Ordinary Gweilo

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Asia Blog Awards 2004: it’s all over

Simon has announced the results of the Asia Blog Awards.  When this all started I confessed my indifference towards the whole process, and nothing has really changed my views.  The top three for Hong Kong (as voted for by you, the people with access to several different computers) are as follows: 

1. EastWestSouthNorth – 307 votes
2. Glutter – 300 votes
3. Gweilo Diaries – 217 votes

GD was leading at the beginning, but presumably Conrad’s supporters must have realized that there was little point in voting for a blog that has disappeared (the domain is now owned by someone else and is up for sale, so I won’t bother linking to it and making it more valuable). 

Then once Yan encouraged her supporters to vote it turned into a battle between Glutter and EWSN, which the latter won by a narrow margin.  This result makes sense given that these two are more popular than the rest of the nominated sites (with the possible exception of Hemlock).

As if to confirm the absurdity of the whole thing, Hong Kong blogs that weren’t included on the short list for best Hong Kong blog did rather better in other categories.  Chase me Ladies won the prize for “funniest blog”, followed by Spirit Fingers, and Simon World walked away with the prize for “best design”.  

A whole lot of other blogs I don’t read won all sorts of other prizes.  If you care, the full results are on Simon’s site.  Both Mia and Spirit Fingers have complained that they got abusive emails from people who were (apparently) supporters of other blogs, which has turned something that was harmless and irrelevant into something rather unpleasant.  Time to call a halt, if you ask me (though no-one ever does).

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15 responses to “Asia Blog Awards 2004: it’s all over”

  1. BWG avatar
    BWG

    Now you know why I requested my site not be included.

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  2. fumier avatar
    fumier

    Chase Me Ladies is very, very funny, but is hardly an Asian blog.

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  3. Chris avatar
    Chris

    Maybe, but how do you determine these things? Harry was in Hong Kong when he started the blog, and is apparently moving back here soon.
    The weirdest category was the best non-Asian blog. What was all that about?

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  4. fumier avatar
    fumier

    I agree that definitions are problematic, indeed subjective. (Until GD’s demise, I listed it under “Other Asian Blogs” rather than “Other HK Blogs” as the only link with HK was the author’s place of residence.)
    I still link Chase Me Ladies under HK blogs, but that is because (a) putting it under “Other Asian Blogs” would not be any more accurate and (b) I need the link so I can get to it easily twice a day.

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  5. Spirit Fingers avatar
    Spirit Fingers

    Whatever happened to the nomination for Black and White blog in Hong Kong. Man they were funny in a “I pay for sex and therefore must blog about it” way.

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  6. Chris avatar
    Chris

    I think Simon eliminated all the interesting HK blogs from his final 10 just for the hell of it.

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  7. Black and White Blog avatar
    Black and White Blog

    Thanks Spirit Fingers for remembering the Black and White blog. I am Littleblack of that blog. I don’t really know what happened to our nomination, but I thought Simon doesn’t want our tasteless blog to be voted No.1 at the end?

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  8. glutterbug avatar
    glutterbug

    Nah, no “battle” between me and ESNW. I like his blog and he likes mine. Its a bit more of mutual admiration (Well from my side at least) rather than the semiotics of war. Until I realized people were actually going to vote for me, i voted for him. Ha! True.
    The other thing is, I agree with you that it’s silly. But Simon said the idea is to promote blogs in the region as a whole and I think that’s kinda sweet. Things like that are nice in idea, even if in practice (like the stupid emails) it turns out a little bit different. But i am sure all the nonimees got new readers through it, including you.
    As for the “taste” issue. I highly doubt anyone was removed for that reason. The person who won third isn’t exactly high art is he? He patented the “I pay for sex therefore I must blog about it” formula long before any of us were blogging. Except, i suppose his twist is, “I am cheating on my so vagrantly that I want to make it even more public.” Not sure if any of the other guys do that.
    lates..
    Yan
    PS. Thanks for the nice things you said in that other post about reading and liking my blog. I did laugh about the company I was keeping. Occassionally have cursed the fact my blog name starts with “G” which means i am listed below that loser everytime.

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  9. Simon avatar
    Simon

    Yan hit the nail on the head. The winning was less important than the publicity, and the feedback I’ve had is everyone who has in it has had increased traffic. As for the category nominations, inevitably they were subjective. Unfortunately I had more than 10 for HK so I had to cut some, including Black and White. I was in two minds about Conrad but at the time wasn’t sure if it was a temporary problem or, as it has turned out, a more permanent thing.
    I’m not sure if I follow why it’s absurd for HK blogs that weren’t in that category to win in other categories? Harry is funny, thus he won funniest blog. The non-Asian blog category is for blogs about Asia by those outside of Asia. Likewise I’m not sure about the “irrelevence” of the awards either. The increased traffic everyone has experienced proves at least some find them relevant. All through 2004 I’ve had readers who have come to my site via the Awards Phil ran; I hope this year’s awards help people to continue to find Asian blogs.
    The abusive emails were a sad reflection of their writers’ smallness. Inevitably when more than 25,000 votes are involved you are going to get some nutters who like to make themselves big by intimidating.
    Chris, dare I suggest you spend a few minutes and check out some of the blogs in the other categories. You might be nicely surprised by what’s out there.

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  10. Chris avatar
    Chris

    Simon, my dear chap, don’t take it too seriously! If the publicity was important than the winning then surely it is fair enough for me to say that the result was irrelevant.
    As for checking out other blogs, I fear that my problem is not lack of choice but rather lack of time to read them.

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  11. Simon avatar
    Simon

    I misunderstood, old chap. I thought you meant the entire awards were irrelevant, not just the results. My mistake.

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  12. Chris avatar
    Chris

    My problem is that if the results are irrelevant then what the point of the awards? It’s only because the result apparently does matter to some people that we have the stupid behaviour, and presumably if there weren’t any winners or losers then no-one would take any notice.
    If we could have the awards, and the publicity they apparently generate (I hardly ever look to see where my few dozen readers come from, so I don’t know what effect it has), then I would have no argument at all with any of this. However, we can’t have one without the other. So (at least right now) I think I’d rather not have the awards.
    Fortunately it doesn’t matter what I think, and I have the luxury of writing about the awards and also saying that they are (oh, sorry, the results) are irrelevant. So do keep up the good work and don’t worry about me.

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  13. fumier avatar
    fumier

    “A few dozen readers” – I dream of having a few dozen readers!

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  14. Simon avatar
    Simon

    OK, consider yourself ignored!

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  15. Chaim avatar
    Chaim

    Hi I am a reporter in Hong Kong. I was wondering if you had a contact for eastsouthwestnroth?
    Chaim
    Time magazine

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