I’m not looking for accolades here; just deleted one of my best posts ever because it was too snarky.
Want to congratulate Janet, for coming in second in “Best overall blog” Belinda, a “best new blog” Minerva ” a most inspirational,” and last but not least IM Dedd for coming in first in humor.
All are very well deserved wins. However here is where the bitch in me comes out, and it’s not directed at any nominated or winning blog.
How do you rate a blog? How can you decide how to judge blogs when blogging is new and the forms are evolving?
Blogging is wonderful; it’s a totally new form of communication, she says with six windows open for the six things she’s doing at once. There is an inherent satisfaction in blogging for itself; an audience to read my work; people to communicate with; people to critique my work whether I have asked for it or not.
I was happy when one person would comment or email me. But it’s never been about comments to me; it’s always been about writing, and knowing that a few people might be helped, inspired and most importantly, enjoy my writing.
As with everything in life I go through stages where all I want to do is blog, and stages where if I never write in my blog or look at another blog again I will be very happy. I have taken my blog on two vacations; it had a better time than I did on the first one as it rained all the time, I was sick, and I really hate watching day time TV in a grungy motel. Last time I will ever pick cheap motels just because they are cheap.
Did I say that I was sick? Actually thought I was dying for about five days. The plane ride home made it worse of course, but I could die in my own bed while blogging. Though my doctor assured me it wasn’t fatal, I know him and he didn’t sound that convinced.
Okay I didn’t die, and lived to blog about the whole experience. When I went away this summer my blog was hot and I had to keep blogging. Enjoyed blogging when I had no real life distractions and it was only two a day.
I believe in blogging as a community or sets of communities that intersect; and that makes the urban sociologist in me happy. We’re all in the forefront of a communications revolution. We do this for love, not money.
Only that’s not really true. I’m not the most computer proficient person in the world, and I didn’t realize the amount of spam and spyware that my blog would attract. Came home from that first vacation with a lap top that was sicker than I was and had to be put out of its misery; my old desktop wasn’t doing too well either.
The people who put in spam and spyware are making money off us; they should be incredibly ashamed of what they do for a living and be forced to give every blogger who asks a top of the line Mac–just a suggestion.
Then there are the people who make programs to combat the spam and spyware. Some do it for love and because it’s a good thing to do; others do it just to make money.
What makes a good blog? This is the part that confuses me as I didn’t know that it was a world of contests and trivia when I began; I was so naive that I thought it was about writing and politics, not necessarily together.
When I first went on BE many of the blogs I saw were selling products and services, religious, radical right, and many blogs that had a two word post with a question: “what do you think?” As I said I was naive and didn’t realize that a lot of people did this for social interaction and/or to get comments
Other blogs seemed to specialize in telling people how not to blog. This person doesn’t like this; that person doesn’t like that. What gives them the right to make up their own rules about blogging. Sorry but blogging belongs to everybody.
Then there are the blogs that sell blog related services: Designers, a good thing I think though I didn’t know at the beginning I would use one; blogs that will tell people how to blog for a price; blogs that will tell people what subjects to blog on. Maybe I’m missing something here but if you can’t think of your own subject matter why are you blogging?
Then I began to get many negative comments; I have actually been told, no ordered to stop blogging. Yeah really.
But more people liked my blog so I continued. I’m not a masochist I would have stopped if the majority of the comments were negative and/or hostile. It was worth it for the discussions, it was worth it for the incredible people I have met; it was worth it because I got comments like “born to blog.”
What makes a blog award worthy? Think that the four blogs above are all excellent. My blog, like me, is quirkier. I’m Sundance ten years ago. Love any film with Steve Buscemi and/or Parker Posey. She says after watching the first two thirds of Miss Congeniality Two last night; enjoy Sandra Bullock. But never want that award, thank you.
Blogging satisfies inherent needs but I think that I reached a place where my needs are bigger. Of course I will still blog, it brought me to the place where I know finally and to my own satisfaction that I’m talented and interesting.
Though I almost think I should begin writing solely about Larry David because the stats on the post where I added about five sentences to his article on Brokeback Mountain are totally amazing. Of course, I’m a Times Select customer so I was able to copy the article which might have more than a bit to do with it.
