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The Final Countdown:
Well its five hours to go until the voting for the JIB awards finish.
There's a half a world between me and the rest of most of you.
Living in Australia, in the outback is very hard. I don't have the usual 'Jewish connections', in fact I see my Rabbi and Shule in Sydney, very rarely every time I do a 4ookm journey to Sydney.
We will be moving in 6 months time back to Sydney from this beautiful but very remote place that we live in. Its tough being were we live, unlike most of you, you see the Internet as simply a auxiliary connection to a few Jews speckled around the world.
The fact of the matter is, to us Danielle aka Baleboosteh, and myself Aaron ,aka Bagelblogger you are our world.
It may sound really lame, but every moment we spend on the computer on the Internet is in an effort to try to connect with other fellow Jews. For us there is at the moment no other way.
You are our family, and like families we do argue, we do disagree occasionally.
Now I will not deny that any one voting for Danielle or myself in the next 5 hours would be greatly appreciated, the voting in our class is very very tight.
Danielle: Best Photo/Graphics Blog
Aaron: Best of the Rest
Aaron: Best Designed Blog
But I'd like to talk about something else.
Something more important than winning.
I'd like to talk to all the fellow bloggers out there (like us) who dont have 350 commenters visiting their blogs, the bloggers who sometimes question themselves why they blog, and do they really get the return of the energy and emotion that they put in, back out.
All the smaller bloggers who have tirelessly advocated for Israel, tirelessly spread positive words and wrote advocating on Jewish issues.
There will be a few happy winners to day, they will get their JIB award for best..., whatever.
Some of them will go on and announce to the world 'Winners of 17 blog awards in the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards', something that they should be ashamed of.
To the organization that pretended to support these awards, but actually used them as a cynical self promotion exercise, you should be ashamed of your selves. You will now have the chutzpah to publicize your 'awards' and announce yourselves as the award winning blogs of....
To these blogs and to their owners, you have done a disservice to yourselves and to the other bloggers which blog with such a passion.
The greatest disservice is the theft, yes strong word, theft of an award which should go to the bloggers who blogged all year round, not just when the awards are coming up.
To the bloggers who slogged it out, and wrote regardless of the lack of acclaim and thanks, who receive very little recognition, you are the real winners of these awards. You are the ones most worthy.
The bloggers who wrote 70 posts a month or more during the Lebanon War, not the bloggers who wrote 19 posts in the whole of 2007.
I would like to address the real winners of this years JIB Awards competition.
The bloggers who refused to compromise, refused to do things they knew weren't right. They refused to vote for themselves more than once. They refused to change they're behaviour despite the presence of Arutz Sheva and other organizations blogs.
This was never a level playing field, It was never a fair test of who has a good blog, it was simply, who was best at ambush marketing themselves, sending the largest number of spams, getting the best media campaign and even to the point of acting unethically.
There's only one winner in these JIB's, and its not the people who won JIB awards, its the people who refused to compromise on what they knew was right and what is wrong.
Your know who I'm talking about, and to those people you are the winners.
Shalom Aaron
Mr Bagel
I live in Australia so 10pm vote closing time is not 10 pm closing time for me.
I've woken up especially early to write this post, its 5 am, and its is absolutely freezing.
I wish all the ethical jbloggers out there the best of luck.
Always FreshBagelblogger
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Always FreshBagelblogger
In a bizarre scenario Mr Bagel happen to be on the computer burning the early morning oil, I noticed Akiva was logged into his gmail account.
Which for me was surprising as I dont think I've ever had more than one conversation with Akiva via gmail. I don't think either of us are the 'messaging guru' type.
I glanced occasionally noting who might be on board the Gtalk express but was really too occupied to take any real notice.
After finishing the New Mystery Blogger Series in the wee hours of this morning I decided it might be a good time to see how much I'm being trounced in Best Design Blog [results and voting] and how well (yay!!) in the JIB's I'm going in 'Best Of the Rest Blog' [results and voting]
Now I happen to care about the results of the JIB, and I make no apologies for this.
Best New Blog
Best New blog is an interesting category as its a good indicator (or should be) of rising stars of the JBlogosphere I have been keeping any eye on it to see who is who in the zoo.
Now I was pretty surprised considering the technorati ranking and traffic that Jew and the Carrot gets that they have managed to all of a sudden tally- 465 votes.
I brought this to Akiva's attention:
(I have no malice I don't know who runs this blog nor do I overly particularly care)
Akiva has stated:
"Our investigation has shown a valid cause for the vote surge you spotted with The Jew and The Carrot. Turns out this blog is associated with an organization, and they emailed the whole organization to come vote. 5 minutes after their email, the vote surge started. The surge did not show any symptoms of previous hacks, all votes appeared kosher, only the pure volume. (And that's why we suspended to do more research, a hack that clean would require an immediate stop to maintain integrity.)
