Post details: It's AWARDS time in the Blogsphere! (Yuck.)
11/28/06
It's AWARDS time in the Blogsphere! (Yuck.)
ROLL OUT THE RED CARPET! STRIKE UP THE BAND! GET JOAN RIVERS OUT OF HER COSMETIC SURGEON'S OFFICE!
...and for what?
Currently, and as an admitted "noob" in the blogsphere, I'm only aware of three "blog" awards...
The Weblog Awards
The Canadian Blog Awards
The Spicy Cauldron Awards
...of which, only The Spicy Cauldron Awards really means anything to me personally as it's based on the judgement of one person and how they felt a single post was in terms of merit. Not a "popularity" contest, but a simple award based on how well you reached one reader.
The others... they seem to be the usual "popularity contests".
I know, sounds like sour grapes... but it isn't and let me explain...
Many years ago when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and people still used Microsoft Windows 3.11 in quantity... when Yahoo! was the most popular search engine... when Netscape was the browser for any serious net-junky and for e-mail, we used Eudora (I still do...) or Pegasus... there were "web page" awards... and the only one that most people gave a hoot about was the "Top 5%" award from upstart search engine, Lycos.
Not long after, everyone and their brother along with any pets in the house HAD to have a web award they gave their friends or anyone they wanted a cheap link to...
"Best of the Web", "Coolest Internet Site", "Rockin' Canuck Webpage", "Where's the Nude Women Award", and the list went on and on and on...
To be honest, it got silly... to the point where on my Torontoghosts website, the "awards" page took longer to load than ANY OTHER PAGE... so I abandoned it... I openly said, SEND/GIVE ME NO MORE AWARDS PLEASE!!!
It wasn't that the site was "that good" in my estimation... it was that everyone HAD an award and felt the need to try to get anyone with reasonable traffic to jam it on their website... cheap way to get a link and it made the "award-person/group" happy I 'spose... being cynical, I lean to the former reason first.
By about 2002, luckily, the "award craze" seemed to die and everyone who built websites realised that the ONLY awards that mattered were The Webbies... still are...
Well, it's 2006 and The Blogsphere is alive... and with the usual back-biting, "Vote For My Site", "You suck because...", hard-feelings, and other nonsense that only a silly graphic and cheap link based on popularity can bring...
...and... well... yuck.
It's very much like taking the worst aspects of "The People's Choice Awards" combined with American Idol/Survivor/Big Brother and getting folks to buy into it with all their heart and soul.
Question: How many of the "winning bloggers" will still be posting their hard-earned awards three years from now?
Answer: Probably the same amount of Geocities Websites that still posted their "Best of The Web as Decided By My Pet Cat" awards just before Yahoo! took over Geocities.
Look, I'm pleased that The Paranormal Blog was nominated for both a Spicy and a Weblog Award... the former, as stated, based on Andy's opinion only... and the latter at least purchasing it's own domain for the awards... but to tell the truth, it ain't THAT important to me personally... as I see where it will end up anyway... Been there, done that...
What prompted this post? Well...
Click here... seeing this brought back BAD memories of the latter part of the 1990's...
"Wah! My webpage and whatnot didn't win an award and LOOK AT THE DRECK THAT DID!"
...with the usual insults, stupidity, and genuine nastiness that this entails.
OH, please don't comment here on the blogger I've cited's politics, religious or philosophical views...my own views on those subjects are unimportant in my opinion (not to mention personal) and I'd appreciate any comments about those views and politics kept on blogs that are more for that content... but the "whining" about not-winning and the putting-down of another blog to "illustrate" the unfairedness* of it all is fair game.
* - Word coined by Kyle Upton while doing the commentary at a recent War of 1812 re-enactment at Fort Erie.
Anyway folks, my point... Don't get TOO bent out of shape about online awards... especially "blogging awards"... because, like all cyclical things within the dreaded internet, I'm sure that there will soon be an award for EVERYONE... and then TOO MANY awards for EVERYONE... and then, no one will give a crud.
