Pingback by Daily J » Topic » Japan blogs of the year 2007

December 18, 2007 @ 3:17 pm

[…] We are also running against Trans-Pacific and they are shamelessly trying to bribe their readers into voting for them. We would never do that but rumour has it Jnewbie is offering a free round of beer, Osaka bloggers. Vote for the underdog! […]

Comment by Tori (DailyJ)

December 19, 2007 @ 12:43 am

All the praying little Japanese children in Japan won’t save you from the wrath of JapanNewbie and DailyJ!

Muhahahahaha!

Comment by Garrett DeOrio

December 19, 2007 @ 12:57 am

Day one and you’ve thrown your support behind Japan Newbie. Noble. Focused.
Now the question is when you guys are going to urge your supporters to vote for TPR in the hopes of pushing Japan Probe down to at least third.

Comment by Ken Worsley

December 19, 2007 @ 3:46 am

I voted for Observing Japan.

From all ten of my IP addresses! Muhahahaha!

Comment by Garrett DeOrio

December 19, 2007 @ 10:24 am

Dude, so did I, on the assumption that you were going to vote for us. Damn. Now how are we going to get WJT T-shirts or coffee mugs?

Comment by Ken Y-N

December 19, 2007 @ 12:33 pm

Thanks for the link backs - it’s a shame that one blog has to picked as you’re all winners in my eyes, or some such anodyne words.

If you’re after WJT t-shirts, I will be soon opening a wee web shop. I’ve got yet another cunning money-making plan, this time for a series of Cafe Press-based tat. Err, fine quality merchandise, I mean.

Comment by Garrett DeOrio

December 19, 2007 @ 12:49 pm

Tat is great, but knowing we beat our betters is better.

I hope you keep this going. Perhaps make it byzantine and lengthy in order to drag the process out, thus bringing even more traffic, etc.

Comment by Ken Y-N

December 19, 2007 @ 3:16 pm

Good idea Garrett - either have a best-of-three vote-off or just eliminate the lowest voter each week.

Or perhaps have a Big Brother-type vote; a premium phone line where you call up to register who should be kicked out of the Japan Blogosphere.

Seriously, the extra traffic is nice for me, but Google doesn’t seem to share the same opinion. This month I think my TLAs are going to out-perform AdSense…

Comment by Garrett DeOrio

December 19, 2007 @ 3:55 pm

An idea off the top of my head - a combination of college football’s BCS ranking system and Latin American elections:

1. An open nomination period, as there is now.

2. The judges (you), weed out link-farms, blogs with no recent posts, or other invalid nominations (say, an average of less than once a month, posts that are solely links to or quotes from other blogs, blogs that are neither from nor about Japan, etc.)

3. Based on the number of different blogs nominated, the judges set a threshold for entry (i.e., at least two nominations) and place each nominee in one of the categories based on the category into which the blog was nominated and the judges’ judgement.

4. An open voting period in which voters choose a top three, in order, in each category and points are awarded: 5 points for a first place vote, 3 for a second, 1 for a third.

5. The top three point-earners in each category after the open vote advance to the final round. This could be a straight up vote for the best, as now.

6. Concurrent to the open final vote would be a closed vote among all of the nominees in a category - both those knocked out in the first round and those still in - using the aforementioned point/ranking system.

7. Somehow (I haven’t thought this through), the nominees’ vote would be weighted to balance the public vote. Both winners would be announced, then the votes would be combined to choose an overall winner, with the judges acting as tie-breakers or decision-makers in close calls or unclear situations. If one of the judges’ blogs is still involved, that judge would recuse himself or concede the race.

8. Once the category winners are announced, the split public vote/nominees’ vote process would be repeated to determine the overall Best Japan Blog of the Year.

If all goes well, and logistics could be worked out, we could even organize an event or party at which the winners are announced, or the final results are tabulated. Or we could have a conference/event winner and an on line winner.

This could be a month-long or six-week contest.

Comment by Ken Y-N

December 19, 2007 @ 11:09 pm

Garrett, it’ll take me a month just to understand these rules!

Comment by Ken Worsley

December 20, 2007 @ 2:00 am

How about forget steps 1-8 and just have a party?

Comment by Tori

December 20, 2007 @ 3:59 am

I have to agree with Ken there, skipping to the party would be much simpler

btw, if you want to add a comment notification plugin for TPR you can download it from here.

Spread the word

Comment by Tori

December 20, 2007 @ 4:02 am

“Now how are we going to get WJT T-shirts or coffee mugs?”

I’m sure Ken Y-N is going to give them to all of us, romour has it he is “good for it.”

Comment by Garrett DeOrio

December 20, 2007 @ 10:00 am

I figure steps one through eight by giving everyone something to bitch about at the party.

Comment by Steve Schapiro

December 21, 2007 @ 5:50 pm

I like the complicated rules/bicameral voting thing. Why not host the voting at one site, and have the other act as judges or sth like that?

Comment by Garrett DeOrio

December 25, 2007 @ 3:34 am

Well, for what it’s worth, it is now the wee hours on Christmas morning and, after pulling ahead, building up a lead, and losing it, TPR is 13 votes behind Observing Japan, which had the lead at the very beginning. I don’t know if Ken Y-N has determined the winners or closed voting yet, but I doubt much will change.
Our congratulations to Observing Japan, it was fun. In spite of myself, I did check the tallies at least once a day and I suppose I’m competitive enough to want to win in just about any contest in which I find myself.

Comment by Ken Y-N

December 25, 2007 @ 8:29 am

I’ve closed voting, but I’m at work right now, and there is no way in the Democracy plugin to disable a vote or just display the results, which is a bit of a bummer!

Glad you all enjoyed it, and you were both helped by Japan Probe not asking their readers to vote!

Comment by Garrett DeOrio

December 25, 2007 @ 11:42 am

Quite true. Once I saw Japan Probe in the category, I assumed JP would take 3/4 of the vote.

Comment by Cal Hobbs

December 27, 2007 @ 5:15 am

Garrett
Had you consulted any Chicagoan you might have fared better in this poll. A Chicagoan could have reminded you of the legacy of the late, great Mayor of Chicago - Richard Daley (not to be confused with his son, the current pretty-damn-good Mayor of Chicago - Richard Daley. (The elder was Richard J and the current is Richard M I think but I could have the initials reversed.)

Anyway, I digress. But the late Mayor (da Mayor to all true Chicagoans) would have told you to encourage your fans to VOTE TWICE! And vote again for dead relatives because in words probably falsely ascribed to the late Mayor - if a man was a good citizen his death shouldn’t stop him from voicing his choices at the polls. Hey, it worked. It got Kennedy elected in ‘60 and without da Mayor’s efforts that would not have happened so there would not have been a Camelot and Richard M. Nixon would have been in and out of the White House before those pesty burglars left the tape on the door at the Watergate so deep throat would not have had anything to talk about in the parking garage.

So by losing this poll you just might have changed history.

Comment by Garrett DeOrio

December 27, 2007 @ 5:02 pm

Well, the guy who beat us, Tobias Harris, author of Observing Japan is a Chicagoan. Come to think of it, he did have a big overnight surge in the polls. . .
But then again, so did we.

Maybe that’s the trouble, Mr. Harris is running his site like Daley and I’m managining this one like Marion Barry.