Time for rampage!
Yes, it feels good to come back from a vacation, only to realize that everyone else is waiting for the release of the results. Where did all my committee members go? Without further ado, we present to you the results of the people’s choice awards. After close to 800 over legitimate voters, we finally came up with the winners for each category.
The winners, coming right up, after the break.
| Best Episodic Blog | Random Curiosity |
| Best Editorial Blog | Hop Step Jump |
| Best Team Blog | THAT Anime Blog |
| Best Manga Blog | THAT Anime Blog |
| Most Influential Blog | Danny Choo |
| Rookie of the Year | Borderline Hikikomori |
| Best Dorama | Ramblings of DarkMirage |
| Funniest Blog | Derailed by Darry |
| Best Satire Blog | Ex-Fansubber Hitorigoto |
| Best Seiyuu-Orientated Blog | j1m0ne’s blog |
| Most Thought-Provoking Blog | Hop Step Jump |
| Best Blog-related Comic | Mistakes of Youth |
| Best Figurine Blog | Danny Choo |
| Best Art/Doujin/Visual Novel Blog | Heisei Democracy |
| Best News Blog | Danny Choo |
Thoughts
Ok, considering that the ABA is finally over, I can shed the need to be objective, and be slightly more subjective in my opinion over the winners. I apologize ahead of time, as I am going to speak as a blogger and not the organizer of the ABA.
For my personal thoughts, many of the winners are highly popular blogs. Yet, the results did not surprise me. An example will be Danny Choo. Danny Choo has a much bigger user base than any of the other anime bloggers that is in the awards. Even though he did not actively advertise for himself, it is clear enough that there are enough people who would vote for him. That is perhaps why the results seemed somewhat rigged, with the tendency to show well-established blogs rather than more “indie” choices. That was part of the problem with a “People’s choice Award”, which is why the later results of the “Blogger’s choice” will be an interesting contrast.
Now, I have quite a few words on the awards that “That Anime Blog” has won. I am particularly surprised that we won the Best Manga Blog over established manga blogs. This reservation to embrace the award comes because the only resident manga blogger, Extrange, has been generally dead. I feel a bit awkward that we won that category, but it is the pitfall of “popularity on the net”. It is your brand name, rather than what you really achieve. That is perhaps something that we (or whoever thinks that they can do a better job) will definitely rectify by the next ABA.
On the other hand, I am extremely delighted to win the “Best Team Blog”, since that is what I always hope to win. It is perhaps somewhat boastful, but I believe that our blog had a good chance of getting it. Nonetheless, I felt that we might not have won it if Epic Win is actually active enough to get some votes. I am pretty sure that there are enough legions of intense supporters that will expect them to win it. Nonetheless, I thank all readers of the blog for voting us in this category. It is a blast.
However, this is not the end. After the popular vote, we will also be releasing the Blogger’s choice. Who are the blogs that have earned the most respect from fellow bloggers? We will be giving you the answer soon.
The original entry is found in the ABA website. Trackback to it, and start the dorama / praise.
17 Comments
Clearly they do not know what they’re missing out on. Baka-Raptor should’ve won funniest blog btw lols but I do not read Derailed by Darry, so yeah …
Welcome back Impz!
Hope your presentation and trip both well okay
And congrats to everyone here for winning
Thanks for jumping on this so quick Impz. I think most of the awards look fair, although the manga award did give me pause (as you mentioned). As this is the first award year, it makes sense that voters are considering past success. Also, popular blogs worked very hard to establish their fan bases, so there is no reason why they should not win.
You can simply say that no blog can win a certain award two years in a row to prevent UBER BLOG X from winning every year.
Congrats to all the winners and THAT for winning Best Team, although I kinda went (ºдಠ)lolwut when I saw the result for Best Manga, hehe.
Popular vote = people voting for what impresses them visually.
So I’m not too surprised at the results.
I agree it’s great you had two separate votes like this, so we can see the contrast. DrmChsr0 said it right where pure popularity often equals visual appeal, especially on the Internet.
But congrats to all the winners so far!
