I received an email from a certain blogger I read asking me to vote for her blog in a contest. When I looked at the contest and the site I found it was a non-commercial site dedicated to holding contests where people vote for blogs. The list of niches was extensive. If you go there you can see for yourself.
I wanted to see what her competition was before I voted because to be truthful, I rarely read her blog. I actually usually read a few lines that rarely interest me. I hardly ever comment there. In fact, I’m assuming she’ll never read this because she has never commented here. At any rate, I started reading the competition and was immediately turned off. I found the titles of each blog to be contrived and the content not very clever. I have put almost all of them on my Google Reader though because I figure they are the best democracy has to offer as far an online diarists go. I probably have a better chance of reading something good through time wouldn’t you say?
I actually am not dogging weblog awards. I think nominating and voting are great ways to separate the great from the nominal. At least, it’s the best thing we have in an imperfect world. It’s a great way to have a look around and decide what’s good for yourself.
In the world of free themes, there was another contest recently called The Sandbox Designs Competition. This was a Wordpress, self hosted theme contest. My blog is this type and I loved the designs from the get-go. In this case, the contest was a cause for many designers to spend time doing something great. That is what contests do, so that’s another good thing.
I use a theme from this contest on Riley Central. I’ve been through many, but this one is sticking pretty well. It’s called “Scrappr.” What an amazing css piece of work, all because of a contest.
For me, following contests is a great way to get new quality blogs by people who care about their artistry. It’s also a way to choose which themes to browse. Let’s face it, no one else really shows you the way out there in the sphere. It’s not a perfect system (it never is, not even with the Presidential elections) but if you compare it to other navigation systems of finding content, democracy’s voice is a good starting point.
Oh and on that girl who emailed me the other day? Just so ya know . . . I voted for her ;)
8 Comments
I was a member of a few of those blog awards sites and left pretty quickly after joining. People just go and rate your blog (without ever even seeing it) and then demand you vote for them in return.
The sheer amount of begging disgusted me. I was completely repulsed by it.
Hey Barbie! That is some great input based on your raw experience. I really appreciate you sharing it here.
Actually I was nominated for this award, and I am the one who nominated budda girl. I have been nominated for a lot of blog things and never a participated in any of them until this year.
This is a fairly prestigious one as blog awards go, it is one of the original ones not the standard ones you see all the time now, as to become a finalist there is a selection process by a panel not a vote.
The vote is after you are selected to be a finalist.
I rather hate the whole thing about blog awards myself but this is not one of those "blog ward sites". This is one of the original awards where a lot of hot bloggers got their start.
The sandbox theme competition is where I got my first theme from Adam. It was different and had spectacular graphics. I am now using his other theme. That is a great contest by the way.
Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. I think the word prestigious is a highly relative term, but if you say so then I’ll keep an eye on the awards.
Being an academic, I’d consider a university recognizing my blog as prestigious. It’s a highly subjective term. These contests are rather silly, but if I was nominated I’d probably play it up to the hilt. Remember we are talking about a medium that consists of anywhere from 75 to 200 million estimated blogs. Is the laid Back Buddha the best online diary of all those? I think we know it’s probably not. I will say it was the best I read of the nominations though. Thanks again for your thoughtful input.
I hear you. Contests can end up being more traffic oriented than content-oriented. A lot of the SEO sort of blogs seem to be fairly impersonal with null content, sort of like filler.Thanks for the sandbox link.
@Pearl: Thanks for your comment. I like your blog, it looks very academic and literary, right up my alley! Hopefully you’ll enjoy the Sandbox designs as much as i do.
Hahaha. Hi, Damien! This is why you shouldn’t assume things. I occasionally check my site stats and my feedburner one gave me your URL, so yeah…here I am to say thanks.
I think the Weblog Awards are some kind of a big deal, but of course that’s up to individual perception. I must admit I’ve definitely seen an increase on site traffic since I started actively promoting the finalist status to gain votes. Whether or not such traffic is quality, recurring traffic is left to be seen; however, a few bloggers have since become friends/readers. So, I’m thankful.
I have reason to believe the diarist in first place is pretty well-known across the blogosphere. Haha, if I wasn’t a finalist myself, I’d vote for her (she’s been in my feed reader almost from the time I first started blogging). I’ve only been blogging for less than a year, so yes…in all likelihood, there are better personal diaries on the interweb. Regardless, I see these particular awards as well-run and well-supported (by that I mean from bloggers), and isn’t that how awards become "prestigious" anyhow?
Thanks for the honest input. =)
That girl, Joanne
Hi Joanne. Congratulations on being nominated. I certainly meant no disrespect in my post. Of all the awards I have encountered, this is the most prestigious. We are pioneers in this medium, figuring it all out through trial and error. I think contests are a good way to separate what’s good and what’s not in these days.
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