I started reading blogs using a software called SharpReader. It wasn't that bad a reader but after a while it just didn't seem sufficient anymore (I honestly don't remember the exact reasons why I stopped using it)
In the end I just remember thinking the creator of it either wasn't or couldn't be dedicated to keeping it up so I began searching for a new Blog reader that was a little more feature rich and was in active development.
That led me to RSSBandit. This post isn't about RSS Bandit so I won't go into it except to say that I was impressed enough to start using it and because of that Dare Obasanjo's blog was added to my reading list.
I've since moved to Google Reader for my blog reading but Dare is still one of the first blogs I look for when checking my feeds. There are two reasons for that, one of which is easy to describe and the other not so much.
The easy one is just that he's insightful and very good at sharing those insights with his readers. There are a lot, A LOT of people on the blogosphere who are talking out of their posterior end when they talk about technology but Dare isn't one of those. He's built actual technology, he's put effort into knowing that technology as well as knowing the business needs that necessitated it in the first place and he speaks about it from that perspective. I honestly think he's the most authoritative voice out there on many of the topics he speaks on.
Read his posts on either JSON vs XML or Building RESTful Web services (two of my personal favorites) and you'll see what I mean.
As far as the second reason I like Dare, its hard to find words to say it. But basically it boils down to him not letting go and being willing to carry the conversation on to a logical conclusion.
What I mean by that is that the blogosphere runs on a flawed philosophy of: I say something, you disagree so you say something and then we both forget about it. No serious debate has ever taken place in one isolated exchange. Dare's a guy who will keep the discussion going either by posting several entries or by taking to the other bloggers comments and continuing the conversation there. That's a trait I really appreciate in a blogger. It shows someone who is concerned with getting to the truth and not someone who just types to hear himself talk.
Anyway, for those reasons and many others that I'm forgetting I put Dare Obasanjo at #3 of my Blogroll list.