When we published the second installment of the 100 hottest Milwaukeeans list this morning, we expected two things:

1. The list would instantly shoot to the top of the top clicks

2. Rabid Talkbackers would cry foul

And we were right. Just like the last time we did this, the list has become an instant sensation, as thousands of readers have scanned it to see if they're on the list, if someone they know is on the list and if they agree with who we put on the list.

Also just like last time, the haters are complaining about our selection, our motivation and secretly, I'm sure, why they didn't make the cut.

Allow me to explain.

First, this is a multi-part series, and not only could we not use the 100 people we put on the last list, we have to save some for future installments. So, no, we're not done, there's more hotness in metro Milwaukee.

Second, we know you might not know everyone on the list. To compile that would be both disingenuous and impossible. The best we could do is include people who are in the public eye. As we mentioned in the intro, I'm sure your friends are super-duper hot, but we don't know them. Sorry.

Third, we hardly just put our friends on this list. I personally, might know a quarter of these folks, and in fact, we deliberately left off many of our friends to be more fair. We certainly didn't pander to our advertisers; our sales staff didn't see the list until it ran. Some of us even recused ourselves from people we have business or friendly relationships with and let another staff writer nominate them.

Fourth, a few people claimed that this list is simply yellow journalism, fluffy and pandering. Guilty as charged: of the more than 100 articles, blogs and briefs you can read on OnMilwaukee.com this week, this might be the silliest. Hey, we like to have fun sometimes, too.

Is this list newsworthy? Not really, but is the "if it bleeds it leads" homicide story on 10 p.m. news, presented without context, really news? Or how about the long feature about your favorite network affiliate's own primetime fall lineup? We take our jobs here seriously, but we never claimed to be The New York Times, either. Not all of our content is hard-hitting. Some is, but this list is definitely neither live nor late-breaking (though it is local).

Finally, if you are questioning if the individual people we put on this list are hot, well, that's just subjective. Hot means different things to different people, and every hottie on this list was thoroughly debated, with at least 30 names lopped off our first rough draft (you only wish you could have heard that discussion!).

We even asked our readers to contribute via social media, and many of them did. Maybe your definition of hot is just different than ours.

So have some fun with this list, readers. Make suggestions for the next round. And if you're truly appalled by it, we respect your decision to leave OnMilwaukee.com and never come back. Just understand our motives -- to compose a fun story that drives readership, comments and gets people talking. No more, no less.

As always, I thank you sincerely for your readership and your support, and even for the Talkbacks telling us how much we suck. When you stop caring, well, that's when we're in trouble.

And yes, you're hot enough in my book to make our next list. You're a very handsome man/woman, don't think I haven't noticed.