Who are your interesting people?
The internet has done wonders for opinions, since everyone (including fools like me), can write and publish. Not every piece is going to be scientifically sound or as rigourously peer reviewed as academia, but it is unparalleled as a source of inspiration.
Since everything is public, this means that the numbers of people echoing back is vast and, on average, good people rise to the top. I don’t call this echo process peer review, because you don’t know the bonefides of your repeaters, but its a good bet that if everyone is talking about someone in connection with a topic, it might be worth listening to them, just to see if you agree.
And with everything public, this means there is no excuse not to know who is making interesting contributions and saying useful things, and cultivating your own “I listen when they speak” people list.
Ultimately the value of any such list is purely in the eye of the watcher, but for those interested, when I see an article is posted by my top 3 (Tim Bray, Michael Lopp aka rands or Seth Godin) I sit up and pay attention.