So, although I do wish the "awardees" well, I do remind them that, in the long run, it REALLY doesn't matter... you'll get a quick jump in traffic and a little interest initially... then...
...and eventually, to us non-winners, there will be the "Best Blog That I Read In The Last Thirty-Seconds" given out liberally by denizens of BlogMad and BlogExplosion to try and get more links and hits to their own blog...
...and you'll ignore 'em.
I'd bet that, eventually, there will be a "Webby" equivalent in the blogsphere... but I ain't seen it yet.
For now, FEEL FREE to copy/paste/use the award I've created below on your blog... You all have won it FROM ME! It's PRESTIGIOUS and means A LOT! HONEST!!!
...and please, no "link back" required to use it on your blog, you LUCKY award winner, you! It is what it is... special...
The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!
This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.
Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.
This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.
If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our pixel ad site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)
Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!
We thank you for your support!
Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...
Comments:
· http://www.helpcoverthebus.com/ 
Permalink
11/28/06 @ 08:48 There do seem to be an awful lot of them about.
The sour grapes routine because one got chosen and another didn't is just childish in the extreme.
(I guess we had both better be prepared for this when the voting on the Weblog Awards starts - I believe it already has on their site.)
On the fund raising front - you nedd to go check out Andys blog - he has spotted an essay competition - with $150 cash prize for an essay on blogging.
Permalink
11/28/06 @ 09:34 · http://www.doubledeckerbuses.org/ Thanks for the tip with Andy... I'll have a "boo"!
Permalink
11/28/06 @ 10:51 Yes, I was disappointed I lost to the blogs that made it to the second round.
What positively amazes me is that people take MY REACTIONS so seriously. This is at least the fifth blog that has touched on this issue. I mean really, in the grand scheme of things, so what?
If you knew the traffic I got over THIS.
This was a week ago. I'm not lying awake at night worrying about the Canadian Blog Awards. Honest. It just boggles my mind would give a damn about reaction. Really. If Canadian Blog Awards aren't that important, just imagine what the fleeting sentiments of one blogger amount to.
Permalink
11/28/06 @ 11:25 · http://www.doubledeckerbuses.org/ It's interesting, however, that you mentioned your newfound "traffic". I'd equate this to "heat"... in wrestling terms, a "good guy" or a "bad guy" try to get a reaction from the crowd... "Good heat" can be positive or negative... as long as it makes people want to watch and spend money. "Bad heat" (or "X-Pac Heat") drives people away and they stop watching, caring, or spending money. They notice the train wreck, are appalled by it, and leave...
Michael Richards' recent racist tirades got him a lot of publicity recently... but his career is rightfully dead now... despite the current attention. That's "Bad heat".
I'd say your comments and critiques about the other blogs that were "winners" in a popularity contest equate to "bad heat", in my estimation... Ergo: The wonderful traffic is meaningless.
Just my opinion, mind you.
As for this post, it's not solely about "you", sad to say... you're just a convenient "for instance".
Permalink
11/28/06 @ 11:51 It wasn't so much a critique as a reaction: Oh Goodness...THAT? An emotional vent.
I definitively agree the traffic is ephemeral, which suits me just fine.
I didn't notice any other bloggers reacting negatively to the awards. Well maybe one.
Then again, I'm not really keeping track of this. I happened to come to your blog because I traced you through my Sitemeter.
Permalink
11/28/06 @ 12:07 · http://www.doubledeckerbuses.org/ Like I said in my post, it's just that I've seen this all before... and it gets worse and stranger from here... again, like I said, the "cyclical world" of the internet.
No REAL offence taken, I hope, with my comments... you had a "vent" and yeah, I capitalized on it for my own notes...
...but the REAL situation is... "popularity contest" awards are not terribly important... and like a Hydra, a new head WILL spring up where the old one was with other "new" awards... and in the long run, it matters not.
