I was reading Jenn’s feed, where she pointed out that she was nominated for a Bloggy (Bloggies?) for “Best Tagline of a Weblog”. I decided to stop by and see who all got nominated, and now that I’ve seen it, I thought I would give you my impressions of the sites listed there.
It turns out that I am a bitter old coot and have nothing good to say about any of these sites. Well, there are a few exceptions. But mostly, I hate them because they were nominated and I was not. Maybe next year. I’ll add it to my 43 things.
Best Web Application for Weblogs
The category is kind of nebulous. Is it an application that you use to make a weblog? Or is it a tool that helps you create blog entries? Or maybe just a thing that you can use from your blog? Maybe it’s any of the above! Check out the nominees:
- Flickr
- Ah, the mac daddy of the photo repos. But is this really a blogging tool? Not really, unless you're using it as your sole photoblog site. You can store your blog's images there, but then all of the functionality that makes Flickr special is useless to you.
- Del.icio.us
- There are a few ways to get your browsed links onto your blog, and Del.icio.us is one. The thing that bugs me most about Del.icio.us is having to type the freaking URL. Also, even with the recent improvements, it's still not all that pretty. But service-wise, top-notch. I'm still not sure what exactly this has to do with blogging, though.
- Blogger
- Ah, finally a blogging tool. I've had the opportunity to try Blogger a bit more, and it's a pretty service for basic blog creation. Basic. And has it really changed over the years it's been around?
- Site Meter
- How the heck did this get on the list? Especially with Google Analytics and Mint laying around.
- WordPress
- Hmm.
My vote: Flickr. It’s still a little rough around the edges, but the API that provides external access to your photos has the potential to rock the socks off of every blogger, provided that some enterprising individual takes advantage of it for your platform.
Two Yahoo tools in this list? And a Yahoo bedfellow? Very interesting.
Oh, but there are more categories to dissect… Whee!
Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog
This time, we venture into the land of weird Bloggies categories – down under.
- Ben Cruachan Blog
- A handsome WordPress blog with plenty of photos of wildlife from the underside of the planet. Unfortunately, my ability to be entertained by exotic animals has dwindled since I was four years old, especially when they're a photo on a blog, and not in front of my threatening me with death.
- Trivial Pursuit
- There is som good writing, my friends. From the current post, "At some point in the night I awoke with a baby alligator breast-feeding from my left bosom." Yeah. Using MT, D'oh!
- Information Aesthetics
- Pretty much the title embodied as a blog, this site shows a lot of creative ways that information has been visualized. While the content is neat, it seems more like an aggregate of stuff I would find elsewhere but wouldn't look for on my own. And although that has some value, I would rather see original content than a blog of link/image then opinion.
- Loobylu
- This is the type of blog that Berta might enjoy reading. Not exactly my thing, but seems to be interesting reading for what it provides. Once again - not crazy about product promotion in blogs unless it's genuine, and I got suckered into an Amazon associate link click while reading, so the power of words is strong in this one.
- Karen Cheng
- It reads a little like a mommy blog, but it's down to earth. Also, the use of personal photos with the artistic edges in the post design is pretty neat. It looks plain at first, but it's very personal. Plus, people who post about themselves and their interesting lives (not the "I ate a cheeseburger for lunch, I'll post again tomorrow" types) are too much the kind of thing I hate putting in my aggregator, if only because I would spend no time reading or doing anything else.
My vote: Karen Cheng. I like the style of the site. The content is all original and personal. It’s a classic blog. Her kid is cute.
Wow, two categories down, only 28 to go… Why, oh, why did I start this…? Oh yeah. Dang it, Jenn.
Best Asian Weblog
In these geographic category entries, should one be looking for a flavor of the area in which they originate? Or is it required only that the author lives in that region? I’m going for the former, and all of these blogs qualify.
- Simon World
- Southeast Asian politics. I have little interest in political bloggers in general, and although I felt a surge of "check this out, politics that really don't mean anything to me" joy, it was quickly washed away when I realized that politics in Hong Kong are as stupid as they are here in the US.
