Blogger Yvonne, for those unfamiliar with her work, does a blog featuring her experiences living in Venice.
Her insights and in-depth enthusiasm for the minutiae of life there makes for lively, informative, interesting reading. Her photos are an added bonus because they transcend that old tourist variety one might expect for such a famous touristy city. Thanks to Yvonne, you start to think of Venetians are citizens of a real place, not some Disney World recreation, all tarted up for the tourist trade.
Yvonne dates her obsession with Venice back to 1980. (Some of her early photos….)
I like Yvonne’s blog a lot, being one of those people who loves Italy but was never fortunate enough to make it closer to Venice than Pordenone. (Ugh! Almost there! Almost!) I invite you to take a look!
So, it was frustrating to me to see my name on a list of bloggers Yvonne listed after someone nominated her for a blog award: I don’t do awards! The exchange between us follows:
Uh oh…!
I want to be nice about it because I appreciate the thought. Really!
Graciousness abounding!
Yet I feel I owe Yvonne more than a lame explanation, so I write a…lame explanation! [Cringe!]
This brings up a blog issue I never feel comfortable handling. No matter how I feel about these awards, when someone thinks enough of my little cat blog to encourage others to take a look at it, there should be a graceful, polite way to handle it without getting into maths. Or lame explanations…!
How about you? If you’re nominated for a blog award, what do you do? How do you feel about it? Do you check out blogs others nominate and (maybe) subscribe to some of them based on your inspection? Are you pleased or not pleased when your name appears on a list? If nominated, do you follow the standard instructions to thank the nominator, nominate x more blogs, and tell x number of things about yourself?
As Joan Rivers used to say, “Let’s talk!” 🙂
If I get nominated, I participate because it gives me an opportunity to pass along some of the blogs I like but are a little esoteric. I learned about a bunch of great art blogs the same way.
I generally nominate others, but I have the time to waste on that kind of fun. Other people don’t. So I’ve stopped doing it for the very reason you described. 🙂
I think this is what many people do.
Yes, I was nominated a few times, involving a lot of work, my response was to thank the appreciation, and go on posting about jazz.
I feel terrible for a while – too many awards could have a strange effect on my daily basis blogging! Please forgive me for being so rude!
I regret not having been nominated by http://sonmicloud.wordpress.com/ that sounds like some serious stuff – I am following the blog now – maybe next time I’ll get some award!
I get back to why I do blogs: to have a little fun and to be engaged in a mental activity that keeps me involved with other people, if indirectly. The awards detract from the fun (since I, too, feel bad rejecting a sincerely given accolade).
Of course I was joking when I was wishing to get that nomination from sonmicloud, but I’m following it anyways… 😀
Hey, I’m listening to your selection for the day (David Gilmore & EOC), thinking, even though I don’t particularly believe in awards, this is one guy — jazzyoutoo — who deserves something for his consistently great posts! Interesting coincidence!
you are very kind! I could get to know the boys better through their interview! I think you should ask them to write on your blog as collaborators!
Sometimes they are, but their main contribution is photos of themselves and behavior!
Was nominated only once, with the line: “Will probably not accept” … Tells you all … Did not accept – won’t do to disappoint my readers.
That is my choice as well, as I guess is well-known now.
Oh boy. I’ve only recently become vaguely aware of blog awards and at the same time became aware that some bloggers mention that they don’t do that stuff. I was also vaguely curious about why. Your post is very enlightening! Thanks!
I don’t think your explanation was lame, BTW. 🙂
Thanks! Many people do like them, and that’s their choice. Some tolerate them. Others, like me, prefer not to be brought into the game.
I wish I did live in Venice, weggieboy, but I can only spend several months there each year. The rest of the time, I moulder in tropical Queensland, feverishly counting the days until I can hop on the first of 3 planes that will take me to that amazing city.
I can believe that! You just are lucky to be able to do that!
Having read all these responses I’ll have to add my two cents. The Weggie Award was created to, unlike blog awards, offer recognition without any strings attached. I can only speak for myself, but it was also a chance to give back to the WP community. Again asking for nothing in return. I am notoriously bad at following up on awards and enjoyed working with Weggieboy on what I hope becomes an annual event. The blog awards are a great way to network and help bloggers to expand their horizons but are not for everyone.