I will go to my grave or whatever being known as the person who copied the Larry David article.
Have no idea what makes a blog award worthy, and I no longer care because my blog has always been written to please me, or because I had to write that particular post.
While I don’t know what makes a blog award worthy I do know what makes a superior blog, and Courting’s up there. Just really want to play Sally Fields; wait that’s not your ambition?
Everytime I read someone else’s thoughts about the awards I realize there are really so many angles to look at it from.
I agree that blogging is like a community, and just like any community, there will always be people who make it prettier and others who will litter needlessly.
Thanks again for the congrats!:)
Pia,
How very kind for the congrats and the mention..but just like you, I write for myself, and because I have to write..I need to, in the same way I need to eat or drink..If I didn’t I don’t think I would be able to cope with the world around me right now…
Minerva
I started to blog for no specific reason. I just wanted to try my hand at writing. I’ve been in the art field for many years, but, never really sat down to write. I guess it was for me, to find out if I had any talent in me. Then, the more I wrote, the more I liked it. All of a sudden, comments started pouring in. Oh, not by large numbers, mind you. Many people who visit never leave a comment. You don’t know whether they enjoyed you or not, but it starts to matter. The few you get seem to be positive, so you join something like BE to expand your reader base. More comments come in, mostly good. Hey, now it’s starting to all gel. There’s a reason why I want to continue. It’s not so much ego that drives me on. I genuinely enjoy it! If I can make a handful of people happy out there, then that’s great. You’re happy. I’m happy. I’m sure I’d write anyway now, unless people start throwing rotten tomatoes my way. I can’t say how good or bad I am, but, I never once wrote anything to win an award. Besides, who are the judges, but bloggers themselves? I want to be known as a good blog neighbor. Nothing more, nothing less. And I am very glad to have run across your path, Pia.
I love this post and you are soo right!!
Once I was attacked by a very popular blog rating site, to be honest it got me quite upset because none of the people expressing such strong opinions had any idea what my blog was about, they had all read one post and judged me on it… I was labelled ‘anti American’ because I expressed my views on a movie ‘crash’, basically i said that being a half American and living in England I def think the UK is not so racially driven. But then I was labelled ‘ignorant’ because I said I was ‘half American’!… (I remember someone saying I am half white and black I don’t say I am half American she then said I was stupid), to be honest saying I was half American was simply because my Mother is Scottish and my Father American … nothing to do with race… (The fact that I am mixed race proves this!) But then that is probably why the whole thing upset me soo much.
You have probably come across this site…I don’t think a bunch of girls have the right to judge other peoples ‘blogs’…
Right now I have about 10 loyal readers, who come back and comment… who understand what being ‘Half American’ means to ‘me’ and who judge me ‘contructively’.
This is a very long comment I know!! but I really like your blog have visited a couple of times, and this post definetly hit a spot.
X
As blogger seems to be down AGAIN, I will have to write a full post here in your comments . 😉
If you ever get to read my bog from the get go ( it’s not my first online journal that was written for friends starting a lot longer ago) but this one I use now you’d know I started a blog soley for myself. I didn’t even know people would really comment from out of nowhere. Then slowly over time I realized that people were out there scrolling around reading stuff. I never really mattered to me as I write for myself despite some pretty awful emails I have gotten over time. I also do not read “only certain types of blogs†I like to read things I find interesting, funny and sometimes even vulgar. There is no real way to judge most random blogs it’s nice to be validated but know that there are a lot of great blogs and interesting people out there that don’t even know there are such things as blog awards.
Of course Courting is Up there or it wouldn’t be on my side bar….in pink and all. If it wasn’t for my alphabet fanaticism it would be on the very top.
Well, it’s honestly all very subjective. And I think that it’s a popularity contest. But if your blog is popular, it must mean you’re doing something right, right? (Or that you have popular people linking to you, which makes it even more of a popularity contest. Grrr…)
Girl, you are sooooo evolved as a blogger. I know a lot of us thought you got robbed of a nomination in that contest, but you know what it was? They cut sites that were “too popular.” And then all the weirdness…
When I look at the sites that tell you “how to blog,” I just die laughing because I do it ALL wrong. Seriously. If my blog was in “Glamour” magazine, it would have one of those black bars across its eyes. But I enjoy it, and I hope it will give Bella a sense of who I was, long after I’m gone, and maybe even descendents who never knew me. You’re definitely building a bit of that here.
