May 8, 2001

10:18 AM

Top 25 Women of the Webas selected by "San Francisco Women on the Web". Evidently they have different criteria than I do; no Hannah, no Jennifer Ringley, not even Danni Ashe. In fact, I've never heard of any of 'em. What make these ladies "top"?

Who would you nominate for a list titled "Top 25 Women of the Web", and why?
posted by Steven Den Beste (31 comments total)

Nominations for "Top 25 Unrepresentative Awards Ceremonies", anyone? With the proviso that sponsors will not be considered, but will get lots of plugs throughout this thread.

Anyway. The whole principle is a bit silly, isn't it? But I'd nominate Heather Havrilesky for five years of "Filler", and Janelle Brown for combining sass and geekery at Maxi and Salon. And Ms Champ for being an ever-present inspiration, baby. And lots more, blah etc blah.
posted by holgate at 10:29 AM on May 8, 2001

where's our friendly neighbourhood web-mistresses?
posted by jcterminal at 10:34 AM on May 8, 2001

Mari Matsunaga was the driving force behind NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service, which "allows [Japanese] users to access everything from e-mail to restaurant guides to interactive games on their mobile phones." DoCoMo is bringing a version of i-mode to the U.S. soon, if I remember correctly. I'd say she belongs on that list; so does Monica Henzinger of Google.

I'd nominate mathowie, but he's not a woman, so I'll just second holgate's votes for Janelle Brown and our very own heather. JenniCam and Danni Ashe are so mid-90s, Steven!
posted by lia at 10:39 AM on May 8, 2001

Some of us prefer bottoms to tops in women...
posted by Postroad at 10:50 AM on May 8, 2001

I heard of about half the nominees, and the ones I thought should have gotten a nod (other CEOs) got the award last year.

Janelle Brown would definitely be my first choice for forgotten nominees. Danni Ashe has built an impressive little empire, she deserves some props.
posted by mathowie at 11:00 AM on May 8, 2001

Janelle Brown was a winner of the award in 1998, along with Esther Dyson, Jane Metcalfe, and Brenda Laurel.

I'd nominate my sister, Summer.
posted by waxpancake at 11:18 AM on May 8, 2001

I second Lia's nomination of Matt. I don't think we should all rush to be so exclusive in our definition of "women".

Especially in Haughey's case.
posted by anildash at 11:23 AM on May 8, 2001

I personally think it's pretty cool that SFWoW attempts to ferret out some "unsung" women of the internet. Just because *you* haven't heard of them doesn't mean that they haven't accomplished some great things with technology.

I find that the list is pretty inspirational.
posted by amanda at 11:30 AM on May 8, 2001

One of last year's winners was "Julie Wainwright, CEO, Pets.com"
I wonder -- how many of this year's winners will see their companies die by next year?

Also, anyone notice how last year's theme/subtitle/whatever was "Leaders of the Millenium?" That's pretty silly, isn't it? "These women are LEADERS OF THE MILLENIUM, for their work in something that has existed for a century and a half." Calling these people "Leaders of the Millenium" is a slight to the *real* female leaders of computing, like Ada Lovelace, who came up with such programming concepts as the loop, the branch, and the subroutine, and Grace Hopper inventor of the compiler.
I know the year 2000 was all millenium-ish so having the word "millenium" in the title was inevitable. But by giving the title "Leaders of the Millenium" to a group of current women in computers, they short-changed women who came before them whose accomplishments were much more significant.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 11:45 AM on May 8, 2001

Personally I'm all for a top 25 list of women on the web where their most notable acheivement is not being naked (Danni), or being naked and stupid (Jenni). I'm not familiar with Hannah, but I hope she isn't known for being naked as well.
posted by perplexed at 12:07 PM on May 8, 2001

In defense of Danni, she's a naked and very savvy business woman.