Yvonne, all I can say is I hate Italian food. (Hee Hee)
One of the reasons I was happy to work with Tom on that list of some of our favorite blogs was it was a nice way to recognize bloggers in a way that encouraged others to take a look but didn’t require them to do anything but watch their following number climb when people followed the links to their excellent work! I was pretty sure it would work that way, and several of the bloggers noted they had seen an increase in their readers after Tom and I put up the list. I’m with Tom: it was a very positive experience, one I think Tom and I will try doing again next year or sometime!
I’d call it something other than Weggie Awards. I don’t know if Tom realized that name relates to Wegener’s granulomatosis. Dr. Wegener was a German pathologist who described the disease for the first time in the 1930s. There is some concern he also was uncomfortably close to a certain political party in the 1930s-1940s, and the disease recently was renamed GPA (Granulomatosis with polyangiitis), which always reads “Grade Point Average” to me and 99.999% of English-speaking humanity.
That said, I have no idea what I’d call it. Top Blogs. The “Read Me” List. I don’t know.
All this time I thought the name was the uncomfortable position underwear can take.
I agree it was a lot of fun to do and look forward to the next time. (but with a little more prep time) 😉
I’d trade a “wedgie” for “weggie” any day.
Too true.
Well, now I’m just going to lie back, relax and see what other folks think of these awards, wb.
Thank you so much for the wonderful description you provided of my blog; you do write very well.
I also have mixed feelings about this type of award. Part of me is gratified that someone thinks my blog is worth a mention, and lord knows that many of us want those pats on the back.
But, I dither about the step that asks me to select someone and then ask that person to follow the leader. All the many blogs I follow are worthy of attention, for extremely varied reasons.
I have in the past politely acknowledged the person who has bestowed an award, but have declined to take it any further. I always hoped they didn’t feel slighted by my response. (I wasn’t the least upset by your kind refusal, but if people who read my blog are smart, they might wander over to your site and find that they like it!)
So, let’s see what others have to say.
Interestingly enough, I think the consensus is that that’s the gracious way to handle these, with slight variations. Thank you for your thoughts on this!
In my opinion, anyone who loves Italy or ever wished to visit — let alone live in! — Venice will love your blog! It’s informative, well illustrated with your own photos, and doesn’t sugar coat the vicissitudes but doesn’t douse the flames of love for this wonderful Renaissance city!
Well, I could tell you how mom feels about them…may I call you wedgieguy?..I always mess up your name otherwise. She is delighted that someone thought of her and is chattering away a mile a minute. Then she realizes she has to name more blogs and tell peeps things about us that no one knows….then she is in a dither. She likes all the blogs she reads or she wouldn’t bother with them. Folk pretty well know everything about us…pretty soon mom’s going to have to tell peeps that Kali paints her nails and she had to spring me from jail when I got caught stealing nip….totally made up stuff, of course. What do ya say??
(((Shoko)))
Please, not “wedgieboy”! (Perhaps Canadians don’t do this, but there is a certain adolescent group, typically boys, who walk up behind other boys they mean to torment, grab the waistband of the victim’s underwear, and yank upwards! The end result is a “wedgie”, which I won’t describe. I never did that sort of thing.) The “weggieboy” name comes from a disease I have (Wegener’s granulomatosis), which is quite nasty if untreated (over 90% mortality rate within two years). It is a name I started using back before it struck me that people confused it with the unsocial adolescent behavior.
I tried switching to “phainopepla95”, my YouTube nom de cinema , but that would have meant changing the name of this blog, something others advised against. Feel free to call me “Doug”, a name that can be confused only with the name of one of my cats. He always is “Dougy”, however!
All that preliminary stuff out of the way, I totally understand the problem your Mom has: That I follow someone’s blog is de facto evidence that I like that blog! Though I try to periodically mention blogs I enjoy when an occasion comes up — for example, your response to this post — it’s hit and miss. That said, I hope people who’ve read this far tell themselves, “Gad, I need a dose of kitty bloggery!” and click on your link on the left! If you are new to them, they will find you are delightful. If they aren’t new to you, they already know that!
You, my friend are so much more than your illness…that’s why I don’t like using your illness name. I doubt mom would like to be called Rheumy or Epileptic…I know she’s more than that. So I will call you Doug. Thank you for your mentioning us. Mom can’t wait to go and read Yvonne’s blog. How do you manage reading blogs yet be so prolific with your own blogs? There is real life too…real life is very demanding and one can’t put it off till tomorrow.
