“Congrats to all the 2013 Bloggie Finalists and Winners!” (2013-04-03). Today’s post isn’t taken from Anthony Watts’ blog, but from WordPress.com a week ago. The thirteenth annual “Bloggies”, a click-to-win people’s choice-style contest that Anthony likes to mobilize for have just concluded. You know there’s something deeply wrong with a selection process when Anthony’s nasty, malicious, misleading, personality-obsessed blog is regularly chosen as “Best Science or Technology Weblog”.
“michele w.“, on WordPress’ behalf, posted breathless congratulations to the eleven WordPress-based winners and finalists, four of which are denialist blogs. (Watts Up With That, Australian Climate Madness, Tallbloke’s Talkshop and Climate Audit) This is just the kind of PR fluff that Anthony and company hunt for and naturally they all show up in the comments, except the faux-modest Steve McIntyre, to humbly accept the acclamation.
Curiously my comment, reproduced below, remains “in moderation”. In this case I think Michele simply doesn’t want to have her lack of critical thinking highlighted any further, but it does offer an entertaining echo of Anthony’s own style of handling criticism.
I have to echo Callum’s sentiments. The “science” and “environment” winners listed here are infamous, even malicious, promoters of false information. Their ‘achievement” in the Bloggies says nothing whatsoever about their quality or integrity, just their ability to mobilize uncritical supporters.
Blindly publicizing this rigged competition merely transfers the stench onto WordPress.
I’m all for recognizing achievement, but not when it is this easily gamed. Watts Up With That, Australian Climate Madness, Tallbloke’s Talkshop and Climate Audit are examples of partisan anti-science sites that use these “awards” to simulate the recognition they crave but re unable to earn.
Don’t feed the trolls!
But yeah, WordPress is a great web content system.
Followup: As the updated graphic above demonstrates, my comment remains “in moderation” while someone else’s newer one has been approved. I visited the “Bloggies” website and saw that the winner and three finalists were all rabid denialist sites:
BEST SCIENCE OR TECHNOLOGY WEBLOG
WINNER
FINALISTS
- Tallbloke’s Talkshop
- Skeptical Science withdrawn by request [couldn’t stand the stench – Ben]
- Climate Audit
- JoNova
What are the chances that in the wide world of science and technology these four buddy denialist fringe websites would come out on top? Color me skeptical.
Another partisan denialist, James Delingpole(!), won for “best weblog about politics”, edging past The Global Warming Policy Foundation, the denialist website so widely quoted (not) in daily political conversation…
Wott's Up With That? 
“…except the faux-modest Steve McIntyre..”
Who’s so modest, he doesn’t even use his real name, Nigel Persaud, to accept the faux award. Ya think he’s so dad-blamed *proud* he’d want it under that real name!
[Nigel Persaud is the pseudonym Steve uses when he wants to make the kind of malicious comments that he pretends to be above. – Ben]
Michelle actions are best summed by a quote from HG Wells : The Time Machine
‘I grieved to think how brief the dream of the human intellect had been. It had committed suicide. It had set itself steadfastly towards comfort and ease, a balanced society with security and permanency as its watchword, it had attained its hopes – to come to this at last…’
‘…It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism. Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers.’
Source Skeptical Science :The Great Disconnect: the human disease of which climate change is but one symptom
link: http://www.skepticalscience.com/the-great-disconnect.html
Bless – Ben didn’t win.
[It’s all about ego? – Ben]
For you – yep. Guilt has quick ears.
[Haters gotta hate. – Ben]
If this blog had won the Best Science Award award, I’d be pretty p!ssed (*), but not nearly as p!ssed as I am now. What’s next, a Science Award to the creationists?
(*) No disrespect meant, Ben, but I guess you agree that you are not an actual Science blog, discussing science and explaining it to the general population in an understandable way. You’re just here to debunk and ridicule the ridiculousness at WUWT.
My comment at WordPress expressing disgust at the inclusion of these denier sites in the science category was also moderated away. It would seem if you don’t suck up, they don’t want to hear from you.
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