage their predecessors.
