What makes lolcats appealing is that it’s simultaneously obscure and accessible. It’s an inside joke told in an online lingua franca, but with a bit of effort anyone can become an insider.

“An in-joke used to be constrained by geography and who you knew socially,” says Anil Dash, occasional lolcat critic and vice president of Six Apart, which creates several popular blog-software programs. “This is a very large in-joke” that blurs the old distinction “between Net geeks and the normals,” he says.

I’ve seen some bloggers put up media quotes on their sites as examples of their credibility and expertise. I’ve already got the ridiculous photo of myself at the microphone up there, but thanks to my most recent appearance in the Wall Street Journal, I am sorely tempted to put “occasional lolcat critic” on my sidebar. Whatcha think?