Permalink
11/28/06 @ 12:21 I'm flattered, and pleased you enjoyed the awards I ran. I think the difference, which you identified, between what I did and what some do is that I declared mine as a bit of fun, as a means of encouraging others to write on a 'spicy' - basically, lively - theme.
Selfishly, I got some damn fine reading out of that exercise and had fun creating a cutesy logo for the winners. I believe Howard still proudly displays his, and that means something to me on a personal level.
Less than selfish, the exercise provided a window for others to find great blogs, and a means by which a community of people visiting my site became stronger and shared the fun. It's not a large community... My site traffic hovers around the 150 a day mark, more or less... But it's one I'm glad to have discovered through presenting my writing, because a small group of people chatting together online is better than thousands passing through unmoved, unaffected, unchallenged.
I only need to check Technorati to see how things I've done or written have inspired others, or given them ideas for things to write and do with their own blogs. And I'm proud of that. They all do the same for me, and I often reference wonderful stories I come across on others' blogs. See my latest creme de bloggers entry...
I know some people would never advertise the work of other bloggers, would never dream of directing traffic away from themselves. But we're blogging, for goodness' sake. We can write serious but we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously...
And I'm down on disparaging other bloggers unless I see evidence of hatred and nastiness, then I fire all mental guns. But often, I just ignore because the world both on and offline is a HUGE place and so there are bound to be lots of things we like and lots of things we don't...
Thank you again for the generous words. I'm glad you enjoyed those awards, and will definitely run them same time next year.
I'm also planning to engage people by asking in an entry for them to give me themes for articles they want me to write. I plan to spend seven days writing for others, picking the subjects from the comments people leave. That's coming up very soon... x
Permalink
11/29/06 @ 04:07 We'd all like more visitors, we'd all like recognition for our hard work in writing, creating, designing. But guns at dawn? Forget that! x
Permalink
11/29/06 @ 04:10 · http://www.doubledeckerbuses.org/ It kind of makes me understand why there IS still an academy with the Oscar voting... even though it's origins are very shakey... because, as of now, it is an award voted for and judged by a peer group with only ONE vote per academy member.
Think about this... if you used STRICTLY a "fan-vote" competition, you'd end up being able to say that the BEST website online is Zombo.Com... come to think about it, perhaps Zombo is!
Anyway, thanks again Andy... looking forward to more of your "awards" and challenges... they do make for good reading!
Permalink
11/29/06 @ 07:46 · http://www.helpcoverthebus.com/ Permalink
12/01/06 @ 10:45 Leave a comment:
Et In Arcadia Ego
My Disclosure Policy For Sponsored Posts
The Current Time in Toronto is...
One Old Green Bus
This blog was started in April of 2006... its original itent was really twofold. One was to be a "sounding board" for it's author... and the other... well...
At the time we started this, your humble author was unemployed and going through the usual crisis situations that arise from being jobless.
We (my wife, stepdaughter, and I,) used to "amuse" ourselves (read: Take our minds off our troubles) by more-or-less fantasizing as a family about what we'd do when things "turned around". Along this route, we discussed going to England on a vacation... and in that, alighted on "double-decker buses".
We kind of adopted one bus... Regent Low Height 3... as Our Bus... and we used to talk about what we'd do with "our bus" if we got it... from fixing it up to the trips we'd take on it.
Along the way, we became students of the history of this bus which HONESTLY seemd it was truly for us... trouble was, we couldn't afford the bus and weren't in a position to work towards the bus... so we had a couple of options...
Since the bus' position was sketchy (there's a chance she might be sold for scrap or "carved up" in other ways,) we could forget about her and pretend she didn't exist...
...or we could TRY... ask for help... put our dream of owning and saving "One Old Green Bus" into the universe and see what happens...
