I'm not really sure how I feel about awards in any form, celebrating supposed excellence in any field. I'm certainly not too sure how I feel about ones for blogging.
So, although I graciously thank whoever nominated me for a couple of them, I'm alarmed to see the growing number of people using these.
Yes, very exciting to see your name on a list, but until a little more whittling down has been done, this is the truth of it:
Taken from this bollix and designed by this bitch.
Folks, just keep it in your pants until the shortlists at least.
27 comment(s):
It's nice to have a friend.
Jaysis, you're quick! Yes it is, very nice. But I'm not gonna put up a logo to say as much. Well, I suppose I just did.
Having said that, I like the one you have, I'll spare it my ire.
How the devil are you, anyway?
I must have a friend so!
I think the blog awards thing has had some negative effect on the quality of my ideas lately too... like a desire to not compete or something is pulling me down, if that makes sense?
I made some really odd nominations.
I have to disagree.
1. Damien has gone to endless trouble to promote blogging et al in Ireland. He works long and hard to pull it all together and encourages all of us on a daily basis.
2. Some of us blog for fun. If from that fun we are fortunate enough to recieve praise in any shape or form from our peers than we should have the grace to acknowledge it. A little logo is a form of thanks.
3. Nobody is forced to take part. You could design a logo for your blog sidebar stating that you have no desire to play or take part.
Mrs Mar: well, he's only saying that there's so many people nominated that it's silly to say you could care about it.
I don't know if i agree.Hell i'm chuffed that even one person bothered their arse to do so for mine.
B - I'm glad to see you were nominated for best personal, I felt affronted on your behalf that the rules discounted you from best newcomer, it made no sense to me.
Grannymar - I sense you're offended. I was singling no-one out in particular, I just found it amusing. B has already identified the main gist of what i'm saying, but allow me to respond to each of your points.
1. Damien is, above all else, a businessman. He is looking to make money out of blogging, and I don't think he could deny that he has already done so. Is it not fair to say that Mulley Communications was set up on the strength of the popularity of his blog? (I'm open to correction on that, I really am)And has his blog not gained its readership due to all the linking he does to other people's work? I certainly don't feel I owe him anything, and I feel more disheartened by his efforts than encouraged (and have done ever since he singled out someone who had the temerity to mildly criticise him and called them a 'bitter cunt', remember that?). He was notoriously reluctant to give any support to those behind the production and promotion of the Homepages book (which you featured in too), and I have that on very good authority. To pretend that he is essential for Irish blogging is false and misleading.
2. Despite my mean-spirited tone here, I, too, blog for fun! And I've thanked those who nominated me, it's very kind of them. But when you say that "a little logo is a form of thanks" I can't help but wonder if the word 'thanks' would be better substituted with 'vanity'. I read your blog and have an awful lot of respect for what you do, but when you said that "With so many new and talented blogs out there I was surprised and delighted to see my name on the list for Best Personal Blog" I laughed. Delighted you may well be, but surprised? You're more intelligent than that. You have a large readership and it would have taken only one person to nominate you, though you probably had loads of people doing it. False modesty insults the intelligence of your readers. You do what you do and you do it well, so don't come over like an Oscar-winning actress from a simple nomination. I'll stress this again, it takes one person to vote to make that list. And it's probably safe to assume that in some cases that one person was the blogger themselves.
3. I didn't say I'd no desire to take part, I said I'm dubious about awards in general. I'll probably throw a party if I make the shortlist. Or die of shock after this post.
Green of Eye - I was chuffed too. Honestly! I just don't feel it's anything to brag about yet.
Don't worry, turns out that rule didn't seem to apply after all...
whether anyone would've given me a nod in that category or not if I didn't point it out a few times I dunno but I generally like doing terribly due to a technicality rather than genuinely doing awful cos I'm awful so it's all good.
However I would like a basket of chocolate like I got the two other times this happened(both at table quizzes)
guilty as charged. i hesitated before saying thank you to the folks that nominated the scrapbook but then i thought i might not make the longlist and not acknowledging the fact that some people (even if it's only a handful) like the blog enough to nominate it would be kind of rude. voilà. i wasn't boasting, just saying thanks.
@Grannymar
I asked Rosie to design this logo not out of any particular rage at 'Fun Bloggers' or any disrespect towards the monolith that is the Mulley empire but more as yet another bitter attempt at self-deprecation.
Sure, I despise all those who treat the medium of blogging as a bastardised version of Facebook, but this was not, on this occasion, my point.
Awards are great in that they add an officialality (real word i promise) to things, and give verficication and encouragement to those who might want it.
But the whole blog awards thingy seems quite political, and for that i am likely to veer away from them. Not to make any kind of statement, but just cos I don't really understand it all.
