Note: This column represents the opinions
of the writer and as such, is not purported as fact
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At last,
the contents of Aardvark's "million-dollar ideas" notebook
are revealed for all to see!
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It's time for your weekly dose of wierd, wild and wacky stuff from the
wonderful world of the WWW.
Every kid, even the big ones who pass for "grown-ups", just love playing
around with model aeroplanes. Here are
the instructions for building a
four-engined one that really "flies."
This
is not meant to be funny -- but surely the person who wrote the code
can't be serious. Move your mouse over the multiple-choice answers
and watch your browser's status line. Duh!
Here's a friendly looking fellow
who's prepared to turn his head into a walking billboard for a fee. Will
a bald head ever replace the banner? I don't think so.
Sponsorship Opportunity
As another method of offsetting the cost of running this
site, I'm considering the use of sponsorship -- but would like some feedback.
Based on recent stats, a sponsor could expect to have their branding
delivered around a million times a year to an extremely well targeted
audience of (mainly Kiwi) internet/IT professionals and hard-core Net users.
If you're brave enough to be Aardvark's exclusive sponsor for a year, or if you're
a reader who'd like to voice your opinion on the matter then please
contact me
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There's nothing worse than not being able to come up with a good oxymoron
when you need one -- right? Well relief is at hand in the form of
the oxymoron list,
a site that has more oxymorons than you can shake a stick at. Now if I could
only come up with a word that sounds like homonym or one that means the
same as synonym...
Awards, Who Needs Them?
The organisers of The Webbies
are calling for entries for next year's prestigious awards.
Front up with around US$100, fill out
the entry form
and your site will be considered for nomination.
Of course if you have a truly excellent site yet lack the money for the
entry fee you might be a whole lot less likely to end up with one
of those shiny trophies on your office desk. This isn't an award
for the riff-raff.
According to the website, the large amount of money collected by way of
entry fees goes into paying teams of qualified reviewers to select a
short-list who then become nominees for the 30 or so awards that are
to be handed out.
These judges are "Internet professionals who work with and on the Internet
and who have clearly demonstrable familiarity with the category in which they
review" -- but it's interesting to note the
significant differences
between the selections made by the judges and those made by regular folks
like you and I.
The whole thing comes to a climax with the glitzy awards ceremony where all the
industry "names" rub shoulders and drink copious amounts of alcohol while
having a thoroughly good time. Great stuff if you can afford it.
But what about the rest of us -- those who can't really afford to plonk down
up to US$150 per category to have our site considered for nomination?
Well there is a chance
for the sites of "poor people" to be considered -- but it would seem that you'd
have to be known to one of the judges for this to be a possibility.
If the Webbies are out of your league, there's always the myriad of "free"
awards that proliferate around the Web.
Yes, there are quite literally thousands of awards that are yours for the asking --
but be warned, you get what you pay for.
I regularly get an email from a local site that tracks web traffic. They
tell me that I've won the right to place their "Top 10" logo and link
on my pages. Do you see it here? No you don't.
Why not?
Well let's face it -- virtually all of these "free" awards are little more than
a clever piece of marketing on the part of those handing them out.
Every time they convince a site to slap one of these "vanity stickers" on their
pages, they get a free advertisement and link back to their own pages. It's
a hell of a lot cheaper than buying banner space eh?
Awards have their place -- but they ought to come with no strings and should,
in my opinion, be decided by the people who count most -- regular Internet
users.
Have Your Say
As always, your comments are welcomed. Please remember to select
"For Publication" if you want them included on this site.
Have your say.
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Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and
have any problems.
Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's
Linking Policy.
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