Great post Pia! Yes, it is all truly subjective and a popularity contest… you have some very wise readers up above!
I think the most important thing is this… who gives a rat’s a** what anyone else thinks of you, the blogger, your writing, or the look of your blog? Are you satisfying your own aesthetic needs, your artistic and expressive needs? Are you happy with the work you produce? If the answer to these questions is yes, then that is all that matters…
You know about that one review I emailed you about. I found it funny. They were sooooo offended by my boobies, but I am not gonna give ’em up ’cause I love them. It is an eccentric little world. Some may hate it, others may love it, but at the end of the day it is about me and whether I feel at home there or not…
So BOB or no BOB, I love me my dose of Pia and that is going nowhere! I am here to stay!
I really enjoyed this post and could relate to your point of view in many ways. I too, am very happy for the winners, and was very excited to have been nominated a couple of times in different categories at the very beginning of the contest. Then I wondered how it could be that my single blog could have been nominated in more than one category? It didn’t make sense to me. Ultimately, it would be the opinion of others that would determine the worth of my writing to qualify, and that simply isn’t why I blog. This realization put things into perspective for me. I applaude your sense of fulfillment, because I understand it. I too, am quirky and can’t be categorized… and that’s ok by me.
I am beginning to understand how important this whole awards thing can be to some people. Me? I was just so damn happy to be nominated for something (anything!) – It could have been for town crier, I didn’t care. Getting the pat on the back was wonderful. It was tantamount to the award itself (at least in my eyes). It does seem to have twisted some knickers, though. Lots of people seem totally invested in this. That’s OK – I’ll just continue being a bit loopy over the whole thing, and leave it at that.
I really agree with you on the whole judging thing. It’s the proverbial apples and oranges conundrum. Perhaps we should just leave it at the nomination stage. Eventually it becomes a popularity contest; and that reduces the experience to 8th grade cheerleader level. I’m gonna continue being happy, though. You, along with some other wonderful people have been so kind and supportive – it makes me feel like Cinderella at the ball!
Pia I was reading you before the silly awards, throughout the silly awards, and I’ll continue to read you after the silly awards. I say they’re silly because that’s not what blogging’s about. It is subjective and it should be recognized that people blog for difference reasons and that’s the way it should be. But to have awards automatically means many of the really good blogs will go unnoticed by default because it’s simply impossible to include them all and not everyone can win. And that’s just silliness.
Hey, at least you got nominated!
Honestly, I wouldn’t put much stock into these awards. If I had to guess, I’d say the judges didn’t read more than a couple of posts on most of the blogs that were nominated.
I put a thousand times more stock into a single sincere comment about my writing from people like you. Thanks.
you can never be *TOO* snarky. ever.
I admit I am not much of a blogger. I am fairly new and am not a writer. I started because I wanted to post at a political based blog called political notio. I then started reading cooper despite the fact that although she could comment and argue in a political forum with the best of them she had this really interesting/eclectic blog which contained other things. I then started reading other blogs most belonging to people that commented at political notio and then cooper and I became addicted. I know I have seen some bad and or uninteresting blogs but to others the blogs might seem interesting. I don’t think there is any way to really rate or award a blog so I think the best way to look at it is to ask yourself does it do for you what you want it to do. If it does that is all that matters.
Bone made an interesting point. I do think the judges took their time with the finalists, but it was still a glimpse at the blogger, not a big picture…unless of course, they’d been reading all along.
Is it like the Oscars–do you submit your blog to the acadamy?
I can’t think about it or I won’t be able to blog.
Also wonder where we will have evolved to from here in a year…
i LOOOOOVE your big blogs!!! 🙂 as you know, ive been removing posts and pictures and stuff too, not as they’re snarky, but as I was getting concerned about my level of privacy online…
but yours is still so feisty after all this time, and that’s great. don’t ever stop!