So the first tale of this complicated tale of internet horror supremacy all begins at the start of a horror blog contest that Total Film had to which none of the contestants where really blogs! Imagine that huh? Being nominated for a blog contest and not even being a blog! I bet those guys sure felt silly huh??
Regardless the shots were fired throughout the horror community at the ignorance of Total Film for not even bothering to check with what really is and isn't a blog and I think the point was made. How do we know this? Because it just so happens Total Film has now posted a little thing called 600 Movie Blogs You Might Have Missed! Well I don't know about you folks but I think that's a pretty good way to make things up to us. And if you are looking for us horror bloggers, we start on page 5! And we probably will gain just as much from this as any other blog contest running at the moment.
Now in the middle of said contest was none other than horror heavyweight Bloody Disgusting! Who were rather "appalled" by being in this contest (perhaps when they didn't win it? I can't tell you who even won) But none the less they took hits as well in the middle of it all for being in the contest when they were in fact not a real blog but a news site, and a major one. Bloody Disgusting to their credit did admit to not being a blog, but one would also be wise to wonder if they don't wish to be in that group then why they (and a few others) who are not blogs are listed at Horror Blips with every other honest to goodness horror blog? Couldn't one just un-register themselves from such a thing? After all, they aren't a blog ya know?
Regardless in the middle of all the madness Bloody Disgusting then took it upon themselves to hold a real "honest to God" blog award! One to which virtually every horror blog under the sun could be nominated and thus give back. Now I greatly appreciate being allowed to simply appear on such a site's post but unfortunately if you folks haven't noticed when you see a page a mile long of blogs people probably still won't see your blog because honestly who's going to go down the list and check out each blog before they vote? Better hope your blog name is pretty damn catchy for this!
I truly wish there was some sorta committee out there that did nothing more than keep track of horror blogs and have fair and honest blog awards but I know that probably will never happen. I also won't go as far as to say Bloody Disgusting came up with this whole idea just to get in our good graces and possibly help themselves (I'm still too busy trying to figure out if we really walked on the moon or not) but I will admit I don't think the damn thing is as up and up as they'd like us all to believe..And I don't feel they are even checking to see if it is.
At first glance of the current results things seem pretty good, most folks have 1% of the votes showing that honestly most blogs probably were voted for by the blog writer themselves and hand full of friends/family and/or fans/readers, that's expected. What stands out like a sore thumb is in the lead with a pretty big 13% is Benevolent Street? Ever heard of them? Don't worry, I haven't either.
Now I HATE to say something is rotten folks but Benevolent Street is in the lead with 13%?? Really??? Have any of you here heard of that blog before now? If you guys can prove to me that this site is as popular in the world as such blogs as The Vault of Horror or Day of the Woman then I'll happily remove my suspicions. I'm not flat out saying Bloody Disgusting is to blame but I'm just saying perhaps things are being done a little..shall we say..half assed? And no I'm not being a sore loser if that is what you are thinking either because I'll be honest with you guys, I used my on vote on someone other than myself. I myself could care less if I win or not but some folks do and I just feel they deserve fair chance.
I just can't shake the feeling that there's been a lot of new Bloody Disgusting accounts being registered since the poll opened and that they are all signing up and voting for our pals Benevolent Street. Could be their Aunts, Uncles, and Grandmothers,...or it could be some sorta proxy and double accounts..I don't know I'm just saying.
I had high hopes that this thing was going to be a pretty straight forward contest. I guess I was foolish to think it would be a lot more than just tossing up a long list of blogs and saying "vote". Maybe part of me was thinking someone over at Bloody Disgusting would take time to actually..gee...I dunno..look at the blogs and possibly break the blogs down into different award categories? I guess perhaps I was just hoping for too much, because I don't think this award now means half as much as we figured it would. But you know what? That's OK!
If this contest has somehow helped you gain more views and got your blog new followers then kudos to you my friend. But I don't see much coming from this, not now and not when it's over. And let's be honest with ourselves my friends, do we need some blog award in order to feel like we've really made it in this blog world? If you're happy with what you do and want to keep on doing it, if you have any readers at all you've MADE IT.
