I don’t get it. I’m a very simple guy, but I really don’t get it. RWW posts about the Webbys like they matter:
This week the winners of the 11th annual Webby Awards, billed nowadays as the “Oscars of the Internet”, were announced at a ceremony in New York. Much of the publicity was over the fact that David Bowie was there (Prince attended last year). But other than that, what were the highlights of the Webbys? In this post we’ll review the winners list, and in particular the web 2.0 sites.
All up, there were nearly 70 categories. In the categories focused on web technology and social media, the clear winners were Flickr, LinkedIn and last.fm. Flickr picked up 3 awards (5 including two Peoples Choice ones), for Best Practices, Best Visual Design – Function, and Community. LinkedIn grabbed 2 awards, for Services and Social Networking. And last.fm won the Music category, plus was voted Peoples Choice for Best Practices.
Nowhere in the RWW article does it even mention that in order to be “considered” for a Webby you have to submit a $245 “application fee.” In other words, you pay; you play. My good friend Thomas Hawk has an opinion on this:
One thing though that I really don’t like about the Webby’s is that they basically are a racket intended to extract fees and money out of websites for their own profit. Don’t get me wrong. I kind of like the idea of a democratic process that helps refine the best internet sites out there.
And I think that sites like digg and delicious and reddit and a number of other sites help you find compelling new content. But you know what? digg and delicious and reddit don’t charge you a $245 to list your site on their service.
$245 is just unbelievable. Certainly I can understand entry fees for contests, but $245? What a crock.
From SFist: “We checked in with a friend of ours whose company won a Webby last year, and he confirmed our darkest fears. “They do this for an salary, not to celebrate the internet. They charge us the “processing fee” and also charged an entrance ticket fee (I think it was $250) to the awards ceremony.”
Another prominent blogger told us that “Apparently this year, they’ve extended the ‘nomination’ period at least once, maybe more, because I guess they haven’t made enough money. It’s most definitely a ‘who’s who’ type scam.” In the words of one of our esteemed colleagues, “That’s some racket the Webbys have going!”"
Indeed, it is some racket, and the worst part is that sites like RWW and many others keep granting them legitimacy, and they don’t mention the fact that it’s pay to play. Any company patting themselves on the back for winning one should really be embarassed. This isn’t democratic in any way. It’s a revenue generator for the people running the show and a shallow meaningless honor for those who win it.
Pardon me for not being impressed.
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