@VSky: It did go very well in fact. I fell sick during my trip to my gf though, but it is a good thing it only truly lasted for 1 day. She really had to take care of my health there.
@Kabitzin: Well, my belief is that most people’s choice awards has a problem with homeostatsis, or the reinforcement of status quo. I have a strong suspicion for that to happen, and it did. We will be doing just that, so no worries. We do value any feedback, or for anyone to usurp us and do the glamorous awards themselves.
@Shin: Trust me, I was like lolz what when I was seeing the progress of both awards. It’s just so queer to see us up there in the best manga blog.
@Drm: True, but I was expecting them that it does not fully follow the favorite script. It’s a sad thing that the people’s choice did, which is why the blogger’s choice will provide an interesting contrast.
Impz and Drm: I think you are both making some assumptions on why certain blogs won. Readers/lurkers didn’t have a field to put in justification, so there is no way to know why they voted the way they did.
I don’t think the results are sad at all, especially since readers are less likely to be swayed by friendships (which happens with bloggers). Also, at no point did the voters know the standings in the people’s choice.
@Crisu: Hmm, i wonder if it is truly visual appeal though, or the fact that they just come in earlier than most. Yet, my study does not seem to support that at all.
@Kabitzin: But we all make assumptions, or make predictions why a certain candidate wins in the presidential elections. I mean, there must be some reasons why people vote on a certain candidate such as OBAMA compared to clinton. Oh, before I go into behaviorial studies, I will stop right there.
Nonetheless, I do not really think it is sad as in “sigh, this is the sad state of the people’s choice” but more like “i want more dark horses for cool conspiracy theories”.
Yeah but if that happened, the indie awards would not be as exciting I think.
I’m satisfied with the results, except for the manga award. I don’t see why people hate popular things with such passion. It’s true that the visual aspect is the one that draws someone to read a blog in the first place, but the reason people keep coming back is because of the writing.(If someone has a blog that is plain white with text, does it make it deeper than other blogs?) I would’nt read a blog with nice visuals but poor or boring writing. all these blogs have worked hard to become interesting, efficient and kind to the readers, and that is why they’re popular.
There’s some assumption that cynical or underground writing is more “intellectual” or funny writing. This may explain why some people are disappointed from the results, but I don’t see how this assumption is logical none the less.
I’m also not sure about how you got Manga Blog…I really don’t think of this as a manga blog site at all (sorry).
I also think Epic Win could have easily competed under Funniest or Team.
Hey All,
Just wanted to add that I always do my best to link to rookies all the time. I think its important to share traffic with new up n coming blogs.
Some of the blogs on the winners list dont link to rookies and only link to “official” sites which is not healthy for the community
THIS IS RIGGED!!!! I DEMAND A RECOUNT!!!! (j/k ROFLMEAO) ^^
Impz, I’m not dead, I’m with Writer’s Block….and it’s as sticky as a jealous Yandere on a cheating bastard.
I’ve just came back from Rock in Rio, and it was a concert with Orishas, Kaiser Chiefs, Muse, Offspring and Linkin Park. Please ignore any typos, drunken blabbling or throwing up.
What Impz said it’s true; while the manga posts I make are few to be considered a manga blog, it’s rather my fame as a manga addict on #animeblogger and with the community in general that gave us the award. Even so, that makes the award more interesting, since the winner’s knowledge and personality managed to bypass the actual written work he has…..and why the hell I’m talking in the 3rd person?
Anyway, let me get some sleep , I’m awake for 27 hours and all those Red Bulls are losing effect. If I manage to awake later I’ll finish my goddamn post about Shonen Rival -.-Y
It’s possible that some voters voted simply by who they know in some categories because they either don’t know the other nominees or they don’t read blogs of that category. Being more popular automatically gives you a good chance to get loads of voters in any categories.
But overall the results are pretty interesting. Some that I thought would have an easy win ended up not winning at all lol
Had some ideas to contribute in the improvement of the next ABA but amnesia/mind fart struck. Anyway I hope there will be post mortem for some constructive discussion.
And lemme add a suggestion, and I hope you still remember it as well Impz, I WANT a MOST NSFW Award for the next one. (^.^)
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