Fact is gang, the heart and soul of horror isn't even with sites like Bloody Disgusting or Dread Central and the reasons it isn't need not be said. The heart and soul of horror is with all of US, not just one of us but ALL of us. Why else do you think these "big" sites bother signing up for such things as Horror Blips?
Now I hope I haven't offended any of you, if I have then I'm sorry..it's just my opinion. I could be wrong..I highly doubt it...but you never really know.
With that being said, I hope you continue to read Zombies DON'T Run and I hope you guys don't let something silly like an award ruin any of your fun you have with this stuff.
I hear ya, Chuck. I think B-D's heart is in the right place, but that nominating process was the drizzling shits, as we say in the rasslin biz. But here's a light at the end of the tunnel:
ReplyDelete1. The League of Tana Tea Drinkers is in the midst of doing its own horror blog awards. It's broken down by category, and the LoTT-D bloggers themselves are doing the nominating. Should be cool.
2. ALSO, I'm not sure if you've heard of the Rondo Awards, but they're basically the most respected and well-known online genre awards around. And last year, they started up a specific category just for best horror blog. And they do it the right way, with voting by email only! It's very cool, and they give out actual, physical awards. Google it.
Those do indeed sound a lot better thanks for bringing that to my attention.
ReplyDeleteWow, you just wrote a shit load of things that I, and I'm sure a lot of us are thinking but don't want to come off as "sore losers" or the like.
ReplyDeleteI occasionally go on Google Reader to check my reader numbers (I secretly do a dance when my number goes up because it shows someone actually likes my stuff!)
I looked up BENEVOLENT STREET and um well, they have 7 readers. So that seems odd that within the first few hours of the polls, they ranked high.
Like you, I don't want to make an assumption for all we know, this blog could big in Japan or something and that's why we've never heard of it. Haha.
Because I feel like I'm still so new and I have yet to know what direction I want my blog to be, I was still really thrilled to have been nominated and have my page viewed a good amount of times on the first 24 hours after the nominations were known.
I guess if I got one vote from someone who wasn't a friend, family member or someone I directly know, then that's a major win for me.
And to have a little girly moment, I'm happy to be apart of the horror blogging community because I got to know so many people such as yourself so that's another win! So I guess any exposure to horror fans is a great way to connect with more people like us.
It would be nice if the whole thing could have be validated through an IP address sort of thing but fuck it.
Regardless, we all still rule!
I am disgusted at this post, Chuck!
ReplyDeleteI'm just kidding!
Interesting post and I'm happy you shared your thoughts. When you mention HorroBlips and horror sites being in the mix with blogs, I agree, it is unfair because they aren't blogs and there numbers are reflective of OUR blogs linking to them because they have much of the horror news first.
However, unfair or not, HorrorBlips is a site that focuses on blogs, but also provides the latest news and stories in horror that the web has to offer. It's essentially a go to site for everything going on in horror, by most popular story, or if you so choose, most recent one. So when you think about it like that, it makes sense...should they be ranked? It's not really fair, sure, but what really is?!
I get most of my news at HorrorBlips, as well as find new posts from fellow bloggers/lovers that I might have missed on my reader list. So I give it a pass when I think about it like that.
As for the BD contest...I give 'em props for showing love, even if it's somewhat self servicing. It's a poorly run contest, but in the end, it's all frivolous and just for fun - I am happy that they at least made an attempt to reach out. Can we really expect them to do some grand contest? That's not their job to be fair.
There certainly are a lot of blogs in the contest and while I would LOVE to win and honestly, I want to (only because a part of me is ALWAYS competitive), but I really don't care that much either. It changes very little in what I do writing wise and with or without it, I still will do what I do.
