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2006 Bloggies announced - same old same old

Written by Richard MacManus / March 13, 2006 12:42 PM / 11 Comments

Is it just me, or does the list of winners announced for the 2006 Bloggies (the blogging oscars) bear a striking resemblance to the last 5-6 years? Slashdot, Boing Boing, Blogger, etc. Where are all the '2.0' sites, like TechCrunch, Scripting News, Digg? Anyway, there was one shining light: Darren Rowse's Problogger got an award - for Best Web Development Weblog. I'm not sure Darren would consider himself a web dev blogger, but still -- congrats Darren!

Update: Explaining myself more... I guess my beef is that there are a whole bunch of blogs that have popped up over the last couple of years that weren't even nominated. When the nominations for 2006 Bloggies came out, I was dismayed to see that same old list of names. I agree that the likes of Slashdot and BoingBoing are quality blogs/sites, but how many times can you give an Oscar to Steven Spielberg over Steven Soderbergh?


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  1. Heh. I know Darren wouldn't consider Problogger a webdev blog... but I suppose it is a blog dev blog.

    Posted by: Aaron Brazell | March 13, 2006 12:57 PM



  2. I don't see much wrong with the winners, personally. 2.0 doesn't speak for the content.

    Posted by: Sykil | March 13, 2006 2:03 PM



  3. thanks - it is a little odd to be in that category as I'm focussing upon such a tight niche within it - but I'm not complaining! :-)

    Posted by: Darren | March 13, 2006 2:04 PM



  4. Nor should you complain Darren, you thoroughly deserve the recognition!

    Sykil, I guess my beef is that there are a whole bunch of blogs that have popped up over the last couple of years that weren't even nominated. When the nominations for 2006 Bloggies came out, I was dismayed to see that same old list of names. I agree that the likes of /. and BB are quality blogs/sites, but how many times can you give an Oscar to Steve Spielberg over Steven Soderbergh?

    Posted by: Richard MacManus | March 13, 2006 2:09 PM



  5. Bloggies are and always have been, basically one guy's project. For a pretty long time (in web years) they did represent the broader 'sphere. But that time has past. Good post. Either Nikolai needs to let new blood in, or a new awards needs to rise.

    Posted by: Ted | March 13, 2006 2:34 PM



  6. Scripting News as 2.0? Are you kidding me?

    Posted by: phil | March 13, 2006 4:00 PM



  7. Actually the bloggies have been and are open to anyone. Nikolai does not select the people unilaterally nor does the voting from him have an impact.

    Anyone can submit a site for nomination. The top 50 most nominated sites in each category are then passed around to randomly selected people (say 4 categories to a person) who then select their top 5. The most selected top 5 in each category are then selected as finalists and anyone can vote on them. So new blood is not the problem.

    While some of the same old names appear, they are to a degree, the most popular blogs and thus have a better chance of getting voted for. I'd also think that certain demographics of readers are into voting for the sites more than others.

    That said, I'd flip your comments around and say "Isn't it great that there is a world outside of web2.0 blogs and we should celebrate and experience these other view points which make blogs so fantastic. Let's sit down and read one of the winning blog we wouldn't normally read and enjoy it."

    Posted by: Ben | March 13, 2006 4:05 PM



  8. OK maybe Scripting News wasn't a good example, since it's been around as long as BB, Kottke, /. etc.

    If the Bloggies is going to be a true awards show that recognizes quality, then why doesn't it try and uncover some of those non-blockbuster sites and put them up for nomination? There are a lot of quality sites out there, if you really look. Frankly Boing Boing winning Best Group Blog for the nth time is a little boring... it's like Tom Hanks winning Best Actor again - yawn...

    Posted by: Richard MacManus | March 13, 2006 4:25 PM



  9. what I was stunned by was that Blogger.com was voted in as best blogging application. Of course quite a few blogs that won awards are blogger blogs I guess - but it just makes me realise how disconnected I am from the rest of the blogosphere. Bizarre.

    Posted by: Darren | March 13, 2006 7:02 PM



  10. So my only question is: Who would you recommend?

    Posted by: Saul Weiner | March 13, 2006 7:48 PM



  11. I can't remember seeing the nominations for these awards, but Richard is right - this is total crap. I just looked at the first award for best application be awarded to blogger and closed the window after that. Blogger has dont *nothing* in 2 or more years while sites and apps like Wordpress have taken the market in a storm!

    Posted by: Nik Cubrilovic | March 13, 2006 9:41 PM



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