Let the link whoring begin
UPDATED BELOW
Any minute now, the Weblog Awards, possibly the most promiscuous link whore that the web has ever seen, will announce its 500 finalists.
For the month afterward, any integrity that most of those 500 bloggers have built up over the last year will slowly bleed into the gutter until Feb. 1 when they pick themselves up, look at all their “Only one day left, remember you can vote once a day!!” posts and realize they’ve set internet journalism back once again.
Seriously people, these thinly-masked popularity contests are pathetic; you’re all being gamed. The administrators of the awards know that your shallow egos will bring them thousands upon thousands of visitors that they hope to quickly monetize with some banner ads.
If the administrators truly wanted to recognize good internet journalism, they would have people nominate actual blog posts and series rather than just blanket winner-take-all blog nominees.
To those who are nominated, I issue you a challenge: When your nomination is announced, don’t link to it, other than maybe a single post noting the nomination. Don’t play their game – at least you’ll be able to keep your integrity in the process.
UPDATE: The irony! I was nominated for an award!
[...] right after I go and criticize the Weblog Awards, they go ahead and nominate me for an award! [...]
Thanks for telling it like it is. The only good thing about these silly awards is it gives me a list of blogs I’ve never heard of so I can visit & decide for myself. Out of the total list I’ve heard of maybe 10%. And I’m unemployed and spend hours a day on the internet. I just hope Politico loses in all categories. I cannot think of a single reason for that site to exist.