I would love to win one though if that means I'd become Master of the Universe and get a shedful of cash. Obviously.
PS you're way ahead of me...didnt realise we was in school together...are you the Wickla Andrew or the Greystones one? (sorry Holemaster for being all facebook on this;)
Red - I get that. I suppose I just felt that it's possible to say thanks without drawing too much attention to a fairly meaningless nomination. It's nice to be nominated, but what means far more to me is when people read or comment, or add me to their feed-reader. i'm genuinely thrilled whenever i pick up a new reader, but I'm not gonna put a logo up every time it happens.
Perhaps it does all just boil down to my resentment of Mulley cashing in on everyone else's creativity, I don't know.
Gimme - I couldn't have put it better.
Sarah - Very political, from what I can make out. Or cliquey, at least.
Both Andrews in our year were from Wickla. I'm tempted to say that I'm the one who isn't an oafish arsehole, but I'm not entirely sure how I was perceived. Let's just say that I'm not the one whose surname begins with C and ends in something that sounds a lot like 'orbit'. I'm the one whose surname begins with C and ends in something that sounds a lot like 'lark'.
I'm glad to know the profile photo I used to have up is as unclear as I'd hoped it was. But then, i have put up other photos from time to time, like the bastardised facebooker i occasionally am.
@Sarah
How come you keep calling me Holemaster? Is it a new nickname? Or are you confusing me with Holemaster?
Consider yourself poked, by the way.
oh, i guess i should also say that recently i was thinking about dropping the blog, i wasn't too sure whether anyone really cared about my wafflings so getting the nominations gave me a boost to carry on. i was genuinely touched...sad but true. in general i try to steer clear of the politics of the blog world- i'm nice to some and don't pay much mind to the others. which means i get to correspond with lovely folk like you and your cheeky friend and don't win any awards- i know which i prefer. x
@Gimme, to my shame i was indeed confusing you with Holemaster....long story but i wanted to add ye both to my blog list at the same time and think from then on you have fused into one person.
*embarrassed internetically*
@Andrew. totally didnt recognise you. at all. thats a decade for you.
Andrew, seriously, I was all chuffed to have found a new reader and a new blog and there you go, going all judgemental on people...Gosh it must be hard to be so clever and above the crowd. Bet it feels lonely up there.
Major - Judgemental? All I'll say to that is that I've simply expressed my opinion about something I find slightly silly. And you have left me the nastiest comment I've received in the 9 months or however long it is I've been blogging. But you're defending your wife, I get that. And I do sincerely apologise to anyone I've caused offence to, it was not my intention.
Is it lonely being me? Well, I'm not the only one who made this point. But yes,it can feel slightly lonely when attacked for saying what I think.
Nothing wrong with a bit of judgemental.
As someone said, we all have the odd pair of judgypants in our wardrobes.
It's nice to see how the blog awards bring bloggers together. Too bad I don't get to take part...
I forgot to nominate myself and no-one nominated me. If it's lonely up there, it's lonelier down here! Ha ha ha...eh...now...where's my shotgun?..
Fuck it.
I was going to say nothing, but I'm becoming increasingly stroppy recently. Probably a good thing.
I can't go over all this and the comments save for points I want to share.
The Blog Awards (my disclosure, I've presented the ceremony since day 1). It is, in essence, a great big piss-up with a small awards ceremony attached, as it should be.
The first year we started an hour and a half late because we were all at the bar and no-one noticed.
It exists solely to get people together in the same room from all across the country once a year to talk, meet new faces and then get shitfaced with those very same faces.
I've presented and attended all sorts of awards ceremonies in loads of different genres over the years - this is THE least pretentious, ponsy or nonsense-filled.
I'm not saying that specifically in response to anything you've said, just the thread of anti-Blog Awards stuff that goes on every year. I believe in it as an idea and an event.
I have no idea why anyone thinks it's cliquey, genuinely. I knew no-one the first year I went, a huge portion of those who come every year know no-one the first time they come. Last year there were over 400 people that came, a big enough clique...
The nominations list. The only reason this is publicised at all is, as far as I could always see over the years, so people could pick up new readers, something you talk about yourself. I use it to click on new names I've never seen before just to give them the once over.
I genuinely will stand up for your right to have a go at people who make an enormous deal of it (to be fair it does say on the site that it's only the nominations list, not even a longlist), but for some people this is the only recognition they'll ever get for anything. This is their Oscar night, their FA Cup Final, their Nobel Prize ceremony. They'll never make the longlists, the shortlists or even win (or be recognised for anything else in their lives), but it's a little something that allows them to say "Here, my thing is worth looking at, give me a go"
A friend of both of ours was really upset at the go you had at people with logos as they had put one up themselves in excitement. You're not having a go at an abstract concept, but people, some of whom are close by.
