Fairvue Central >> Bloggies >> Sixth Annual Weblog Awards
I will say that I have a fundamental problem with the idea of Blog Awards. I do recognise that, in the field, The Bloggies have the most solid reputation. And I am aware that readers of mine have been nominated either this year or previously, and some are/have been involved in the shortlisting process. I think anybody who wins/is shortlisted/longlisted should feel proud of their achievement. Incidentally, I have cast some votes, but specifically only for Blogs that exist on my blogroll: ie Diamond Geezer, My Boyfriend Is A Twat, Naked Blog and Baghdad Burning, and I will be delighted if when they win.
My problem is twofold. One, blogging is supposed to be 'personal' and two, it's supposed to be 'decentralised'. When I first started blogging four years ago I had some ridiculous notion that somewhere I might earn some acclaim. Four years is a long time on the internet; if I was blogging for acclaim, I would have shut up shop a long time ago. I could pretend that I blog only for me, but that would be a fraction of the truth. Nevertheless, I am conscious that my blog conspicuously fails to be anything that 'good bloggers' are supposed to be. I mean, what category is it in, for starters? However, I do monitor my site stats, both incoming hits and outgoing links, and can safely conclude that I blog for all those who want naked pictures ofJonny Wilkinson (considering he has barely played in over two years, the continuing fascinating with him is interesting)! There are no naked pictures of Jonny Wilkinson, here, or anywhere else in the public domain.
Joking aside, I started this blog because I have a need to write, and it struck me as a nicely exhibitionist way of doing so. Anyone who knows me personally, and, I suspect, many regular readers, realise that I have the attention span of a flea, hopping from one topic to another, often in a semi-obsessive way "it's a just a phase you're going through," my mother still says, failing to realise that the phases are cyclical and repeating. But still...
I recognise that the Bloggies have a certain credibility because they aggregate from a critical mass. Often, critical masses can lead to the Lowest Common Denominator; conversely, there is often a reason why things are popular. But, on the other hand, I have no lasting interest in knowing what wins the Bloggies. It's USA-based, and I, suspect, dominated by an age-group lower than me - although I will stress that DG, Zoe, and Peter are older than me, as is Mike who was shortlisted last year. Some of my favourite blogs have a minute readership, or cover subjects that simply would never appeal to suficient people to ever make them likely to be nominated. Just as the Oscars are rarely an accurate guide to what films are good or what films I would like, I don't regard Blogging Awards as anything more significant than a vague direction sign.
Still, Congratulations and Good Luck to the Three Old Farts, who along with Mike, are regular reads for me because of their quality, not because they move with the cool kids.