Shoko
I don’t walk around sighing, saying, “Oh, poor me! I have this dreadful disease! Pity me!” So, I am happy to go by my real name, Doug! Besides, I’ve been in remission since April or May 2005, nearly 10 years, amazingly enough.
There are days I have a hard time getting through all the new posts, so I appreciate people who mostly post short items. I try to keep mine short, too, because I presume other people have limited time to spend keeping up with the new blogs of those they follow. (I try to focus on photos as much as I can, but some blogs lend themselves to more text than others.)
Of course, everyone has one of those occasional inspired, long posts, which I make the effort to read, though there have been days I had too many long ones to avoid spending a whole day on the computer, an undesirable situation since I do have a life outside of blogging! My volunteer activities came about as much as a foil to spending my whole time on the computer as to give back to my community.
Of course, having two kitties, I have responsibilities to them. Andy taps on my arm , meows, then runs off to let me know I need to get up and do whatever it is he wants (namely to get up!). Dougy is a really annoying whiner when he wants me to get up, usually to play wand toy games with him.
As for having inspiration to do daily posts, there are days I don’t have anything I want to put up. It used to bother me to leave an empty day. Not any longer! I used to leave weeks and months between posts, after all! Anyone wanting to build a following, though, needs to work on a regular schedule of posts, whether it’s daily, weekly, whatever.
I personally thank the person for nominating me, explain that I don’t accept any awards and then list them on my awards and collaborations page. That way I feel that it is a win-win for all.
I thank people, but I hadn’t thought to post the award that way. An interesting possibility…! The main thing is people nice enough to nominate you should receive a gracious response back. I haven’t settled on what that can be. It may be each person requires a different response, too.
I agree, definitely respond nicely as they put time and effort in finding bloggers to nominate.
Well, recently I had my own award ceremony with no onus whatsoever upon the people nominated nor those who won the awards, it was basically a way to show appreciation, without the whole’ chain letter’ thing you mention, which makes many people uncomfortable because I it like winning an award that has conditions. And those 15 or however many you then choose, have to choose another 15 or the like. What if they don’t have so many followers or they just haven’t the time to do it? They’ll feel crap. They just will. So much better to just do an appreciation post each year (or whenever you fancy), mentioning a few select bloggers and saying something nice, or daft as a brush like I did. Some will get a mention, some will not, no biggy, and it all went splendidly *smiles*. I was given an award myself, and knew that the blogger who nominated me for it genuinely loves my blog, so I thanked him, put it on my blog (because I am really chuffed he thought of me as so), and then explained I would be doing something rather different with no onus attached. If you want to give an award give it. No conditions no strings. That’s my two pence worth and here’s what I did instead – (hoping you don’t mind me illustrating my point here weggieboy) –
https://sonmicloud.wordpress.com/2015/01/18/the-cloudies-2014-2015/
In other words – I agree with you! *beams a smile*
– sonmi curtsying upon the Cloud.
No, I was hoping I got thoughts on this. I like the idea of featuring blogs I like during the year, too, because those posts invariably came out of some spontaneous response to something a specific blogger did that struck me as just plain exceptional, followed by a broader realization that the blogger regularly captured my attention in some agreeable way! Thanks for a detailed response! I encourage people to check out the link you posted, too!
Good grief!! How are you ever going to top that one, Cloud person? What a (insert adjective of your choice here) mind you must have.
Seriously, I doubt anyone will top that one!
*laughing* I know, I have made a rod for my own back eh?! My imagination spends a great deal of time in its padded cell, it escaped that day *winks* And thank you for mentioning the whole shebang.
– sonmi smiling upon the Cloud
Who hasn’t had one of those days possessed by some demented muse, a computer screen, and lots of ambition! That was an amazing post of a magnitude I don’t recall seeing any other place or time since I began blogging in 2009! I see the amazing jazzyoutoo, the Portuguese Jazzman, subbed you. He’s another blogger of amazing ambition who gives me a daily dose of really well-selected Jazz!
Why thank you! I enjoyed it all immensely too *beams a smile* and I’m glad to have some of your fine followers over this way too.
– sonmi upon the Cloud
That’s great!