I have a very close friend with a small readership. Since he was nominated he's picked up, on average, 5 new readers a day. Might not seem like much, but to him that's a 20% increase in readership.
As for Grannymar I'd rather have a bit of gracious false modesty than arrogance any day. Personal choice.
I'm only saying all this because I personally believe in the whole Blog Awards nonsense. I've seen all the effort that goes into it over the year, out of which those involved make nothing. Zilch. Nada. Fuck all.
Every year the door money, the only possible slice of the event that could go to those of us involved, is divvied up for charity. The one I'm involved with, Brainwave, has made thousands over the years.
And I only give a shite and say all this because I like you personally so much, Andrew. And because I'm an extremely regular reader here.
I probably shouldn't have written any of this, but I have now and I'm fucked if I'm going to erase it now. I'm all angered out. Probably for the best, I'm shite at it anyway.
This is in now way personal, my friend. It's been too long and I'll gladly buy you a pint the next time we meet up. You might even come down with the rest of us to Cork... :-)
Fuck it. It's only blogging. And you can't let politics get in the way of a good piss-up.
Rick - Your line about me not having a go at an abstract concept, but people is an interesting one. I don't see it that way, as I've explained badly in my new post. i know what you mean, though. I suppose it was inevitable that those who had done that would take umbrage. But to be genuinely upset seems like an over-reaction to me. They were nominated by someone who took the time to show their appreciation of their blog, so why should they lose any sleep over the opinion of one ill-humoured man? If it makes them happy then my opinion should have no bearing on anything. None at all.
If I'd put one of those up, and you'd slagged me off I would have told you to fuck off, it made me happy.
I think that would have been the appropriate response.
a public slap on the wrist from the most public of your online personas - that's a lot of clout for a friendly comment, Rick!
how should one decide who's making an enormous deal of it? rather than just a little excited handflapping, say? your patronising pat on the head for the poor folk whose only recognition will be a nomination at the awards is beyond condescending. do we live such empty little lives?
balls to the notion that those behind the awards get nothing out of it. the monies raised for charities is fantastic, nobody would dispute that. but there is more to be gained from organising (and hosting) such an event than financial reward; it is a tremendous boost for both the businesses and the egos involved. a win-win, certainly, but do not pretend that organising the awards is a selfless act.
and to pretend that irish blogging and the irish blog awards is not cliquey and that you are not one of those encouraging it under your other pseudonyms is an insult to our intelligence.
And I only give a shite and say all this because I like you personally so much, Andrew.
good man, you set him straight.
Some people might actually feel quite proud to know that someone did nominate them for the Blog Awards. Some bloggers out there don't have the same scale of readership as others, and so for them even a single nomination is a milestone to them. And if they want to add the logo, or post about that fact, so be it.
Just because you personally don't understand the concept behind it doesn't mean that everyone else is wrong.
There are massive cliques in the Irish blog world, in the blog world as a whole.
Which makes blogging no different from any other activity in the world.
As for the awards, it's like anything else too.
I will be going to the AIMS (Association of Irish Musical Societies) gig later in the year and it's a chance for all the amateur groups in the country to have their very own back slappery.
Most never even get a mention and it's always the same ones who win.
My point?
I got nominated, three times which was unsuspected so I was thrilled to put a badge up.
I was delighted to see that someone would go to the effort to put my name on a list.
Will I win?
No.
But at the end of the day, who gives a shit? People read my blog and it's by no means followed by the numbers that some people have, but I have my own little group, and that is a clique in it's own right.
I'd give up blogging tomorrow if I started to dislike it and not receiving an award won't stop me either.
I did take the badge down from my site, because it's right to say that you are just advertising the fact that a person likes the shit you write, which is like having 10,000 friends on Myspace etc.
At the end of the day, have you or anyone else seen or written a post saying that you would like to turn up the opportunity to receive any award given, or even have your name taken off the list altogether because you don't agree with the whole thing?
People may have requested to have their blogs removed from certain categories, but not from the running altogether.
We all want some form of recognition whether it's the extra reader on feedburner or a fancy award in a ceremony or a graphic in our sidebar.
I've contradicted myself a lot, but I have mixed feelings on the whole issue that I shouldn't vent on someone else's blog.
Ah gay, I can't believe I got here late! Would love to be bothered reading all the nerdy bullet points as to why you're wrong and a cunt and deserve to die but I guess I'll have to settle for saying you're right, they're wrong and awards are a load of wank.
Have you ever listened to band because they won an award? No, because awards mean nothing. Britney Spears could build a house out of awards, doesn't mean she's any good though.
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