I think it would be going over the top to say that the web has been rocked by suggestions that a group of Texan webloggers have ‘gamed’ the Bloggies. After all, the awards are very clearly niche-interest and geeky. More than that, even – they are supposed to be trivial – fun. In fact I think the reason they’re not uniformly despised is because of the innocence that surrounds them – an innocence that was the main reason why participating and being nominated was such a pleasure. These are your geeky peers. This is what they think. So you have to ask why on earth would anyone want to game them? It just makes the whole event, which is supposed to be a kind of weird coming-together of webloggers, just feel like every other kind of award ceremony – a scrabbling for adulation with no shame, no solidarity, no sense of community. It’s a shame.
I understand Nikolai‘s resistance to getting involved at this stage, but just for the record this is what I think should happen. Firstly, the people who have block-voted should have their sites removed from the nominations. Secondly, the votes they cast during the judging process should be discounted. Thirdly the list of five best sites that emerges from this filtered judges’ list should be merged with whatever’s left from the current five nominations. And then voting should begin again. It would probably mean a few more people in each category – maybe up to eight in some – but I think it’s the only way to handle it appropriately. Let the community decide.
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