One wo/man; many, many votes.

January 22, 2001 9:19 PM

One wo/man; many, many votes. From the seventh circle of hell comes the second-last sign of the apocalypse; the voting form for the bloggies. I know which site I voted for... you're reading the damn thing right now. Go MeFi!
posted by Neale (38 comments total)

My first instinct was to run screaming from that page, but the ballot was so painstakingly designed I couldn't help but vote.
posted by rcade at 9:25 PM on January 22, 2001

Why did Noah pull his entries?
posted by kaefer at 10:13 PM on January 22, 2001

wow, pretty good layout for something that could have gone so, so wrong.
posted by pnevares at 10:30 PM on January 22, 2001

I wonder if the better screenshots will tend to get the most votes? I found my eye drawn towards some of the entries (like that sexy, sexy crazy uncle joe), and voted without thoroughly checking out the others.
posted by mathowie at 10:42 PM on January 22, 2001

Mathowie, If you didn't check out my webcam, I'm going to pissed off!!!
posted by megnut at 10:52 PM on January 22, 2001

I reckon it should of been mailed out to all the webloggers as a butterfly ballot, just so the MeFi crew could argue for the next six years about who really should of won.
posted by Neale at 10:57 PM on January 22, 2001

Matt don't feed CuJoes ego...its only recently that we were able to get his head through the door again.
posted by dangerman at 11:11 PM on January 22, 2001

This is interesting (from the procedure section):

"The next day, a panel of 15% of those submitting ballots received an e-mail. It listed all the nominees of a category or the weblogs that receieved the most nominations in a category, depending on how many nominations were recieved for each category. They had until 9:00 PM EST Saturday, January 20 to privately submit their five favorites (six for Weblog of the Year) for each category. The five (or six for Weblog of the Year) receiving the most votes became finalists. I (Nikolai Nolan) voted in the cases of ties for fifth place. This panel was on an opt-in policy."

At first blush, it looks like it's an electoral college-type system, with the members of the college (the 15%) casting their votes on behalf of the popular result. However, that's not really the case because there's no real reason for the 15% to vote for the sites with the most nominations, especially since the results of the popular vote have not been announced anywhere.

It seems to me that the votes of the other 85% of the voters counted for nothing because the 15% got to vote for pretty much whatever they wanted (as long as they chose from the top 10 or 15 vote-getters...or whatever the number was). Kinda crappy for most of the people that voted, huh?

Maybe Noah was onto this, and pulled his site and tool out of the running to protest?
posted by jkottke at 11:11 PM on January 22, 2001

Sorry to be a curmudgeon, but I think I've had about all I can take of voting, ballot-box stuffing and inane and pointless popularity contests for a good while to come.

And a voting page with 100+ thumbnails is about as bad a page design as my sleep-deprived brain can handle at this hour.
posted by crunchland at 11:19 PM on January 22, 2001

I hate becoming an issue here, but... in the first place, I didn't "enter"; I only just found out I was nominated (or that these awards even existed). I've no idea who nominated me.

Basically (*sigh*), I just don't like awards. I don't believe in saying the work of one person's heart and soul (least of all my own) is better than this person's or that person's; the notion of something that says "I'm better than you, you, you and you" goes against everything I'm about. Greymatter is better for some folks than Blogger, Blogger is better for many others - neither one is the best for everyone, or will answer to every need (let alone considering all the other choices); and favourite designs, like favourite books or movies, represent something abstract and personal to the people that see them, and it makes about as much sense to rank those as to do a list of "top five greatest sunsets". I don't want to be "better or worse" than anyone else - I'd much rather who I am, and what I say or do, be regarded and (hopefully) appreciated purely for its own sake, on its own terms.

But with that said, I didn't withdraw to complain or protest anything. I did deeply appreciate the kindness of the gesture, and the hard work & care that Nikolai must have put into it - he deserves everything good, and if everyone else has a great time over it and no one's hurt, then that's wonderful as far as I'm concerned - god knows there are far better things in the world to be upset about, anyway. But for various purely personal/emotional reasons, I just didn't want to be a part of it. That's all.
posted by Noah at 11:43 PM on January 22, 2001

Maybe Jason has a point. How else can Tremendo's Bitacora be overlooked as best latin weblog? Granted, the english version is good too, but Bitacora was not only the first latin weblog, it's also by far the best.