We have now actually received an email from another org blog, noting the surge via the email (seems they share some members, who forwarded the email to them), and intend to do the same.
If the JIBs are run in the future, clearly rules about HOW and WHERE one can ask for votes (like, only on the blog or be disqualified) as well as specific categories for organization, professional, and media blogs versus private bloggers must be created.
--Akiva
BB: Akiva makes some good points, what do others think about this?Always FreshBagelblogger
: Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards * JIB * JIB awards * JIB awards voting * Jew and the Carrot * BestNew Blog * JIB's * Jewish * Mr Bagel * BagelBlogger * Bagel BloggerJew *
Several of Arutz-7’s own blogs, as well as some authored by Arutz-7 staff, have made it into the final round of JIB voting: Tamar Yonah – Israel National Radio's long-running star broadcaster - Best New Blog (click to vote) and Best Jewish Right-Wing Political Blog (click to vote) Israel Beat - Israel National Radio's famed host of Jewish Music show The Beat, Ben Bresky – Best Jewish Music Blog (click to vote), Best Jewish Podcast: Jam Session (click to vote) and Best Jewish Podcast/Audio/Video Blog (click to vote) Eishet Chayil - Israel National Radio show host Malkah Fleisher's blog - Best Cooking Post (click to vote) ADDeRabbi - Arutz-7 Latest News Correspondent Elli Fischer's long-running blog - Best Jewish Religious Blog-Post: Ball-Playing Rabbis (click to vote), Best Torah Blog Post: Why God Chose Abraham (click to vote), Best Jewish Picture or Video Post: Sukkot on Campus (click to vote) and Best Jewish News-Post: The RCA Conversion Scandal: What's the Real Issue? (click to vote) Point of Pinchas - Arutz-7 photography contributor Pinchas Orbach - Best Jewish Photo/Graphics Blog (click to vote), Best Series: Only in Israel (click to vote), Best Jewish Picture or Video Post: "It Shall Come to Pass": 7 NBN Summer 2007 Flights (click to vote) and Best Jewish Personal Blog (click to vote)
If you think this is a recommendation list then good for you,...
If you click on any of these links then you're even more stupid than the rest of the bloggers in the JIB's including Mr Bagel! And Believe me we have been Stupid!
I want to be sick....
Now I'm going to get a lot of flack for this post, but I'm not going to sit here and watch these Awards be stolen away!Too be quite frank I am sick of hearing 'We will adress that next year'
I want every single Jblogger to look at this list and if you were beaten by any of these blogs you need to ask yourself was it fair that these blogs were on a National newspaper and you weren't?Why didn't the committee say something?
Why will they only act next year?
Now before you go saying I'm acting in self interest.
Right, now I'm actually Leader of Best of the Rest
If you think Mr Bagel might just be slightly sarcastic about the fact there are so many blogs directly associated with Arutz Sheva that got a major mention on the page below then you might be just a teeny bit closer to the truth.Have a look how many of them are actually either winning or coming a place. Then think about how many bloggers that have blogged all year are going to miss out on that finals badge because they were gazumped by Arutz Sheva blogs.
Jewish Blog Awards Empower Alternative Voices
by Arutz-7 Staff
[Its just we dis-empower the alternative voices by not mentioning any of them except the ones that are by our staffers and our associates.-BB]
Fundamentally Freund – Arutz-7's first blog, by Michael Freund - Best Overall Blog (click to vote), Best Jewish Right-Wing Political Blog (click to vote) and Best Israel Advocacy Blog (click to vote)
Kumah – Arutz-7 News Editor Ezra HaLevi, Israel National Radio Program Director Yishai Fleisher, Radio Host Malkah Fleisher, Correspondent Gil Ronen, Radio Host Ze'ev Orenstein and Photography Contributor Pinchas Orbach and others - Best Group Blog (click to vote), Best Contribution / Jewish Blog that Made a Difference (click to vote), Best Slice of Life in Israel Blog (click to vote), Best Designed Jewish Blog (click to vote), Best Israel Advocacy Blog (click to vote), Best Jewish Humor Blog Post: Becoming a Real Israeli (click to vote) and Best Jewish Religious Blog-Post: The Shabbat Candle Ladies (click to vote)
Israel Perspectives - Israel National Radio Campus Radio talk-show host Ze'ev Orenstein's long-running political commentary blog - Best Jewish Right-Wing Political Blog (click to vote)Always FreshBagelblogger
: JIB's have been hijacked * Arutz Sheva * Arutz Sheva Shame * Israel National News Disgrace * JIB Shame * JIB's Rorted * JIB * Jewish * Mr Bagel * BagelBloggerBagel Blogger * Jew *
Cross posted at Baleboosteh - originally posted 2nd May
As many will know, I have been feeling a bit annoyed over the past few days. There have been somethings I have wanted to say. The time has come to say something because it has really been eating away at me.
