I agree completely that this is an excellent blog. I also agree that the subject matter is crucial to the future of the relationship we will have with each other, with the corporate world and with the government sector.

I think its great that you point people to Dr. Lessig’s work, having read it and to some extent participated in it. For decades people recommended books or films to one another and the content of those sources was both amplified and refined by that form of publicity.

However, take a look at the obstacle course that independant views must now struggle through to be heard in the arenas of music, television, authorship and all other pre-blog forms of mass media. The creation and evolution of critics, awards, countdowns, award shows, and the circular filter that they create is a major factor in the deterioration of the medium and the messages that it used to support.

It is not farfetched to imagine a world where blogs are written by ratings/hits seekers who use awards sites to generate and perpetuate the myth that their blog is significant. It is not beyond reason to foresee a world where important blogs are left out of “the Top 40” and find it difficult to find an audience.

People love to think new mediums will be free of the pitfalls the old mediums have fallen into… they arent. Reject the awards, turn away from companies measuring hits and “eyeballs” on the net, foster a blogosphere that requires people to decide for themselves what is worth reading an who is worth listening to.

BOB’s are not a measure of this site’s importance… unless you let them be. Letting them measure the site’s importance opens the door to letting them limit it as well.

while this blog may deserve recognition for the subject matter discussed, it ranks high with us due to the intelligent, civil, and professional manner in which views are discussed here. as more or less constant dissenters to the mainstream dogma of the lessig blog, we have never felt unwelcome here.

in the “blogsphere,” this is remarkably unique.

this of course has as much to do with the host as the participants – so hats of to all of you. (well, most of you.)

Congratulations on your BOB and it’s nice to see your site being recognized.

As for the comment above, my view is slighty different. There is a great deal of ignorance within the populous re: digital rights. Anytime I talk with people about this subject, I enevitably point them to Dr. Lessig’s works. It is important for people to understand that the digital freedoms we have today may NOT always be afforded to us in the future, especially if we continue to take them for granted.

Any attention that we can bring to these issues, via a BOB award or some other means, is a good thing.

Congratulations on your BOB and it’s nice to see your site being recognized.

As for the comment above, my view is slighty different. There is a great deal of ignorance within the populous re: digital rights. Anytime I talk with people about this subject, I enevitably point them to Dr. Lessig’s works. It is important for people to understand that the digital freedoms we have today are NOT always going to be afforded to us in the future, especially if we continue to take them for granted.

Now blogs can end up drowned in the same cacophony of applause and bad orchestra music as their authors try to squeeze in “thank yous” while the band tries to play them off stage to keep the show under 4 1/2 hours long….

Do we really need awards and trophies every time we do anything of merit? Cant someone do something for the sense of accomplishment that comes with a thing well done.

Lets keep Dick Clark away from the blogosphere, lets reject the notion that posting what one thinks is deserving of kudos….

Blogs are what the media no longer is specifically because they exist in an environment where people care about the message rather than the ratings, advertising revenue and trophies that others seek.