mono

21 Comments (skip to form)

1. miamh

   Comment on March 17, 2004 at 3:17 pm

   Why do they always have to lump NZ in with Australia! humph! lol..

2. Lars Holst

   Comment on March 18, 2004 at 8:33 am

   Oh, don't get me started on categories...

3. miamh

   Comment on March 18, 2004 at 8:44 am

   Why dont you just start one and make up new categories?? lol

4. Lars Holst

   Comment on March 18, 2004 at 9:19 am

   Don't corrupt my mind, you..

   But yes, the best categories/awards are always the ones you make up yourself.

   You first though (I have to write something about tickets...)

5. miamh

   Comment on March 18, 2004 at 12:05 pm

   Yes hurry up and write something about tickets so I can take over the commenting of that too!

   go on make up an award..something along the lines of the baftas..let me think..the holst awards sounds quite prestigious!

   Failing that we could just rip off the title baftas..blog.awards.for.tales.and.stuff..lol..the possibilities are endless..so once you've done that ticket thing start on the award thing..I'll keep it under wraps for now..shhh

6. Nikolai Nolan

   Comment on March 19, 2004 at 3:32 am

   If you've got category suggestions, lemme know.

7. Lars Holst

   Comment on March 19, 2004 at 10:33 am

   miamh, best hostile comment takeover?

   Nikolai, sure, I'll give it a try. It's no easy thing though, making everyone happy, but it seems it's the grouping of countries that has most people complain about the categories. As I understand it, the grouping is based on the estimated number of English language weblogs in a given geographical area. Is this correct? This may or may not explain why, for example, Africa isn't considered big enough for its own category. I can see the rationale for this though, and for restricting the awards to weblogs written in English, but I still think the grouping is unnecessarily subjective and broad (if only all weblogs would use lang and geo.country meta tags, eh?) and will make year-to-year comparisons less meaningful in the future, as the categories are split up and regrouped over time. Forward thinking and all that. But more importantly, narrowing the categories will present a greater variety of weblogs, many of which would otherwise be missed because they are not part of a certain "in-group". This chance of making new discoveries is what I like the best about the awards.

   Of course, it is virtually impossible not to base the categories on subjective estimates, but at least one guiding principle should be that if the geographical area of a category has a reasonably large number of people who speak English as their first or second language, and is culturally or otherwise different from another part of that same area, then the category should be split up. This will actually work if the smallest unit of a category is said to be a country, or at least a special administrative region (to have Hong Kong remain a separate category, at least until 2047).

   So splitting the combined "Europe and Africa" category from last year was a major improvement. Here are some other suggestions:

   1. divide Africa and the Middle East into separate categories
   2. divide Australia and New Zealand into separate categories
   3. divide Britain and Ireland into separate categories
   4. divide Latin America into Central America (including Mexico), South America, and the Caribbean
   5. rename America to United States

   Africa could be further split into North Africa (which is often grouped with Middle East by the way), Sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa, and South Africa.

   Asia and Europe should also be split up in some way, but I am not sure how. I think there are more or less official definitions that could be used. For example, Asia is usually divided into Central, East, Southeast, and South Asia, and so on.

   Yes, it soon gets complicated, but I think the key is to find an acceptable official definition and stick with it.

   I would further suggest dropping the "best tagline" category, because it"s silly and has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of a weblog, which I think should be the focus of the awards, and dropping the vaguely defined "best non-weblog content of a weblog site" because it too has nothing to do with the quality of the content of the actual weblog, and hence is irrelevant.

   If there is any room for adding categories, I would like to see movie and literature weblogs encouraged through separate categories, and possibly gadgets (I am a geek, after all).

   Some other categories I would like to see included are best business weblog and best science weblog.

   On a more general level, the awards should aim to reflect the geographical, cultural, and social diversity of weblogs, as well as the new areas of business and industry it is spreading to. But I believe that to a large extent they already to that, which is great.

8. miamh

   Comment on March 19, 2004 at 6:05 pm

   Yeah what he said!

   And yes best hostile comment takeroverer excellent..

9. Lars Holst

   Comment on March 19, 2004 at 6:15 pm

   What who said?

   Me? Nikolai? Jesus Christ?

10. miamh

    Comment on March 19, 2004 at 6:44 pm

    Well so as not to leave anyone out all of you but I was specifically in that sentence talking about you..

    And how you left Portugal out bah! I'll never know.

11. Lars Holst

    Comment on March 19, 2004 at 6:57 pm

    Hey, it was a mistake! But wait, you are talking about my unvisited countries, aren't you? Or are you suggesting we make Portugal a separate category in the weblog awards?

12. miamh

    Comment on March 19, 2004 at 7:43 pm

    yuh yuh countries! mistake is forgiven hehe!

13. Lars Holst

    Comment on March 19, 2004 at 8:17 pm

    what makes you think I will forgive you?

14. miamh

    Comment on March 19, 2004 at 10:52 pm

    Because lets face it you just can't help yourself! I'm far too cute not to forgive hahaha!

15. Lars Holst

    Comment on March 20, 2004 at 2:47 pm

    Sure you are.

16. miamh

    Comment on March 20, 2004 at 5:02 pm

    Ahh well it was worth a try? Keep your stinky forgiverenessedness

    hahahaa

17. Lars Holst

    Comment on March 20, 2004 at 5:54 pm

    

18. Kitta

    Comment on March 23, 2004 at 4:30 am

    The holst awards... I like the sound of it.

    I second the dividing of Australia and New Zealand into separate categories.

19. seriocomic

    Comment on April 1, 2004 at 7:33 am

    I need to start subscribing to the comments feed on your blog Lars, I see I am missing out on all the fun.

    I second Kitta's comment btw.

    Miamh, well...words fail me lol.

20. sergio

    Comment on April 7, 2004 at 3:09 pm

    I third Kitta's comment! And you should include an award for "The thread that just will not die" or something.

21. Miamh

    Comment on April 9, 2004 at 7:51 am

    Words fail seriocomic? Thats a first! I'll be silent from here on in I promise!

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