Batya has posted an article today, which for me is just the tip of the ice burg, you can read it here.
In the article Batya speaks of the difference between blogs with a large base of readers due to lots of friends and family and those who are 'media-based'.
She goes on to say:
"Dry Bones is great, but he has been featured in the Jerusalem Post for decades. He shouldn't be running in JIB Awards against ordinary bloggers, even the megas. The same goes for Tamar Yona of Arutz 7. She's a major radio personality there."
This is the comment I have left on Batya's blog:
"Hi Batya,
I understand where you are coming from and I agree somewhat.
Dry Bones does have a great blog and it is very popular.
Tamar Yonah however, may be a 'major radio personality', but she certainly is not a 'major' blogger.
Check her technorati ranking here
Rank: 536,218 (22 links from 9 blogs). It seems she gets hardly any traffic to her blog, yet she managed to get almost 200 votes all up in the 2 categories she was nominated in, even beating Aussie Dave in one of them!
Now, I ask, these are 'blogging' awards aren't they?
I don't remember the JIB's being radio awards?!
It was never supposed to be a popularity contest, it is supposed to be about awarding quality blogs, but now it seems its a contest who can rort the voting the most, it seems you don't really even need to have a blog."
I am sick of it. I am sick of the amount of people who have rorted these awards, and who expect other bloggers - 'real bloggers' not to say anything. It is not just this one, it has happened in other categories also. There were a few other blogs that either have basically very few readers and/or post very rarely and yet have somehow managed to get heaps more votes than some of the very well known bloggers who have large readerships.
This is certainly not a case of sour grapes - and I don't care what anyone says about that, but, I was against a similar blog in the 'Best Personal Blog' group I was in. The 90th Minute, this blogger also happens to be a journalist with articles appearing in publications including Haaretz, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Jerusalem Post and European Jewish Press. Her technorati ranking can be found here, she is ranked Rank: 1,083,235 (8 links from 4 blogs)
Considering her readership and traffic to her blog, I find it hard to believe just over 100 votes have been from legitimate readers and not from the fact she is in the media and able to pull votes that way.
Another 'blog' that is in the service industry is JobMob. JobMob is a web site which helps people find jobs in Israel. They qualified in the JIB's for Best New blog with 79 votes (placed 2nd behind Tamar Yonah) and just missed out qualifying for Best Overall Blog with 68 votes. Both nominations of which I find a joke.
It seems that some journalists/ media organisations and service industries are using these awards purely as a promotional campaign to expose themselves to traffic and further their media profiles.
It is the real bloggers who are suffering because of this. The awards have been well run by the committee, but in hind sight, there really needs to be some form of criteria for each category for blog nominations to prevent this sort of abuse - it is not what the awards are supposed to be about.
---------------------------------------
UPDATE - 12th May
Seems voting can be quite a strange thing.
We all know the finals are underway, but there are blogs that finished the last round of voting on, say, 140 votes that in this final round have only 20 votes after almost 3 days of voting. For example:
JSpot: 140 votes last round - this round after almost 3 days: 20 votes (at time of writing)
Muzzlewatch: 206 votes last round - this round after almost 3 days: 17 votes (at time of writing) and also in another category 213 votes last round - this round after almost 3 days: 18 votes (at time of writing)
90th Minute: 50 votes last round - this round after almost 3 days: 2 votes (at time of writing) they actually won their category of best personal blog last round.
There are many more examples and also plenty of examples of the reverse - that is blogs who scrapped through last round with a small score but have managed to significantly increase on that score this final round after almost 3 days of voting.
There are also some real stand outs who are going really well with gathering voters. Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen went straight through last round along with all that were nominated in the Kosher Food category. So far he has 216 votes! I wonder what the final vote tally will be there, sounds like it will be huge.
Always FreshBagelblogger
: Mr Bagel Chatter * Mr Bagel & JIB's * JIB * Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards * Mr Bagel Contests * Mr Bagel Chatter * Blog Awards * JIB's * BagelBlogger * Bagel Blogger * Jew
JIB JIB Awards JIB's Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards
"Not sure what happened to my original comment, but I'll try again.Now that I've alerted this to a wider readership, I wonder if they'll publish the comment or - more importantly - encourage their readers to explore the other blogs.
