Just for fun, I'm going to hand out a bunch of imaginary awards for what I judge (imagine?) to be some of the best and worst blog-related things from last year. Before I begin, let me be very clear that these shouldn't be taken too seriously - if you get a crappy award, don't take it personally. (If you get no award at all, don't take that personally either.)
First up, best Google hit goes to: things people believe in such as santa clause , coca-cola etc-
Best meme: That'd have to be the Philosophers' Carnival. (Does that count as a meme? If not, we'll go with the superhero fad instead.)
Worst meme: I had hoped other bloggers would be more enthusiastic about taking the excellent IPIP-NEO personality test (and blogging their results), so I'm disappointed that idea never took off. (Hey, you reading this, it's not too late!) See also: Political survey.
Best post: I really can't choose. [I'd absolutely love to hear other people's opinions, however - please leave a comment!] Most of my important ones were mentioned in my previous post. Of the ones not mentioned there, I quite liked my summary of J.S. Mill's On Liberty.
Worst post: Umm... probably my post-election overreaction (though at least it contained lots of good links).
Craziest post: If squares were circles is a pretty wacky premise for discussion.
Most positive: Reflections (I recall being in a particularly good mood whilst writing that one.)
Most negative: I was pretty harsh when reviewing my uni courses.
Biggest splash: Easily my post on 'voting dogs' (gay marriage analogies). That received links from all over the blogosphere (by which I mean, 5 or 6 places).
Most neglected: Er, everything else? Nah, seriously though, I'd be interested to receive some feedback on my prisons & punishment post. When I described my ideas there to my older brother, he replied: "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say." I wouldn't mind a second opinion though :)
Most commented: Marriage & Childrearing.
Most worthwhile comments thread: I enjoyed the discussion with Brandon in the comments of Are evolved perceptions reliable?
Least worthwhile comments thread: Heh, constructing spider silk had a pretty low signal-to-noise ratio.
Most prolific commenter: GeniusNZ.
Most civil commenter: That's a tie between Brandon and Macht. Both are a pleasure to argue with.
Most uncivil commenter: Dallas, for this tirade.
Rudest email: framed and on display here.
Nicest review: Jason's, by far.
Harshest review: No-one's been too insulting yet (just a matter of time, I'm sure!). About the worst I've heard is one of my speculations being called "foolish" by The Cardinal Collective. *shrug*
Best counter-post: There aren't a huge number to choose from, but Brandon's followup to Political Fictions was pretty good.
Worst counter-post: Maverick Philosopher's followup to Logic & Possibility was pretty far off the mark (explanation here).
Best carnival (overall): Chris' one (carnival #7).
Best carnival (presentation): Brandon (carnival #2) wins this one hands down.
Right, that's pretty much everything I can think of right now. Comments are welcome, as always. Suggest a new award that I've missed, or offer your own judgments about the above ones, or whatever. I'd be especially curious to hear which of my posts (I'm hoping there are at least some) you guys have enjoyed reading. You're also welcome to mention any posts you thought were particularly bad, though if you could avoid insulting me too much in the process, that'd be grand.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
10 comments:
Visitors: check my comments policy first.
Non-Blogger users: If the comment form isn't working for you, email me your comment and I can post it on your behalf. (If your comment is too long, first try breaking it into two parts.)
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I tried to think of something witty to say in response, but I seem to be witless at the moment. So I'll just say thanks and it is also a pleasure on my end.
ReplyDeletePosted by Macht
~I tried to think of something rude to say, but i really wasn't expecting to win the award so I didn't come prepared. I'd just like to thank my mum and dad, my producer and the Good Lord who made it all possible. Happy New Year.
ReplyDeletePosted by consciousrobot
Thanks, Richard!
ReplyDeleteYou should have an award on the best category for posts, i.e., the category on your sidebar in which you've had the posts that are most consistently good. (My nominations for it would be Mind, followed by Ethics.)
Posted by Brandon
Geezz the only prize I won was for posting a lot..
ReplyDeleteoh well it's a prize anyway..
so..
thank you to richard and the rest of you for saying so much stuff I disagree with (in other-words being wrong hehe).
And for not becoming any more abusive than you usually are.
And thanks to my mom and dad and the guy who invented the computer it could not have happened without you.
Posted by GeniusNZ
"You should have an award on the best category for posts"
ReplyDeleteGood idea! I agree that 'mind' is probably best, all round. I quite like 'politics & society' too, though partisanship may limit the appeal of those posts. My personal favourite category might actually be 'logic & semantics', though I wouldn't expect those posts to be to everyone's taste.
How about worst category then? I think 'religion' would probably win that pretty easily. (My epistemology is also fairly weak, but I think the few posts I've written on that topic aren't so bad.)
Posted by Richard
I took the personality test, but I found it to be obviously biased to give particular kinds of results, and to forcibly interpret your opinions in particular ways - for example by really posing two question, and one is forced to answer both with the same answer. I didn't really get into a big discussion because I thought it was flawed.
ReplyDeletePosted by Tennessee Leeuwenburg
That should not be a problem as long as the test uses those results appropriatly.
ReplyDeleteI noticed however when I did it that some of the tests assumed associations between ideologies that are fairly american.
Posted by geniusNZ
The test ? If one doesn't know one's obvious characteristics by now and need a test to tell you .. well um .. maybe this is an ego thing ?
ReplyDeletePosted by Don quixote
yes of course i tried it ! see, ego.
ReplyDeletePosted by Don quixote
EGO is good!
ReplyDeleteIf anything we don't have enough of it.
By the way I commented on the prison and punishment post.
Posted by GeniusNZ