Weblog awards

Posted by Tim Lambert on November 5, 2007
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I don’t like the way the Weblog awards are decided. Because you can vote once per day per computer you have access to, to win bloggers need to post every day and shamelessly exhort their readers to vote. This felt wrong to me, so when I was a finalist in 2005 and 2006 I ignored the whole thing. But this year I’m not a finalist, so I’m asking you to vote for a couple of blogs.

In the Funniest Blog category, a truly vile blog called DUmmie FUnnies must not win. There was an on-line appeal to raise money to pay for medical care for someone called Andy Stephenson, who was suffering from pancreatic cancer. The DUmmie FUnnie blogger was one of the freepers who led an on-line campaign accusing Stephenson of making it all up. They were able to tie up the donations long enough to delay treatment for Stephenson and continued he campaign even after Stephenson had dies from his cancer. The full, ghastly, story is here. Every other blog in the finals is funnier than DUFU, but to stop them from winning, you must vote for Sadly, No!.

In the Best Science Blog category, both Junk Science and Climate Audit are potential winners. Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy is a much better science blog and the best chance for beating them. Vote for Bad Astronomy.

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Comments

  1. #1 Vaudenay
    November 5, 2007

    The voting system is ridiculous. They should use a Condorcet system.

  2. #2 Doug Clover
    November 5, 2007

    Dear Tim

    When PZ announced the Weblog awards there was some disucssion of CA and of course misinformation about MBH and proxies. I added a couple of points about the discussion of the proxies reconstruction in the the WG1 of the AR4 (That they hadn’t been excluded etc.).

    Boy the subsequent defense from some of the CA crowd in that discussion of what they conisdeered personal attacks on McIntyre brought to mind thoughts of a cult of personality. More like scientology than science?

    Cheers Doug Clover

  3. #3 ben
    November 5, 2007

    Not gonna happen. Much as I’d like to see those other blogs lose, the other contenders are jerks and I don’t like them.

  4. #4 dhogaza
    November 5, 2007

    Not gonna happen. Much as I’d like to see those other blogs lose, the other contenders are jerks and I don’t like them.

    Wow. You’d rather have anti-science blogs win the science category just because the other contenders are jerks?

  5. #5 Ray C.
    November 5, 2007

    Wow, on that DUFU story. These guys are literally guilty of murder in cold blood. If the Bible that these wrong-wing loons thump on is correct, these guys are going straight to Hell.

  6. #6 Jon Swift
    November 5, 2007

    Seeing as Sadly No is now way out in front of DUmmie FUnnies, I hope you might send a few votes to my modest blog, Jon Swift, or any of the other blogs in contention, if only so that our defeat is not quite so ignominious.
    http://2007.weblogawards.org/polls/funniest-blog-1.php

  7. #7 ben
    November 5, 2007

    Given the choice between bad and worse, I choose neither, at least in this instance. It’s not as if anything important is actually on the line anyway.

  8. #8 David
    November 5, 2007

    I’d hate to see CA win anything, but on the other hand, any award system that uses the word ‘international’ to mean ‘not from the USA’ perhaps deserves to be discredited.

  9. #9 frankis
    November 5, 2007

    Good on you Tim. For the reasons you give I too dislike the Weblogies. And “dislike” of course is inadequate for the way I feel toward some of those contending for an award.

  10. #10 frankis
    November 5, 2007

    Sorry, I should refer to them accurately as the Weblog Awards.

  11. #11 mz
    November 5, 2007

    Sigh, those political blogs ain’t funny. :( Why did they even include them is beyond me.

  12. #12 Gareth
    November 5, 2007

    In the Aus & NZ category, you can choose between Tim Blair, John Quiggin and a Kiwi climate blog, not that I’d actively solicit votes or anything so crass… Not often, anyway…

  13. #13 Marion Delgado
    November 6, 2007

    The worst thing about those blog awards – by far – is the “TTLB” related bullshit. First of all, look into that blog and its “ecosystem” – it’ll curl your hair. He set it up and tweaked it constantly to puff up far right blogs. When liberal blogs started doing well anyway, he overtly knocked them back down because he claimed (with no evidence) they were gaming his (constantly, freshly rigged) system. Anyone not a blinkered con who uses either the TTLB ecosystem on their blog or even goes along with it as a meme is a fool.

  14. #14 Thom
    November 6, 2007

    Oh come on, Tim B. Any contest that has Stephen Mcintyre as a finalist must have an award worth winning.

  15. #15 Thom
    November 6, 2007

    By the way, has anyone noticed that the skeptics have cleaned up McIntyre’s wiki site to remove any criticism of his nonsense? It’s all rather delightful.

  16. #16 Hank Roberts
    November 6, 2007

    > cleaned up McIntyre’s wiki site to remove any criticism

    Chuckle. One way to tell science from pseudoscience, eh?

  17. #17 Sadly, No! Investor Relations
    November 6, 2007

    Not gonna happen. Much as I’d like to see those other blogs lose, the other contenders are jerks and I don’t like them.

    Hmph.

  18. #18 Eli Rabett
    November 6, 2007

    So where do we write in Nexus6

  19. #19 Nick Mallory
    November 7, 2007

    The Australian Government is thinking about setting up a consultation blog/forum to give the public a chance to debate public policy.

    If you want to help shape the form this blog will take then have your say here:

    http://www.openforum.com.au/Survey

    It only takes a couple of minutes and could help lead to something really worthwhile. Thanks.

  20. #20 Dunc
    November 7, 2007

    Because you can vote once per day per computer you have access to, to win bloggers need to post every day and shamelessly exhort their readers to vote.

    What, you mean nobody’s written an auto-voting tool yet? I dunno, kids nowadays…

  21. #21 Bill O'Slatter
    November 7, 2007

    There’s something peculiar about McIntyre’s stated qualifications (B.Sc in Pure Maths). He has stated that he attended Trinity at University of Toronto. to my understanding ( and I may be wrong) [this is one of the divinity schools of the U of T.](http://www.aucc.ca/can_uni/our_universities/trinity_e.html)

  22. #22 Lab Lemming
    November 10, 2007

    How many ANZ science blogs are there?

  23. #23 sean egan
    November 11, 2007

    Attacking some one through their education is rarely considered fair play except where there is a clear point to make.

    A quick look at McIntyre’s biography referenced in wikipedia shows he studied mathematics at University of Toronto and Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford, England. Both have a Trinity college. Without seeing your source Bill, I am guessing you have mixed up your Trinities.

  24. #24 Bill O'Slatter
    November 12, 2007

    No, he definitely attended Trinity at U of T as on his blog he stated that the college where Gore lectured was the one he had attended.
    Attacking some one for their education is fair enough ;McIntyre is a public figure and some of his claims to authority are based on his education. What I find peculiar is the mess he makes of some of his mathematics which I wouldn’t think some one with an honours degree in mathematics would make.