I am somewhat confuzzled and bemused.
Let me start by saying congratulations to ShaunOakes.com for his nomination in the 2008 bloggies. As well as Tertia and Gladtobeagirl. Great work for SA and the SA bloggers!! I have asked all my SA Rocks readers to get over to the bloggies page and vote!!
Now I have read shaunoakes.com before. Once or twice. Nothing more. Maybe I am stuck in a little SA blogosphere bubble but I tend to think of myself as well read and on the pulse of the sphere. In this case I missed out.
Can someone explain to me how shaunoakes.com has been nominated as best African weblog of the year for the bloggies 2008? The key here is AFRICAN. I could maybe just understand or grasp the nomination if it were purely South African. But are you telling me that his blog is the best of what Africa has to offer? If so, let me know why and I’ll change my mind, but I’m lost.
I am not saying any of this to imply that I am any better, cause I’m not. At all in fact. I just want to understand the situation. Were the nominations not well received in general? Were the numbers low? Did Shaun’s readers pull through and are they deceivingly high? That can’t be the case because his blog is ranked below mine on Amatomu.com and I know that I am not doing particularly well in the whole participatory readership category. Or in the general readership for that matter!!
I am also not saying that readership defines blog quality or how deserved a blog is for an award at all. It just interests me to know how Shaun managed to get nominated, what was the process, who voted, who said, who, who, who?
Have a look:
Below you see Tertia whipping my butt and shaun’s butt. She has the readers to get the nominations.
Then you can see Tertia whipping everyone’s ass:
Shaun’s blog is friendly and arrogant to a degree (which I like). He strings together posts that are mixed, mismatched and a motley combination of funny, serious, satirical and other things. But I honestly cannot believe that this blog is up there with the best in Africa?
Tertia I can understand. A long standing successful blog with proven potential and achievement. Great readership, participation and a focus throughout the entire blog, she is merciless with her blogging and rigorously sticks to a schedule. Understandable nomination.
Shaun – if you have a tip for me, please let me know, cause I am interested to know how to get my readers to participate more in what I ask!
Either way, whether I am blind, dumb or just plain biased I think it’s great that there are a three SA blogs up for awards and I will be the very first person to email Shaun personally and congratulate him if he wins in the category.
Wezz 11:54 am on January 28, 2008 Permalink
Lol, wheres Shaun’s link-love?
The thing is, Shaun asked for votes where as not many other SA blogs did. I saw the same thing with ChumpStyle getting runner-up for “Best Post of the Year” in 2006 SA blog awards for one of our “Boobs of the Week” posts. We only got nominated for the award because we sarcastically asked for votes.
Nic 12:12 pm on January 28, 2008 Permalink
Ye, that’s what I was thinking, really no malice intended, just interested. And there is linklove there!!
CTFS 1:45 pm on January 28, 2008 Permalink
Hello Nic,
Thank you for the mention, and congratulations on being a reader of the ShaunOakes.com blog. As a regular reader, you will soon develop the uncanny ability to accumulate incredible amounts of wealth and be able to bed hundreds of supermodels. (If you so choose)
The nomination is also quite easy to explain – With this being an African blog nomination, the site actually has a disturbingly large number of dedicated readers in Botswana, Mali as well as Lebanon. In addition, the Kurt Darren Is A Legend page seems to have bamboozled countless fans of the legendary crooner into believing that this is his official site, which may have lead to their inadvertent nominations.
Nevertheless, no use crying over spoilt milk, I trust I have your vote and look forward to winning on behalf of our great continent.
Yours In Sport,
Shaun Oakes
Nic 2:27 pm on January 28, 2008 Permalink
Hey Shaun!! Great comment, yes, you have my vote for sure!!
Hopefully those supermodels will come sooner rather than later!!
stii.za.net » Blog Archive » SA blog awards - Tips, Tricks & Unspoken rules 8:58 am on January 29, 2008 Permalink
[...] to get nominated. – As proven by Shaun Okes, if thou ask thou shalt receive… If your blog’s got half decent traffic, odds are [...]
robert 3:08 pm on January 29, 2008 Permalink
Last week: Me trying to enter a conferencecall with USA
“What company are you from?”
“ACME”
“What state are you calling from?”
“I’m calling from Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK”
“What state is that in?”
“Berkshire England”
“Sorry sir, which state is it in?!
“It’s in the county of Berkshire”
“No, I need the state”
“Nevada”
“Thanks you sir. Enjoy your day”
Y’see the Bloggies might not know that Africa is made up of sovereign states, errrr countries! Therefore ShaunOakes represents all of Africa.
Congrats Shaun!
VhailorZ 5:10 pm on January 29, 2008 Permalink
SA blogs will always suck man, we just dont get it… we simply copy, and hope it is a success. I say ‘we’ because I also fall into this category..
look at the people who had an original unique idea… hallopeter, numb, hhmm… anyone else?
robert 6:50 pm on January 29, 2008 Permalink
VhailorZ
Hey man – don’t diss all SA blogs.
There are plenty of SA bloggers in the top 50,000 in blogosphere and that takes some doing like, dedication, innovation, tenacious resolve to do well and originality.
Chris M 11:44 pm on January 29, 2008 Permalink
I cast my vote to tertia a day or two ago as her blog deserves it. ShaunOakes.com is nonsense, I don’t know how that got into the mix! I’m actually laughing, it’s basically an 2oceanvibe replica!
Dodgy! Good article Nic
Mark 8:13 pm on February 12, 2008 Permalink
The penny just dropped after reading this post on 2oceans:
http://www.2oceansvibe.com/blog-awards-2008-baglett.htm
Shaun Oakes doesn’t exist – he’s a creation of Seth Rotherham (also an alias by the way).
What do you think?
Go look at the facebook profile, etc… he’s not real…
Nic 8:42 am on February 13, 2008 Permalink
Hey Mark,
Look to be honest, I can’t stand Seth Rotherham and his blog either. Maybe it’s an alias, maybe not, maybe he exists, maybe not, maybe Shaun and Seth (both “s” names) are the same person but to be honest I try not to discuss 2oceansvibe cause the whole blog just pisses me off!!
CTFS 3:59 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink
Hi Mark,
Let me just clarify, I certainly do exist. I don’t know who this “Seth Rotherham” person is – he sounds like an amazing chap – but I assure you we are not the same. A simple visit to my About page would have shown you the various accomplishments I have managed in my short yet eventful life – http://www.shaunoakes.com/about.htm
Chris M,
I find it quite amusing how you have written me off as “rubbish” and a “replica”, when you yourself are one of the literally hundreds of “Web 2.0 Experts / Entrepreneurs” popping up all over the country, all writing about the same all things.
Yawn yawn yawn.