Wrapping up the Weblog Awards (an in-house post)

So how did IKN do in the awards that went on for a week's worth of voting and got boring after four days and got people irritated while I bugged you to vote every day? The answer is remarkably well and I'm thankful to you all.

First the basics; IKN got 1043 votes and came third in the category "Best Latino Caribbean or South American Blog". First place went to Venezuelan financial blog 'Dolar Paralelo' and second place went to English language Cuban blog 'Generation Y'. Hearty congratulations to both.

However, as you know (or should do by now) your wonky Otto is a nerd for numbers, stats and such, so here's a bit of extra context. They tend to pump the result we managed to get quite shamelessly, but as it's Sunday morning there are less people around to annoy, let's do it.

• The 1043 votes mean that IKN is not only third place in 2008, but third place all time. Between the first Weblog Award in 2003 and 2007 the best vote total obtained by any other blog was 995 (last year's winner).

• We were punching above our weight. This year's winner 'Dolar Paralelo' has over 38,000 people on its RSS feed and according to Alexa the website (not blog, but website) number 13,000 in the whole wide world. Second place Generation Y is already a multiple award-winning blog and a major part of the desdecuba network that got 14 million hits in December (according to a post seen on the very same Generation Y blog).
  

• Interestingly, the fourth place blog 'Luz de Luma' has a full 23,000 readers on its feed. All this shows just how well we did all thanks to you out there, as IKN still has under 1,000 people on its RSS feed. It could be because we get more people coming directly to the site than the others mentioned, but that's just a guess.
  

• IKN has only been going for nine months! It's a pretty cool achievement to have reached the finals of the biggest blog awards competition in such a short space of time, let alone finish on the podium.

Finally, all the above is wonky, obsessive numberstuff and should be taken lightly, but there is a point to this post (that's cribbed and adapted from a mail I wrote recently). I'd like to say to say that I know 3rd place in some online poll isn't going to change the course of human history, but the way you guys turned out is one of those silly things that shows human generosity and general niceness. I hope with these few words I can reciprocate some of the fuzzy warm feeling you've handed over to me in January. A sincere 'thank you' for voting the site. i mean it; you guys rock.

The last crummy reminder for your vote

Tomorrow at 10pm GMT, 5pm EST or 2pm PST the polls close for the Weblog Awards "Best Latino Caribbean or South American Blog". So this is the last time I'm going to bug you to vote, people.

So vote. Here's the link. Thank you.

Don't forget to vote for the site......

..........in the Weblog Awards, people. Right now we're sitting in the desired third palce but there's no way it can be taken for granted as a final position. Click here to vote; it only takes a couple of seconds.

Because of my petty wonky numbers mentality I now have a petty wonky numbers target. If we can get 1,000 votes logged for IKN between now and 5pm EST Tuesday (when the poll closes), it'll mean that we'll have the third highest total of votes for any year at the awards. I checked back y'see, and the highest ever vote tally for the category between 2003 and 2007 was 995 (last year's winner).

So 1,000 votes won't be a win but I never had any illusions about that anyway. However it will give bragging rights as the third most popular site ever in the Best Latino Caribbean or South American Blog category, very cool after just nine months of blogging.

So vote! Now! Here's the link again! Thank you!

IKN still needs your vote

Here we are with just four day left in the vote for "Best Caribbean, Latino, or South American Blog" and it's looking kinda optimistic for Otto's aim of a top three finish. But there's nothing written in stone yet so I'm boring you once again with a cheesy request to click on this link and cast a vote for the blog. It'll take up about 20 seconds of your day and you can also see how the others are doing.

Thanks in advance. By the way, if we reach 800 votes I'll be especially pleased. Get there and I'll tell you why Wednesday.

The now traditional "please vote again" evening post

Dudes&Dudettes, IncaKolaNews still hanging in there in the top three (3rd to be precise) for the "Best Latino, Caribbean, or South American Blog" in this 2008 Weblog Awards thingy.

I'm going to thank you in advance one more time for putting up with my constant chatter on this and asking you to keep on voting the site. A podium finish in this awards after just nine months of the blog's existence would be such a cool thing. Click here to vote. Thanks.

It's that annoying reminder again.

If you have already voted for Inca Kola News for the weblog award, I thank you.

I also remind you that you can vote again every 24 hours. If you'd like to help the site keep its top three position in the poll (and I'd be chuffed to finish on the podium) click on this link to vote again. Thanks for your patience and remember you can vote every day from now until Tuesday January 13th at 5pm EST.

We're now three days into the vote and the yearned-for top three finish is looking possible. However it will only happen if you people out there take a few seconds out and continue to vote every day. It may be a silly system, but as it's the biggest open vote award of the blogging year if you care you'll be helping to put this humble corner of cyberspace on the map...and that would be cool.

A polite reminder

Yes, it's about this darned Weblog Award again.

If you have already voted, I thank you. I also remind you that you can vote again every 24 hours. If you'd like to help the site keep its top three position in the poll (and I'd be chuffed to finish on the podium) click on this link to vote again. Thanks for your patience and expect more annoying posts like this for the rest of the week.

Voting is now open for the Weblog awards

I heard from several people earlier that they went to the voting site but the poll hadn't started. I've just been mailed and told that the polls are now open. So now you can click this link to go and vote (or the banner at the top of the site, if you prefer).

Thank you again in advance for taking a few seconds out to vote.