
The Crunchies are the Kid's Choice Awards of the startup scene. - vaksel
http://blog.styleguidance.com/post/325284204/the-crunchies-are-the-kids-choice-awards-of-the
======
nir
Awards, and "Top n" lists are bullshit by definition. There isn't a "better
model". Almost every award in the world is nonsense, from the Nobel Prize (at
least Peace & Literature, possibly Economics?) to the Oscars.

An award that is voted by a small group of people is susceptible to internal
politics. If it's large group, the nominees that cater to the lowest common
denominator win. And then there are the ones compiled by a few journalists
with a deadline and a PR-influenced perception. Sometimes awards are well
deserved, but it's almost random. Simply don't let awards annoy you or impress
you.

~~~
neilc
I think you're overstating the case: I wouldn't call the Turing Award or the
Fields Medal nonsense, for example. The "test of time" awards for enduring
research are also pretty valid, I think (e.g.
<http://www.sigmod.org/sigmodinfo/awards/#time> ) Just because an award might
be subject to politics doesn't mean it can't nevertheless be a meaningful
recognition of high-calibre work. Obviously, awards aren't the _only_ or the
most reliable way to identify good work, but many awards can't fairly be
dismissed as "nonsense", either.

(But in the case of the Crunchies, I think they are widely understood to be a
meaningless PR stunt.)

~~~
nir
Fair point - awards like Turing or SIGMOD are different, where both the
nominees and voters are high level experts in their fields. What I wrote
applies to mainstream awards & lists.

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blasdel
_> I mean how else do you explain that Zynga CEO [Marc Pincus] beat out Zappos
CEO Tony Hsieh for CEO of the year?_

If you'd been to Startup School in October, this would have been blindingly
obvious.

Pincus was the closer for a reason -- the mood in the room was instantly _I
want to go to there_ , and the temperature went up ten degrees. Even
Zuckerburg was hooting and hollering!

On the other hand, almost none of us young hackers would want to work for
Hsieh -- his company's culture is steeped in an entirely different
demographic, and he admitted as much in his speech.

~~~
vaksel
still, what does it say about the startup community if we reward that kind of
unethical behavior as a CEO?

I mean sure, these guys aren't the only ones who did these rebill offers. But
they were the target of the whole Scamville issue.

Turning around, a month later and picking the guy behind this, as one of the 6
for people to vote for, just seems wrong.

If we don't regulate, what we find ethical as a startup community, then 5-10
years down the line Congress will do it for us. And trust me, we won't like it
one bit, if they have to step in to protect the consumer.

~~~
alttab
_"what does it say about the startup community if we reward that kind of
unethical behavior as a CEO?"_

That start ups are about money first. And what they did was technically legal.
Unethical moves like this happen in broad day light and in headlines all the
time.

Generalizing, the vast majority of the American (other countries, too)
population honestly doesn't raise enough of a stink.

Is it because we are uneducated, don't understand the impact, or merely don't
care because things won't change for us tomorrow? We do not grasp the gradual
net effect of many 'tomorrows' as the cause because it is too far removed from
the action.

~~~
tptacek
Startups are about money first, but they aren't about money above all else.

 _[Edit] I said something harsh and kind of dumb here before, and have removed
it. I'm sorry._

------
edw519
_Einstein was asked to appear alongside the comic actor Charlie Chaplin during
the Hollywood debut of the film City Lights. When they were mobbed by
thousands, Chaplin remarked, "The people applaud me because everybody
understands me, and they applaud you because no one understands you." Einstein
asked Chaplin, "What does it all mean?" Chaplin replied, "Nothing._

~~~
Maro
[http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/Enlargement.aspx?id=...](http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/Enlargement.aspx?id=BE042012&ext=1)

WWW rules.

------
ianbishop
Why Balsamiq wasn't elected for bootstrap?

<http://www.balsamiq.com/blog/2010/01/03/a-look-back-at-2009/>

The numbers here absolutely dominate anything tinychat has going for them at
the moment, as far as I know.

~~~
vaksel
because startup scene knows about Balsamiq, but it doesn't have the mainstream
recognition...which are the people who actually voted in the crunchies

~~~
axod
And Tinychat does? :/ It was the first time I'd heard of it.

~~~
vaksel
it has more average joe users...since this is based on voting, I bet tiny chat
just threw up a "vote for us!" badge on their site.

That's the problem with user voting...the one with the biggest audience,
always wins.

~~~
tlrobinson
They did. And not just a badge, an obnoxious modal banner that would pop up
every 10 minutes until you voted.

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jasonlbaptiste
I like the concept of an oscar style voting model for startup awards a lot.

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RK
OT: For a site called Style Guidance, it's pretty hard on the eyes. Maybe
softer colors would be better.

~~~
vaksel
yeah most techie guys tend to say this. Fashion people(especially women) love
it.

The site was actually designed by the alpha users. I had them give me ideas of
what to do, and then I'd show them 3-4 mockups, and they'd vote for the best
looking one. Went through 5 major redesigns until we hit the current
version(which they all loved).

To tell the truth, I'm not really a huge fan of it either, but it was a quick
hack job to get something out ASAP. My philosophy is that the sooner you
start, the sooner you grow. Wasting an extra 1-2 months on a perfect design
makes no sense when you have no users.

I'm actually already working on a redesign. Should be a little bit more
mainstream. Don't get me wrong, it'll still have the fashion feel...but it'll
look a lot more refined.

BTW I don't know why you are being downvoted, since I fully agree with you.

~~~
RK
_BTW I don't know why you are being downvoted, since I fully agree with you._

Maybe just because my comment was off topic.

I was pretty sure that the site was yours (the OP), so I thought I'd give you
some feedback. Good luck.

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alain94040
You are missing the point of the Crunchies. It's the once-a-year party where
we all celebrate the web.

Yes, the voting is not the best, but that's not critical.

~~~
tlrobinson
It's true, especially for the people who attended (I was there), the after-
party was far more interesting than the awards show itself.

Also the juggling comedians act and the Richter Scales were fun. Listening to
who won "best PR firm", not so much.

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alain94040
You are missing the point of the Crunchies. It's the once-a-year party where
we all celebrate the web.

Yes, the voting is not the best, but that's not critical.

~~~
vaksel
Then call it a party, not an awards show.

And why can't there be two parties? The crunchies(kid's choice awards) and the
starties(oscars)

~~~
alain94040
It's a free country, you are welcome to start your own awards show, with a
perfect voting process if possible. Then we can make fun of you too.

My point is that criticizing is easy, but pulling of such an award show is not
as easy as it looks. Actually, you'd be very aware of that fact if you
attended the first Crunchies 3 years ago. This year, the transitions mostly
worked out, they were not 2 hours late, and almost no awkward moments on
stage.

