Winning without the trappings
AS MUCH AS I like the award-winning Kelly McErlean and in deference to a high-quality list of judges, I have to wonder how the Golden Spiders can accept nominations for "blog of the year" when many on the short list are noteworthy for their absence from blogrolls, Irish blog aggregations, RSS feeds, or community cross-talk. Winning a Golden Spider for best Irish blog without the major architectural elements of a weblog is like a company winning a best e-commerce award without a secure payment system in place.
As predicted by several industry observers, the Golden Spiders team have eroded the quality of the new media awards system in Ireland. Commentators should note this fact and the organisers should be publicly identified for their publicity-happy tactics. If left unchallenged, they could bring the industry into disrepute.
The 2005 rendition of the Golden Spiders was a Business & Finance event.
An alternative industry structure: IIA Net Visionaries.
