While some sites like to stay away from controversy, we're all for a healthy debate. That's one thing that comes to mind with this well-crafted lens, Baseball and Steroids by lensmaster StephenC.

As lensmaster jeffwend puts it, "I may not agree with everything he says, but he lays out his thoughts and opinion well. He makes a point and backs it up. Good content on a controversial subject."

Your topic or stance doesn't necessarily have to be well-liked to be popular. As long as you host the debate clearly and fairly, you can benefit by taking a leadership role at the center of a hot conversation.

And a reminder to all lensmasters: It's up to you to moderate your Guestbooks and Duels and other participation modules. You can always set your module to let you approve comments first, so that spam or nastiness doesn't make it on to your page. Here are a few good tips for running your own Guestbook show!

There it is again!

What is this TwttrList thing?

It's a new Squidoo-powered Twitter utility for lensmasters and tweeters. It's a fun and quick way to organize a "best of" or top 10 list of your favorite tweets on a certain topic. Think of it as editing, archiving (and dare I whisper, monetizing?) Twitter.

But the best way to learn is to clap your eyeballs on a few great, pure, simple examples.

I like "The Best of #tangothursdays on Twitter" because this person is adding a human, curated and useful layer to the mess than can be hashtags on Twitter. Hashtags are a terrific way to track what's happening now on Twitter. But what happened before? How about a way to find and highlight the best of a certain topic? That's all TwttrList, baby. Bonus: This lens is also a good way to make #tangothursdays searchable and findable in search engines.

Here's another short and sweet example of how to use a TwttrList. DanceAdvantage is just organizing the best testimonial tweets from her followers. Not a bad idea for anyone promoting something on Twitter. Not bad at all.

A few more fun examples:

Best Of Lensmaster Shout-Outs
Best of Guy Kawasaki on Twitter
Twitter Tips by Top Twitterers
The Best Tweets Are From Space!
Funniest Star Trek Movie Tweets, Immortalized
Best Composers on Twitter

P.S. And just because sometimes it's fun to run a carnival, we're going to give away a Kindle for every 1,000dth TwittrList created. Up to the first 5,000 TwttrLists. Simple as that. Go ahead and be the early bird. More info here.

Or to be an American Idol.

Kris Allen, newly crowned popsinger superstar, should know! For those of you who just can't get enough, here are a few lenses packed with photos and videos guaranteed to keep the party going.

Susan52, who is absolutely positively a joy to have around here making lenses on Squidoo, once again successfully merges timeliness with thoroughness in these new lenses on your new American Idol.

Check out:

http://www.squidoo.com/kris-allen-music
http://www.squidoo.com/kris-allen

Rock on.

But today I want to call your attention to his lens My Favourite CSS Tricks on Squidoo.

It's a grab bag of fun (and tasteful) visual goodies for advanced lensmasters to try out on their lenses. More important, though, is his advice on how to add some style and personality to your lens without sliming it with cheap chintz, zazzle and flash that is better left to the Las Vegas strip.

I couldn't say it any better. "Start Simple, Keep it Subtle, Be Sympathetic."

He goes on: "Many lensmasters, when they discover that they can change the fonts, colors and backgrounds of their lenses, tend to get carried away. As a result, some lenses become a riot of colour, with several different styles competing on the same lens. This is often off-putting to the visitors, and will probably have a detrimental effect on sales. It is far better to work with the common format and style of Squidoo, and only use CSS to tweak it to your advantage."

Thanks, Fluff!

www.squidoo.com/css-tricks

But admit it: learning about the White House dog is kind of irresistible. Especially when he's this cute. He's innocent and nonpartisan and busy chewing someone else's shoes.

Prolific lensmaster ThePartyAnimal has put together another multimedia extravaganza of photos, videos, polls, books, sites -- all about the furry little Portuguese Water Dog who is busy capturing the hearts of the American public.

Two takeaways:

1. Don't be shy to pick and choose and gather, as long as you properly attribute and credit and annotate. Weave together a story on your topic, using the best of your topic.

2. This one's more tactical. Notice how ThePartyAnimal punctuates her lens with recommended lenses for reading -- giving the reader a lot of interesting side roads should he want to dig in more. Done right, it's a good way to take one visitor to one of your lenses, and send him on a journey through many more.

http://www.squidoo.com/barack-obamas-dog