I hear what you're saying, though.
posted by amanda at 12:11 PM on May 8, 2001

What shame, Meg shoulda won....
posted by brokosz at 12:20 PM on May 8, 2001

Jenni isn't that naked. Besides, she was as pioneer and deserves some credit--probably not a spot on this list, but some credit. (I refer to the original jennicam, not "the jenni show" or other jenni-things that followed.)
posted by jpoulos at 12:21 PM on May 8, 2001

Damn. I was thinking "Hannah" and meant "Zannah". (Bummer. Guess I'll never get on the A-list now.)
posted by Steven Den Beste at 12:29 PM on May 8, 2001

I saw an MP3 on the web of some woman sliding a can of Pepsi into her hoo-ha. I think she should be nominated for something.
posted by bondcliff at 12:52 PM on May 8, 2001

That takes talent, to see an mp3... whatever she's nominated for, you should be too. ;)
(But seriously, folks, my sister's boyfriend uses her Hotmail account to sign up at porn sites. Every day she gets something like a dozen porn/penis enlargement spams. The best (and scariest) subject line I've seen so far is 'MAKE YOUR DICK AS THICK AS A BEERCAN!' This is a good thing?)
posted by darukaru at 12:56 PM on May 8, 2001

Danni is very savvy. When she was first starting her site she came to my company's office to talk about handling the back-end and design. The owners of the company wanted to take too big of a cut and dictate how everything should be run so she decided to do it on her own.

The heads of the company laughed at her and told her she wouldn't be successful without our services.

She obviously showed us.
posted by perplexed at 1:04 PM on May 8, 2001

Mp3, MPG, what's the difference? She had a Pepsi can in her Hoo-ha!
posted by bondcliff at 1:10 PM on May 8, 2001

I second the motion for Heather. Danni ain't got nothing on Heather.
posted by TurkeyMustard at 1:11 PM on May 8, 2001

{SELECT * FROM a_list WHERE gender="F"} shoulda won!

Honestly, folks...who should have won, and why? Danni Ashe sounds like a good contender, but what has she done THIS YEAR?
posted by Succa at 2:08 PM on May 8, 2001

Succa, she's continued to be successful with an online business, and to make a profit, while dot-coms all around her are dying like flies. That is a pretty major achievement.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 2:18 PM on May 8, 2001

Ah, yes. Publicity. The horror, the horror, and all that. Awards == recognition for the participants. Or so I've heard.

I don't think it's that big an indictment to say that some of these outfits won't be around next year: almost all new businesses fail in the first three years, they say. I'd rather fail forward fast, myself; that's where the most exciting and creative things are happening, after all.
posted by dhartung at 3:46 PM on May 8, 2001

How can anyone not see that this thing is only about getting Tiffany Shlain-like publicity for the organizers and the winners?

"And the nominee for Best Awards Show goes to..."

Who needs Tiffany Shlain-like publicity when you can...have Tiffany Shlain as a winner? We're giving out awards to people who give out awards to people. Shoot me now.
posted by Danelope at 4:20 PM on May 8, 2001

I always nominate olivia ongpin.
posted by christina at 4:43 PM on May 8, 2001

she's continued to be successful with an online business, and to make a profit, while dot-coms all around her are dying like flies.

Porn always makes money.
posted by darukaru at 7:04 PM on May 8, 2001

This award should be for the women who drive the web forward year after year. Danni Ashe may be running a profitable business, but I wouldn't call her groundbreaking anymore. As darukaru said, sex always sells.

Also, I don't think many women want to look up to porn stars as role models. Or do they?
posted by Succa at 10:07 AM on May 9, 2001

I don't think many women want to look up to porn stars as role models.

I'd think a grown woman would be beyond looking up to anyone as a role model.
posted by kindall at 11:40 AM on May 9, 2001

Really? Technically speaking I'm a grown man, and I've still got lots of role models.
posted by cCranium at 11:55 AM on May 9, 2001

she came to my company's office to talk about handling the back-end

Hell, I'd handle her back-end for free!

(ha ha ha...back end...get it?....for free! oh, i kill me.)
posted by jpoulos at 6:28 PM on May 9, 2001

Hah, hah... so funny! My sides! Let's reduce the accomplishments of women down to a twee little joke about handling Danni Ashe's back-end, or discussion of a woman with a pepsi can up her vagina!

(Okay, maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but it bothered me.)
posted by sammy at 7:42 PM on May 11, 2001