As of February, 2008, we knew that there was a perspective buyer for the bus (not us, obviously,) and made some difficult decisions... The first was that we wouldn't "beg" for help anymore and give the little money we received to a few different charities both online and off... and the second was simply hope that either we find a corporate sponsor (for an "ad" idea we have, click here to about read that,) or even a patron who see's the value in a silly family's dream...
But, if the bus is about to be purchased by someone who's planning on restoring it and they "get there first", we wish them well and are glad that at least Our One Old Green Bus is in a safe place being looked after.
For now, though, we are still hoping WE might be the ones to get our One Old Green Bus and see a family dream come true...
Regardless, this blog WILL continue... and we will still "go for" a bus of our own... but this blog will ALWAYS be dedicated to our own One Old Green Bus.
Want to know more about Regent Low Height buses? Click here!
Our Cafe Press Shop! Buy a shirt, mug, hat, ANYTHING and help support the dream! C'mon, all the REALLY cool kids are doing it! MARCH 2007 - NEW DESIGNS AND NEW STUFF AVAILABLE!!!
Yes, there is a MySpace page for the dream...
ARRGH! And I've now BROKEN DOWN and have a Facebook presence... just search "Matthew Didier"... I'm the happy looking jasper from Toronto, ON...
The Toronto Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society
Paranormal Studies and Investigations Canada
The LAW (Live Audio Wrestling)
Solar Toronto - University of Toronto Team
Café at the End of the Universe
The Gnostic World of Candy Minx
RealTalk - Biggus Sissus (My Big Sister)
Weird Cake: Treats from a Bipolar Mind
Fear And Loathing - The Gonzo Papers
The Lives and Times of Anthony McCunee
Mistress Regina (Adult Content)
If you're looking to make a little coin from your blog, I whole heartedly recommend Blogsvertise! They've been EXCELLENT and have paid nicely without issue!
Grokodile Blog Directory - Add Your Blog
Apparently, I'm a...
...is that a good thing?
Communicating with Skype...
E-Mail Me At...
| We're in, are you? |
|
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||
Search
Categories
- All
- "Living" History - Historical Re-enactment (23)
- Any News? (181)
- Blog Your Blessings Sundays (55)
- BlogTalkers (28)
- Busly Saturdays (45)
- Day Tripping & Travel (78)
- FAQ/FMS (7)
- Fixing Up The Bus (22)
- From The Desk of Sue (215)
- General Shtuff (447)
- Half-Butt Postings (176)
- Helping Hand Thursdays (92)
- High-Five Fridays (7)
- Kooky Schemes - What's happening/Being Suggested (61)
- List-er-ino Fridays (22)
- Monday before Post Nothing Tuesdays! (1)
- One Dozen Canadian Heroes (13)
- Paranormal Stuff (54)
- Pictures/Photos (9)
- Popularity Contest (2)
- Pro Wrestling and MMA (24)
- Sponsored Posting - Helping to Get The Bus (146)
- Thursday Thirteen (38)
- Wednesday Snippets (14)
- Wordless Wednesdays (49)
- Yes, I work in Information Technologies... (27)
Archives
- March 2008 (10)
- February 2008 (37)
- January 2008 (41)
- December 2007 (50)
- November 2007 (60)
- October 2007 (72)
- September 2007 (56)
- August 2007 (55)
- July 2007 (69)
- June 2007 (95)
- May 2007 (107)
- April 2007 (122)
- More...
Misc
XML Feeds
What is RSS?
powered by
Poll
Yeah, Baby!
My blog is worth So Much Money The Mind Boggles!.
How much is your blog worth?
Didier Sigillum Militum Xpisti
Please support the dream by visiting and shopping with our friends below...
 |
Who's Online?
- Guest Users: 11
powered by
Above is NOT a sponsored ad... this is here because Mad Gringo
and the folks who look after it are just VERY cool!
Above is NOT a sponsored ad... this is here because a person
involved in the shop is a very kind person who checks
in on the dream! Please visit the site for great fashions!
Et in Arcadia Ego