Guys, the whole point of these "awards" is to introduce new readers to Israeli, Jewish, and pro-Israel blogs. So I would hope you would encourage your readers to look at the other such blogs, rather than just ask them to vote for Arutz Sheva affiliated blogs. After all, these "awards" are meaningless as actual awards. I should know - I invented them. "
Thank s Dave! IsraellyCoolJIB JIB Awards JIB's Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards
First of all, thank you Mr. Bagel, I'm proud to join.
I have a lot to say about how JIB Awards is progressing, but most is/was going on in private email discussions.
I hadn't expected to get into the finals, so I feel good about it.
I've gotten my votes without sending letters to all the email lists and everyone in my addressbook. I just wanted to see how ordinary people see my blogs. Even though Arutz 7 sometimes posts my articles on their opinion page, I don't get paid in any way, and I'm not one of the blogs they're promoting in the awards.
Yes, it seems like some blogs are getting mega publicity. Not only aren't all the voters bloggers, but not all the voters even read blogs on a regular basis.
You don't have to be a CPA's daughter (which I am) to see that it distorts the numbers. But since we can't change the rules mid-ride, let's just hope that some of those "doing a friend a favor" will get hooked and start reading blogs and even blogging.
Shavua Tov!
Always FreshBagelbloggerJIB JIB Awards JIB's Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards
Originally Posted Mr Bagel 10th May
With the JIB Awards about to begin their final round of voting, I thought it might be a good idea to reflect in a positive way about what it all really means.
Some of us are going to be madly running as fast as we can towards the finish line, ringing up neighbours, friends, emailing people we have neglected in a sudden display of ummhh 'sincerity', all to hasten our arrival to the finish line.
Some of us are so focused on the tape at the end of the race, that I wonder have we actually considered what is at the finishing line?
Could it be that Just like Willie Coyote we're busy inventing new ways to go faster and get more votes only to realise that once you have passed the finishing line their may actually be nothing there?
As in this metaphor that I've 'appropriated' from Warner Brothers', its not always the first to get somewhere that wins.
These are my first JIB's and in the spirit of positiveness and candidness I've done some things I'm not so proud of.
I've neglected my friends, I've neglected my family, I've been so busy 'with the awards' I haven't visited the people I know will still be there when this is all over.
In a moment of clarity and self realisation, I'd like to pause and share something with you.
Being involved initially in helping with these awards, was for me something I was very proud of.
I really did have only noble intentions, in fact I would have been quite happy not to run.
But whilst I was busy helping with these awards initially, something happened.
I changed from being an 'us' to a 'one' of them. I don't know why, I hadn't changed in any great way, but I felt a disconnect from the JBlogging community as a whole, I've never felt before.
Needless to say, after spending so much time working on a certain project and to think i had finished it, only to have it fail, I felt disappointed, and some what bitter.
That's the down side to my experience in helping with these awards.
I may sound like a broken record but I would like to make two observations:
1. Any one that helps run the JIB's in general is worthy of our respect.
2. Any one that helps with these awards, needs professional help.
Whoa? Yes, I ask you look at the track history of the Jewish Blogging Awards.
Its path is strewn with more dismembered bodies (people who wanted to make a difference) than the total number of awards given out.
These awards haven't all been bad for me thou.
I've got to meet some blogger who I would not have normally had the chance nor inclination to talk with. Some of them I argued seemingly about every single point, but given the chance to meet with them in real life now I would jump at the chance.
I've focused on making changes on my blog which all though requiring more work will ultimately make both my blog more enjoyable to read, and blogging more enjoyable to pursue.
I've formed an incredibly good friendship with a blogger. One of those very rare friendships you know will last as long as you do.
I've had people who normally wouldn't come to my blog actually come to check it out.
Whether they come with friendship in mind doesn't really matter, they came and that in itself gives the chance of friendship.
If I could change anything about myself and the JIB's what would it be?
I must admit I have in some ways I admired Cosmic X's position, he has refused point blank to seek the 'prestige' of these awards. Something which I know is in the Torah, and I think for good reason.
When we allow ourselves to be overtaken by our own sense of importance, or our own sense of what seems important to us at the time, we neglect the really 'important' things in life.
The partner who you have stopped talking to because you're so 'busy now', your children who you keep sending away telling them to find something to do, when all they want is what they had previously and seem to have in some way have lost - your love.
You know, as I sit here and type, I no longer 'imagine' winning a an award, I simply sigh, wish they would finish, and hope in some way I can make it up to the people I do love and have let down.
Shalom Aaron.Always FreshBagelblogger
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