I haven't had the chance to give my input into the Artvoice Best Of awards, but I do want to talk about our own category and how things have gone down.

Firstly, the fact that there is even a category for blogs is a good step for our community because a lot of people don't realize they can have a say. Most people feel they are helpless in this respect, but blogs give voice to our own concerns where other media have failed in doing so. In addition the fact we were in Artvoice means that the spotlight is on us, and gives us the kind of exposure that we cannot afford through normal advertising. I'm not upset that we didn't win. It is so difficult for people to say what is best because the blogs up for vote each have a different focus. It doesn't matter that we didn't win - what matters is that hopefully people now realize there is a FREE outlet available for them to blog about whatever is on their mind. To my knowledge (e:strip) is the only way for normal local people like you and me to give voice to our concerns, and we should be proud of that fact. It does no good for anyone to start bashing the other blogs, because in essence we all are here to make a difference in our community. It makes absolutely no sense to me that each blog should be chiefly about itself - there is no reason why blogs can't work together to achieve a common message. This kind of thing happens all the time and we should embrace it.

One thing I can say with ABSOLUTE confidence is that if it were up to the site that is coded the best, (e:Paul) would win in an avalanche (I guess landslide wasn't a good enough term for me to use). Although I hate hate hate when people affiliate the word "designer" with the word "programmer", because in nearly all professional programming environments they are separate duties, I can tell you all that (e:Paul) does an outstanding job with both aspects of putting this site together.

Don't take criticism so harshly. When someone says it is hard to navigate, we should look through the eyes of a new user. It is not unreasonable to expect that if someone comes here, they may want to browse articles dealing with X, Y, and Z. While "per-user" this is achievable, on a more broad scale it is not easily achievable. Please correct me if I'm wrong. After all many of our discussions are community discussions, and there is value in being able to piece our journal entries together to make a more "complete" discussion for people to browse.

I want to take some time to talk about (e:BuffaloPundit). You know it is really nice that I can write (e:BuffaloPundit). I hope you can read this because I want to compliment you. My brother, (e:Joshua), has had contact with you lately. Based on what I saw in your response to him, I have to give you tons of credit. (e:BuffaloPundit) is neither an ideologue nor a partisan. This becomes evident when someone reads your blog. For what it's worth I think your blog rightly deserves to be called one of Buffalo's best. I also REALLY HOPE that you continue to particpate in (e:strip) in some way, although you have your own site. Please come back and say hello every now and then. Oh yeah, I couldn't possibly agree more with what you wrote recently regarding the Teacher's Union. Unions are a kind of "untouchable" in Buffalo, and I'm glad you're willing to point the finger when it is deserved.

Jason