TLB Ecosystem & 2004 Weblog Awards

The Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem has [again] lost its mind.  This morning I woke to find this: 

                & a little research found this:

And this, to demonstrate its recent eccentricity:

So, for the moment, I am a Playful Primate -- and who knows what I will be tomorrow.  What I won't be is a winner of a Wizbang  2004 Weblog Award, not having made it to the finals.  Still being a bit new to the game, I didn't realize I would have many strikes against me:

1.  Woman
2.  Feminist
3.  Rarely [overtly] political
4.  When overtly political, leans to the left
5.  Really stiff competition
6.  Basically uncategorizable, the categories being:

Best Overall Blog
Best New Blog (Established 2004)
Best Group Blog
Best Humor Blog
Best Liberal Blog
Best Conservative Blog
Best Election Coverage
Best Media/Journalist Blog
Best Tech Blog
Best Culture Blog
Best Sports Blog
Best Photo Blog
Best LGBT Blog
Best Military Blog
Best Online Community
Best Blog Design
Best Essayist

International
Best Canadian Blog
Best UK Blog
Best European (Non UK) Blog
Best Asian Blog
Best Middle East or Africa Blog
Best Australia or New Zealand Blog
Best Latino, Caribbean, or South American Blog

I tried for Best New Blog (Established 2004) and, in the Ecosystem Section, Best of the Top 100 - 250 Blogs, which is where I was at the time.  To be honest, though, if Rox Populi had made it to the finals in Best New Blog, I would have voted for her instead of myself.   

There has been a fair amount of discussion regarding the shortage of both female and leftist blogs on the final list.  XX has put together a list of recommendations for voting, including another of my favorites, feministe, in the Best of the Top 250-500 Blogs.  You can vote once a day (through December 12th) so go to it.  At the very least, the lists of finalists offer some new blogs to explore.

Comments

[Rox]

Thanks for your kind words.

And, if it's any comfort, I was #16 on TTLB thingie last week. Yes, it's gone mad!

[susan]

What I found amazing in the categories of awards was that even with sports, military, political, new, etc., there is no award for best written, which is, after all, one of the most important things to come out of the weblog phenomena.

[Cathy]

Hmm maybe if you ate a few bananas,you feel better. ( I had to say that:-) Seriously they don't a poetry catogory. I thought get involve with that, but I'll probably get stuck as a slug all the time.

[Lauren]

Thanks for the plug! You're a gem.

[IR]

I don't think that the Weblog Awards finalists were picked out of anything more than "who knows whom." I spent some time looking at finalists and, quite frankly, was left wanting. That goes for, both, Conservative and Liberal.

Some of the finalists in the "essay" category are outright embarrassing...regardless of ideology. 90% of the other categories are a collection of sights that do nothing more than link to an article without any insight or position.

And, you're right TTLB is full tilt bozo at present...

[Ryan]

It's funny that since I gave up blogging :-) that I never visit sites like TTLB anymore. I'd found that I would automatically rate *myself* by how well "my blog" was doing. Ach.

[Jeff]

I made a comment a little while back on my blog about how I have little interest in the traffic I get. I post what I want when I want, and the few people that stop by seem to enjoy what I have to say.

I kind of get the feeling this whole "Weblog Award" thing is primarily a traffic-generating gimmick. I have nothing against Wizbang, or any other blog for that matter, but most just seem to crave traffic, which I suppose is the whole point to those so concerned.

[Kate S.]

While not meaning to knock any of the participants, I must say that I was very dismayed to see, as I clicked through each category to view the nominees and peruse some of the more catchy titled blogs, that most of them seemed to be Right-eously conservative, mostly male, mostly white and ... I've had enough of that crap in my life thus far. I crave color, diversity, quality, Equality, and creativity, not popularity contests fueled by ... you know. I only saw two or three, out of all those nominated, that I knew or had heard of. Very disappointing to see the flaming, left blog-bashing comments, too. I changed the channel.

[Genuine]

You have another chance to make the finals and none of the above matter. Come to our awards at www.blogmechanics.com/bob you can still win and get some loot too.