Everybody who has done a "Bitacora" at one point or another owes Carlos a huge debt of gratitude. Oh well... Go Beto!
posted by venegas at 12:40 AM on January 23, 2001

I don't quite understand the "best programming" category. Am I mainly voting for the best/coolest homemade features regardless of how that feature was created? Obviously I can't see/review all the code involved with certain features. And even if i could, I'm not in the position to judge it like I can judge best webcam.

posted by gluechunk at 1:54 AM on January 23, 2001

Whoa, way to go Cujoe!
posted by Cavatica at 4:24 AM on January 23, 2001

The "programming" category confounded me, too. Why wasn't kuro5hin nominated for that? Mojo, viewable ratings, story moderation, diaries ... rusty's the man!
posted by Potsy at 4:34 AM on January 23, 2001

Yeah, I'm probably too cranky to post this morning, but I've gotta ask: Why in the heck is Blogstart listed in the "Best Application" section? According to the Page Freshness Checker, the site hasn't been updated since November 17, 2000, at 08:36:54.
posted by Unxmaal at 6:09 AM on January 23, 2001

It's a fairly strange enterprise, that much is clear, but let's ALSO be clear - it's just a bit of fun. I'm a bit weirded out by the apparently skewed voting towards us sexy brits, but I'm also not complaining. I think in all these things, it's not the AWARDS that are the problem, but people being competitive about them. Hopefully everyone will be cool with it.
posted by barbelith at 6:22 AM on January 23, 2001

Mathowie, If you didn't check out my webcam, I'm going to pissed off!!!

I heard the winner of the best webcam may get an offer from Playboy.
posted by mikewas at 7:10 AM on January 23, 2001

I for one am quite pleased to be nominated. Just to keep me humble, though, my hosting service has crashed this morning, leaving my site inaccessible. I think it's the first time that's happened in four months with them. Figures...
posted by jmcnally at 7:27 AM on January 23, 2001

<crabby>
God, I do dislike awards.

I dislike the creation of self-propagating norms that restrict creativity and risky expression.

I dislike nominated Weblogs that are very prominent but almost entirely self-promoting.

I dislike the air of "real life" that floats around so many semi-fiction Weblogs.

If you're going to vote, vote for something that challenges, not for something that reminds you of yourself.
</crabby>

So vote for Metafilter, which challenges me every day.
posted by tranquileye at 10:44 AM on January 23, 2001

I'm thinking that Nik did this just for fun, kids... (yeah, sure, easy for *me* to say) - he *is* awarding prizes, and neither voters nor entrants had to pay to be included, so... not to disagree with Jason so soon after I've agreed with him, but ... lighten up Francis. Tom, Meg, and I can't help it if we're tasty bits of crumpet - you people suggesting that we would win because of it are just sexyists! (I'd call it a hate crime, but I'm all about the love.)

I would personally like to nominate Noah for the most graceful declination speech ever (he'd probably decline to accept, but that just adds another delicious layer of meta-goodness). The humble are so adorable.

I'd also like to say that I *totally* checked out Meg's can.

...er... cam.
posted by CrazyUncleJoe at 11:05 AM on January 23, 2001

Skewed voting towards Brits: my feeling is that a lot of the Brit blogs this year seemed fresher 'cause there wasn't this big community/tradition thing going on which you get with the Stateside ones and which makes a lot of weblogging seem rather insular. Also we spell things properly. Mind you now there is a community feeling among British weblogs so it remains to be seen whether that has a negative impact on quality.

But the most interesting thing is that they (Nikolai?) left the "bitch" off Kitschbitch, presumably to spare the tender sensibilities of voters. Somewhat OTT if you ask me.
posted by freakytrigger at 11:23 AM on January 23, 2001

First its online journalists, then bloggers, GOD, everyone has an award show. Good see the diverse (ethnic) groups involved, asians, latin americans, etc. My hope is next year the african american webloggers will become more involved and visable in this blogging community. Who am I to judge I just started.

Good luck to all the nominees.
posted by passionblack at 11:33 AM on January 23, 2001

All this breaking up the categories by country makes me want to see the "Most Juggernautal Weblog Nation" category. Click next to the flag of the country who most rules the weblog scene with an iron fist, crushing other nations underneath its boot.

Go Canada!
posted by Succa at 12:15 PM on January 23, 2001

The Brits have a habit of taking things American and making them better. First Rock & Roll (Beatles), Next was comics (Watchmen, Sandman), and now weblogs.

