Blog Awards - Why bother?
Rivrdog raises some good points in a comment to the "Gunnie Awards" post below, and I always respect his opinion, even if we don't always agree.
Some bloggers write for themselves, they write to pump their own ego, their own image of self-importance. In my opinion, neither Rivrdog nor I write from that motivation. I suspect that most of the informative and entertaining bloggers do not.
Personally, I write for those who come to visit, to laugh, to share their own insights, perhaps to learn something or see something new. I blog to entertain, to inform, sometimes to present a different point of view.
With so many blogs out there, it's possible for an otherwise excellent blog to never get the exposure it deserves. When I come across a particularly well written blog that is in this situation, I will try to point it out, and hope other readers will enjoy it too.
Participating in events like web awards is an opportunity for a blog to be exposed to some readers who otherwise might not know the blog exists. They may visit your blog, and if a blog is well written, they may return again, and enjoy your efforts.
If a blog awards will showcase this blog to folks who may not have visited before, that's OK. As I said above, I write for those who read and enjoy this blog, and the more folks that enjoy it, the better.
Are blog awards important? Not at all. Do I really care if I win or lose? Nope. Certainly no one ever likes to be dead last, but if so, it really doesn't matter one way or the other.
Just as Countertop was finishing putting together his blog awards contest, he had to drop everything and take his wife to the hospital. He has now returned from the hospital and has responded to a couple of comments on his blog, but beyond that I have no further information.
Keeping Countertop and his wife in your prayers is important. Blog awards are not..........
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIPLasJ_tww-3frOt3tBdVwY4FvKHSz_j-OfYjSxBMs-C0-zJsGcNrE0HGE0LE82knxQBdPfbneKDORJSLXZDrlVUFPaZFdXsoabincYL1n7EpbB0nekai-lCb0v6lRByd2uFCRg/s220/BlogPic2.JPG")
3 Comments:
Thanks for the thoughts.
All is well. My wife has had an ongoing internal infection and it flared up yesterday afternoon. She thought she could hold off till Monday to see her doctor but right after breakfast came into the room with an awful look of pain and fright on her face.
They still don't know what is wrong, but at least they relieved some of her pain today and it sounds like the specialist will see her tomorrow (where before they told her it was a 4-6 week wait to get an appointment!!).
As for the blog awards, Rivrdog is correct - there are more important things out there. However, sometimes its nice to sit back and have some fun with these things.
The reason I chose the poll software I did was because it does take some of the "popularity" contest aspects out of it and the winner is decided not just on their total votes but also on where they are listed 1-10 relative to others on each ballot submitted. With the exception of Oleg Volk in the Gun Pr0n category, everything looks to be very close.
Plus, it was an interesting exercise and I learned about a number of gun blogs I had never heard of before. I hope others pick up a new blog or two to read out of this too.
Congrats on the Seahawk win, btw.
Go Steelers.
Both your and Countertop's points are well taken (damn, too three tries to type that sentence, see the Post #1,000 for the excuse).
I wish that Countertop was correct, and he is, insofar as he is concerned, but there are far, far too many other bloggers who EXIST for the quizzes, polls, memes and beauty contests.
Excuse me, that's not blogging. That's the Internet version of Valley Girls from the Planet Zargon.
I applaud any device that is used specifically to advance a blogger who is trying hard but languishing in obscurity.
To my lights, that device is the Trackback. I'm on a quest to email as many bloggers that don't use them, or did and gave up, to re-instate them.
The trackback not only lets a blogger know that another blogger has recognized the blog, but it also pumps up the Google numbers. Far too many bloggers gave up on them when the trackback spammers got a hold of them.
That was last year, and this year, most blogging companies have gotten the upper hand on the trackback spammers. They are a lot easier to defeat than email spammers, and I haven't had a trackback spam on TypePad in months.
So, checkmark the trackback option on your blogs, people, and let the good blogs roll!
Laissez les bon-blogs roule, if you're French or Cajun.
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