Blogging Awards Controversy

As you know, blogs (also called as weblogs and personal publications) are regularly updated notes compiled by individuals on the web.

Dave Winer, the patriarch of bloggers, announced this week that he would recognize excellence in blogging, and instituted The Scripting News Awards.

He also opened a can of worms, by nominating sites without their consent, excluding those whose ego clashed with his own, and weighing heavily those that use his company's software.

I find the Blogging awards analogous to the Hollywood's Academy Awards -- rigged, incestuous, and yet having some value because the merit is judged by one's peers.

I neither use Winer's software (here's why), nor do I agree with all his nominations. But I do not understand why they are such a big deal. Perhaps Dave Winer is indeed a man everyone loves to hate.

I both like and dislike Winer. I like his ideas and dislike his frog-in-the-well-ness.

Wired Winer His stance on Palestine, Bush, Microsoft, and Jews are similar to mine. I believe he created the outliners. Outliners are cool. He talks a lot of about technology, has great vision, and (sometimes) provides great links. Dave can articulate his ideas well and I've found inspiration in them.

Tired Winer He is confused between non-violence and pacifism. Worse, he thinks they are same! He also created XML-RPC. XML-RPC is a solution in search of a problem. He doesn't distinguish between his company, and his person. Winer thinks old code base is good code base. He has some ego management problems. (What kind of narcissist gets an ISSN for a weblog?)

Links for the day:

Stories behind the stories: Photographing Muslim Women

BBC: FAQ on the Argentine Crisis

NDTV : Interview with a terrorist -- "Ghazi Baba just has to tell them and they start competing amongst themselves (to go on suicide missions)"