I personally got a shitload of traffic from the contest (that is where my blog title really helps!), which I love, not for the numbers, but for the readers and the possibility that I am entertaining some one new, or may even get a new voice in the comments section. While I do the blog for myself, for many reasons, I love nothing more than to have numerous after post conversations in the comments section, with inelegant and thoughtful film fans. It brings a review or a post that extra step, sometimes it even gives me the chance to wax on something I didn't get to in the review due to length.
And finally, I read a lot of blogs, but have never heard of Benevolent Street.
As a relative newcomer to the horror blogosphere, I've enjoyed the chance BD gave simply as a chance to get my blog's name out there. I've been really excited to find a few new supporters both on the internet and with friends, which really helps keep me motivated to push forward with the blog.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said about the contest's structure, and am sad it couldn't have brought more focus to individual blogs, aside from the previously unknown Benevolent Street.
My sentiments were expressed by both B-Sol and Matt so no need to shoot a dead horse. I couldn't be more happy though with being included among such esteemed company, good friends and more importantly, honest to goodness fans of the genre. I want to take everyone out for a beer. We should have a blogger meet up one of these days, centrally located. Anways, keep up the awesome work Chuck.
ReplyDeleteCentrally located!? I"ll have to wait until Brundlefly finally patents his transportation machine.
ReplyDeleteAgree with everyone my dear friends! Benevolent Street really busts my chops- but if they want to win so badly then good for them.
I for one am very excited about the League of Tana Tea Drinker's awards! Bring it onnnnnn
I think you pretty much said everything we've all been wanting to say, Chuck. Kudos for having the balls to do so.
ReplyDeleteLike everyone has been saying, it's great that you said some things that a lot of us have been thinking, while being tactful about it.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who wasn't even on the litany of blogs nominated for the B-D thing, I was kind of confused by the current numbers too on the B-D competition. Oh well...this is bound to happen with internet-run contests that don't require more work than clicking next to a name.
Good luck to everyone! I'm so happy that a lot of my friends/readers/blogroll are on the list!!!!
Yup I agree with you and everybody else. I think the award contest is for us to get a slice of the Bloody Disgusting audience which is good for all of us.
ReplyDeleteI cared when my fellow blogosphere blogger gave me award rather than BD. It just means more.
In any case, BD's marketing to get all of us to register on BD (I was already a member) and at least we get some mainstream press which helps all of us.
I'm late to the party, as usual, but that won't stop me from reiterating what everyone else has said, nodding my head in agreement.
ReplyDeleteContests bring out the best and worst in all of us, and I think the only way to avoid a lot of criticism is to justify your actions. TotalFilm failed to be open and up front about what they were doing. B-D, on the other hand, has been clear in their purpose. It's just the execution of their plan leaves a lot to be desired. On the bright side, B-D recognizes us bloggers as a force to placated, if not reckoned with.
Not gonna lie, I, like Matt, wanna win because winning is fun. But I've also been getting a lot of hits off B-D, so I count that as my win (because let's face it, I simply can't compete against Benevolent Street).
Right around the time TotalFilm posted their huge-ass list, their Digital Production Editor, Dan Goodswen sent me an email letting me know what they'd done. This kind of housekeeping, more so than the list itself, suggests to me that TotalFilm might have been a little cowed by the blogosphere's united front.
So now we have two big outlets doing what they can to appease use. I'm going to count that as a win, too.
I totally would have been happy with a 0% on BD, but I'll take a 1 too. Let Total Film have their ignorance, and though I have heard of Benevolent St, I didnt hear about them 13% worth, but meh, maybe they have close ties to the BD community and forums that many of the other bloggers do not. I think the biggest pro about being a Horror blogger is hopefully not caring about any of the popularity contests and just being able to write for ourselves and establish new friendships within the genre we love!
ReplyDeleteHorror blogging, to me, should be about chasing obsessions and spreading the word accordingly. I don't think there should be the pressure of fierce competition and awards altering what we do.
ReplyDeleteI applaud the themed blogathons which encourage creativity and set deadlines. Canvassing for awards just dilutes our precious spare time. I've got four cats and a PS3 habit to feed!