What they don't make better they try to assimilate (warning: self-link).
posted by john at 2:00 PM on January 23, 2001

One question that came up today in conversation with a fellow brit-blogger (who can come out if he/she feels like it), it the absence of a "Best American" weblog category. Fellow brit-blogger remarked, with a certain amount of insight, that it was like the rest of the world was being treated as 'provincial' or 'ethnic' to the US's norm. I don't think any of us will protest, of course, because in a way it's almost made the poor Americans suffer, because the foreigners are spreading across blogworld like meatmemes (as I have decided to refer to viruses).
posted by barbelith at 4:07 PM on January 23, 2001

I'm really happy about the word "meatmeme" so I'm going to say it again. "Meatmeme".
posted by barbelith at 4:11 PM on January 23, 2001

I'm really fascinated about how the Brit bloggers have actual meetings and get-togethers. Plus I see some of
that going on with the American bloggers now. My question
would be: did you know each other previously or meet each other through the blogging?
posted by oh posey at 5:00 PM on January 23, 2001

Meg says I can't tell you that because it's off topic. She's mean.
posted by barbelith at 5:42 PM on January 23, 2001

[head smashes into keyboard out of sheer boredom with yet another dumb popularity contest]Ouch!
posted by Mr. skullhead at 7:07 PM on January 23, 2001

It seems to me that the votes of the other 85% of the voters counted for nothing because the 15% got to vote for pretty much whatever they wanted (as long as they chose from the top 10 or 15 vote-getters...or whatever the number was).

I had to reduce some categories to the nominees that had more than one nomination because of the size. At least two people commented that they were exhausted by the size of the nominee ballot I sent; imagine if they had to choose from 150+ nominees for just the Weblog of the Year category! I would rather send a more manageable ballot that gave the panel time to actually visit the nominees (which turned out to be less time than it originally seemed, that'll change if I do it next year, but the intent was there).

How else can Tremendo's Bitacora be overlooked as best latin weblog?

The Latin American category was geographical, and Tremendo is from the U.S., right?

I don't quite understand the "best programming" category.

Good see the diverse (ethnic) groups involved, asians, latin americans, etc. My hope is next year the african american webloggers will become more involved and visable in this blogging community.

I know, my categories weren't that great. This is the first time I've done this.

Why in the heck is Blogstart listed in the "Best Application" section? According to the Page Freshness Checker, the site hasn't been updated since November 17, 2000, at 08:36:54.

Anything that existed at some point in 2000 was eligible, and Blog.Start ended up as one of the finalists. Don't ask me why; I didn't do it.

[head smashes into keyboard out of sheer boredom with yet another dumb popularity contest]

Oh, I was wondering who submitted the ballot that said nothing but "6trgftgr..."
posted by Nikolai at 8:23 PM on January 23, 2001

Tranquileye:I dislike the creation of self-propagating norms that restrict creativity and risky expression.

Barbelith:it was like the rest of the world was being treated as 'provincial' or 'ethnic' to the US's norm.

I deny:
a)being self-propagating
b)restricting creativity and risky expression

I didn't know that other countries had Norms to force the differentiation. I hope I'm not making anyone feel bad. I can't figure out how anyone would treat themselves provincially nor ethnically to me.
posted by norm at 8:24 PM on January 23, 2001

Oh there's a topic here?
posted by oh posey at 10:12 PM on January 23, 2001

I figured it was over anyway. Sorry!
posted by norm at 3:14 PM on January 24, 2001

Hmm. I don't care if I don't win the Aust/NZ category
(as long as Neale doesn't either!)

As for that tagline... :)
posted by Graham at 5:23 PM on January 24, 2001

*sigh* I just plowed through all the entries, and now have a horrid inferiority complex from the realization that my impending blog will never be anything but shit compared to these people.
posted by aaron at 10:35 PM on January 24, 2001

Everybody who has done a "Bitacora" at one point or another owes Carlos a huge debt of gratitude. Oh well... Go Beto!

I don't know how anyone doing a bitacora owes Tremendo a huge debt of gratitude.........the fact that bitacora tremendo is not in the latin american category never surprised me considering the design and content, the truth is the english version of his weblog is a lot better; If the english version didn't maked for any of the other categories I think is because he's not that good.

And if VENEGAS said it.......why can't I do?

Go Eduardo!!!!
posted by carlosulloa at 12:56 AM on January 25, 2001

For those of you aren't all that thrilled with the Bloggies, may I direct your attention to the Anti-Bloggies which are already well underway. Bring along a sense of humor; it's all in good fun.

Cheers
posted by Davezilla at 3:37 PM on January 25, 2001