It seemed as if every man and his dog was handing out an award for something or other to do with your website.

Best of The Web, Top 100, Coolest Site, Primo Page, etc, etc -- the list was almost endless.

Here in NZ we even had our own collection of such awards including those presented by Soda (in stasis), Lazer Awards (deceased), The Soggy Parsnip (deceased), Wammo (deceased), The Pogo (deceased), The Plug (deceased) and probably a whole lot more I've missed.

Yes, even Aardvark has handed out awards -- although rather than choosing an elite group of Neterati to select the winners, the choices were made by readers.

Of course many of the awards handed out in those good old days were just a cheap attempt to get links and boost the awarding site's own traffic. Even today I still get a number of unsolicited emails telling me that I've won some no-name award and inviting me to add a graphic and link to my pages so that readers can see how very clever I am.

Readers Say (updated hourly) Nothing Yet Have Your Say

These days, at least in New Zealand, the award scene is pretty much confined to major publishers such as NetGuide, PC World, etc.

However, there does appear to be a new pretender to the crown and they emailed me yesterday to say that "You are a FINALIST in the 2001 NZ Internet Awards ".

I would be failing in my duty to keep readers informed as to new trends in the industry if I didn't let you know that perhaps this may be the start of a resurgence in privately run Web awards.

The big problem that NetAwards is going to have is the same one that has seen the demise of all those other awards sites I listed before -- the dearth of good, fresh, new and interesting websites on the local scene. In fact, given the effects of the dot-com crash, I'd venture so far as to say that even the global scene is looking a bit sparse right now.

That Aussie Crowd
Apparently ING are still sabre-rattling about suing me for defamation (yawn!) in the wake of my Friday column.

Just in case they're short on ammunition -- here's a summary of the facts relating to their little mailshot:

• It looks very much as if they trawled the Domainz database to get their list of domain names and addresses and they have reportedly been barred from accessing the Australian domain name registry's database for similar misuse. Draw your own conclusions as to the veracity of ING's denials.

• The NZ Herald reports that the postal address given on the mailshot does not exist. and an Aardvark reader reported that the email address given didn't exist. Invalid email and postal addresses? Two simple errors? Incompetence? A desire to hide something? -- you decide.

• The mailshot gives every indication that the $250 price quoted is NZ dollars (including GST) and when Adam Gifford from the NZ Herald spoke with ING's Mr Spektor, he said it was NZ$ -- but the fine print at the bottom of the flyer refers users to a web page that clearly states the fee is in Australian dollars. A simple error? Incompetence? An intention to deceive? -- you decide.

• According to the NZ Herald's excellent piece on the story, ING's Mr Spektor (the same one that sent me this threat) seems to believe that there's a distinction between a lottery and "a randomised process" -- Is that supposed to be some kind of comment on the ethics of the Australian lottery industry?

At the very least, ING seem to be an organisation predisposed towards making an uncomfortably high number of "simple errors," at worst -- well you decide for yourself.

If I were being asked to pay NZ$300 for a service that offered no guarantee of a result, I'd want to make sure that the company offering that service was not quite so predisposed towards making so many cock-ups.

Alert, alert -- avoid, avoid.

Save The Aardvark Fund
Yes, I have had several donations to the Aardvark fund and I thank those who put their money where their mouse is :-)

If guilt is gnawing away inside you then there's still time to donate.

Just drop by and hand over your loot.

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