We all like presents, don’t we? And prizes – don’t forget prizes, especially prizes we receive out of the blue. After all, if we bloggers cast our bread upon the waters – give the world the benefit of our ineffable wisdom – it is because we hope that others will read and be suitably impressed. The award of a prize then confirms our dearest wishes.
And there is no shortage of prizes in the blogosphere. These days, it seems that everyone is giving them out… and receiving them.
There are, of course, some perfectly honest prizes out there. I define these as prizes created and handed out by an individual who retains all rights to the prize and is the only one to award it. These are fun and bring pleasure to recipients because they know that at least one person truly appreciates what they are doing.
But there is another sort. I have seen it compared with a meme, in Richard Dawkins’ sense, but I think it would be more appropriate to compare it with a virus. I am not going to name any of these prizes but will give you a generic example so you know what I am talking about. A quick look around the blogosphere should soon discover the real ones.
A blogger (the “Initiator”) thinks up a prize, to be awarded on fairly vague criteria. He awards it to, say, 6 blogs (the “Recipients”), on condition that they:
1. give the award to 6 others and
2. publish a link to his blog.
What is wrong with this? In the first place, ask yourself what reputable prize-giving organization casts a prize adrift and renounces all control over it. Can you imagine the Swedish Academy saying “Here’s the Nobel Prize for Physics, Professor Hawking, but in order to accept it you must pass it on to 6 other physicists of your choice, who then must pass it on to 6 others, who…”? Doesn’t make sense, does it? The prize would very soon be worthless.
Secondly, note that if everyone who accepts the prize passes it on to 6 others, the number of Recipients increases exponentially. Yes, that’s right: what we have here is a pyramid scheme, like the good old email saying “Copy this to 6 other people or you will suffer the most horrendous bad luck”.
Thirdly, the crunch question: who benefits? Well, it isn’t the Recipients, because at the rate this thing is spreading, everyone will soon have an award and awards (posibly even the honest ones) will therefore lose their value.
Who then gains? Why, the Initiator, of course! Having launched the thing, he sits back and watches his Google ratings grow day by day without lifting a finger. This is the same technique essayed by “splogs” or scraper blogs, except that they have actively to create links to your blog whereas, under this scheme, Recipients willingly do it themselves. It’s as easy as giving your lover your cold.
It’s a clever scheme, I’ll admit that. It fits in well with the free-wheeling and generous nature of the blogosphere. It pretends to help you while in reality it is using you to help itself. Like all parasites, it is deceitful, if it is nothing worse.
Tags: blog prizes