- Tokyo Times
- In spite of the gracious link to naked taiko that is provided, these postings of what seem like Japanese news snippets don't do much in the content area.
- India Uncut
- Ack! The first Blogger blog I've encountered! After the endless loading of a full month of posts, I'm left with a reveling impression: The long, descriptive posts near the top, replete with photos, are not the typical "Check this internet thing out" posts that the rest of the site seems to be made up of. Shame.
- Tokyo Girl
- A second Blogger blog. This one's got more substance. I think the author could amplify her edge a little. It's unusal for a mommy blogger to say things about her kid like, "But the child had to suffer, as I needed the picture to illustrate this post." He wasn't harmed in the post construction, but the attitude is just different enough from the masses of, "My kid was so cute today when he did X," that it's intriguing.
- Noodlepie
- I don't know why, but I want to read more of this one. There is a lot of blog-related talk here, which - ironically - I'm not crazy about. Some of it's interesting, but I would rather see it all summarized as a single post or two than spread out as many small note-like posts over a few days. The food posts are interesting, and the sample of local life is what I think I would like more of.
My vote: Noodlepie. It’s a close call for Tokyo Girl, but I think she needs to refine her voice to really nail an award. And from what she writes, I don’t think that she’s after one, which is fine, too.
One more category for the day, then you can come back tomorrow and read some more. How’s that sound?
Best African or Middle Eastern Weblog
- Sabbah's Blog
- Another news clipping and commentary site, with interspersed language I can't read. It's not bad, I just don't like that format -- it doesn't make me want to subscribe regularly to the site.
- Sleepless in Sudan
- It's an intersting account by an aid worker in Sudan. Most of the posts seem to be reinterpretations of the local news or perhaps word-of-mouth newsworthy, but there is the occasional personal post about life as an aid worker that seemed worthwhile.
- Mahmood's Den
- It's a weird amalgam of Mid-East news with personal events and technolust. I find it odd that while this guy is very devoted to the issues of his region, he has the same fancies as anyone in the states would. Maybe that's not odd, but having a local perspective on a place so distant from me, I feel like I'm missing out on an opportunity to learn more from someone who has it first hand.
- Baghdad Burning
- This person seems to live and post from Iraq, and I get the impression that he doesn't like the occupation at all. Guess what? Neither do I. Pretty informative version of what might actually be going on over there, which isn't what we hear on TV/radio in the US.
- Subzero Blue
- Reviews of movies, books, and Arab TV? If it weren't so much better looking than LiveJournal, I would have glossed over it. Substance, people.
My pick: Baghdad Burning. This site is not something that I could read every day, but at least there are some personal accounts there that are more than movie reviews. If I could, I would vote for none of these sites. Oh, wait…
And that’s the end of today’s parade. Hopefully I’ll finish the rest before voting ends, eh?
I have also made a few generalized conclusions after reading all of these blogs and evaluating them according to my own personal standards:
First, I’m not a blog software bigot. Blogger users can be plenty prolific and meaningful and I don’t mean to disparage them at all. But I’m tired of blinkies, the little corner sash that says “End hunger now” (or whatever), and the itty-bitty banners that link to every freakin’ blog service on the planet. I’m going to design a flashing corner sash banner that says “End blinkies now!”
Second, most of these folks are using fixed-width centered layouts, and haven’t done anything impressive with their designs. The conclusion I will draw from that is that (as so often has been stated) good content kicks the butt of the cool layout. Write it and they will come. But then contract someone to make a nice layout for pity’s sake…
Third, if you’re going to vote in the Bloggies, please take the time to actually look at the sites for which you are voting. Maybe you’ve got a favorite site and they’re on the list - vote for them, that’s cool. But there are so many good blogs out there that, if anything, this is a great way to find new reading that you wouldn’t have found elsewhere. Who knows? You could find a new favorite.
