There are now at least 4 different blog awards that Dr Dork is aware of being plugged via blogs he reads. Dr Dork hasn't been looking, this is just what has been seen via other health-related bloggers. There are probably many more.
Dr Dork was a little bit uncomfortable about this plethora of self-aggrandisement to begin with, and the squirming of his conscience has only increased as others, such as Dr Crippen and Dr Flea have voiced concerns similar to his own.
It's hard to avoid the allure of the 'ego-boost' of such a popularity contest... but Dr Dork is beginning to feel like he is whoring himself away bit by bit in service of, well, incorrigible narcissism.
Dr Dork can understand the appeal for non-anonymous sites. Arguably, such blogs, whether intended or not, have the potential to increase the professional prestige, or at least the visibility, of their writers. So there is professional gain, feasibly, from such accolades as the various blog awards. Free advertising, if naught else.
Sites that receive income from advertising links would also have a logical reason to seek such accolades as such will increase their traffic, and hence their income from said advertisements.
But for those of us who blog anonymously, for our own personal ventilation and expression, there doesn't seem much point to the whole exercise.
There is, furthermore, the argument that some of the sites hosting these awards are commercial sites. In otherwords, sites generating income for their owners, directly or indirectly. And some of these awards probably draw huge amounts of traffic to their host sites.
For some, to be blunt, traffic = dollars.
So Dr Dork has decided to step back from further participation in this orgy of blogging awards. He wonders if it is like this every year ?
14 comments:
Noble, Dr Dork.
But do keep it in perspective. Like Dr Crippen said, it's all just a bit of fun really. Most people have no idea what a blog is. Just a bit of ego-stroking online. It's all some of us have, really, what with real lives in the medical profession.
For what it's worth though, good luck :)
:)~
But Dork, how much does a man-whore charge? I mean not that I am interested or anything...just for curiosity sake am I asking.
I'm with you, brother. I've been known to stroke my ego, and less intangible organs, and I'm not immune to compliments. But there's a certain unseemliness...
Dino,
Shoulda paid attention to your rules in the first place. They make a lot of sense.
AngryMedic,
It's not about nobility. It's about realising this stuff defeats the purpose of blogging - for me, personally. That's all. No impugnation intended...although I did intentionally use some inflammatory imagery and wording, I confess ha ha! Blogging with the thought of pandering to "a voting audience" made it start to seem like a chore for me. And I've been looking for an excuse for ages to mention blogs with ads that often promote services contradictory to the message/content of a post.
GW,
I don't want to know what that means!
SIMD,
Tuppence.
Sid, spot on.
Dork
United Kingdom bronze decimal coin worth two pennies....
thats all???
Just a bit of fun. I agree. It's always nice to know that others appreciate you.
Ha! My husband said, when he saw it, "MEDICAL BLOG AWARD? Good lord, do you mean physicians compete even on the INTERNET?" And I said, "Yes, dear, they can't seem to help themselves."
I hereby bestow upon you the "Independent-Thinking Doctor" award, Dork. You already kicked ass, but now you get a t-shirt.
Can you find man whores on eBay. Just asking:-)
MJ
I suspect that it's more than man-whoring and solicitations for votes. I bet that many people vote for themselves more than once on as many different computers and ISP addresses as they can get access to. Ooh stuffing the ballots is so easy to do.
Thank you, Maderine. My size is ExtraDorky.
Mother Jones,
Try Googling. Have fun. Bring penicillin.
Anon 1139,
Even I know how to change my visible IP address via a proxy, and I'm a dork, not a genuine nerd.
Dork
There's a spanish blog that's up for Best New Medical Blog 2006 with lots of votes. Not to badmouth the blog and sound like an ignorant American, but if the judges (who are mostly Yanks) can't understand the language, how can...Ah never mind. May the person who wastes the most amount of their time voting for themselves over and over win!
Anon 0233,
There is that Babelfish function to translate blogs...I did have it on here but misplaced it when switching to Beta..
Yeah, I didn't get nominated, either, and it made me sad for about a nanosecond, and then I realized that I don't blog for glory, I blog for the sake of blogging. If nobody likes it, they can bite me. Love ya, man! You get my award for best HONEST blog. :)
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