Ask the Experts, Question 16:
What are valid reasons for removing sites from your winners' list?
by Debra Sharp, Webmistress, Mesweet's Haven & Awards
15 January 2003
Print Version
| Jerry Hartzler, Webmaster Smokin' Award |
Editor's Choice |
Define the word "valid." Every Awards Program (AP) may come up with a different definition. After all, it's your AP and you can do with it what you please. You can remove a site from the winners' list for whatever reason, or you can even decide to not have a winners' list at all! Of course, how you handle your awards program will affect how many quality applicants and repeat visitors you receive. ;-)
Below are reasons I have found, whether I agree with them or not, to have a site removed from the winners' list. This will be helpful to those of you who are wondering why your site disappeared from a particular AP. It will also provide ideas for those who want to start their own AP or to upgrade an existing one.
| 1. | A site is no longer online: This is the most obvious reason for removing a site. No one likes to visit 404's, so it's good maintenance to weed out dead sites from time to time. An alternative, of course, is to keep the name of the site and just remove its link. |
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| 2. | A site's URL has changed: When updating the winners' list, an AP may remove a site if the link doesn't work. Personally, I will do a search to see if the site has moved to a new location before I remove it. But this may be impractical for AP's with large winners' lists. |
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| Award winners: If you move your site to a new URL address, it's a good idea to notify the AP's of the change so they can update their winners' lists. | |
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| Award givers: It makes sense to manually review your winners' list. When a site closes down or moves, the old URL is free to be used by another site. It won't do your AP's reputation any good if "A Cat named Laura" at laura.com now links to "Laura Undressed!" And this brings me to the next point ... | |
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| 3. | A site no longer matches the AP's criteria: Remember when I said that the owner of an award has the right to do whatever he or she pleases with the program? Well, the same goes for anyone who owns a website. Another reason to remove a winning site is if its new content no longer matches the award's qualification criteria. |
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| 4. | The award is no longer displayed: When certain AP's list your site as a winner, they expect you to display the award and link it back to them. Many, but not all, feel it's the least you can do in return for the time an AP spends evaluating your site. |
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| 5. | The winners' list is on a time limit: Due to server space limitations, laziness in checking links, or whatever other reason, some AP's will only display winners from the last year or two. Older winners are removed unless they re-apply and win the award again. |
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| 6. | A winner is offensive: Sadly, this happens. If a disagreement or dispute over an award or criteria point arises, the award owner may no longer want to be associated with the offensive winner and will remove his or her site from the winners' list. The site will usually be "blacklisted," and it will never be reviewed by that particular AP again. |
So ends the "valid" reasons for removing sites from a winners' list. I would like to finish by encouraging those AP's who keep a winners' list to post their reasons for removal so that winners can avoid them. It's the courteous thing to do. But as I said, it's your awards program ...
Geetha Thirunakkarasu, Webmistress
Geetha Zone Awards (program closed)
Every award program establishes its own reasons and rules for removing sites from the winners' list. You can find out what they are by carefully reading the criteria and disqualification points. Generally, the following are consider to be valid reasons for removing winners:
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If changes are made to the site which violate the criteria. |
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If the link to a winning site does not work (a dead link). |
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If the award graphic is not posted or linked back. |
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If the award graphic is altered without prior authorization. |
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If the award graphic is removed for any reason. |
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If there is no reply about the acceptance of the award. |
It's not necessary that award programs apply all of the above reasons. It depends on the individual program. Some award givers don't ask winners to post the award or link back, but they do want them to reply about accepting the award. It's always better to understand and follow the program's simple rules and to be a proud winner of the earned award.
Wolfgang Schoenfuss, Webmaster
Museums Award
First, I have to say that I don't like to remove sites from my winners' list. I always present the winner with a screenshot of his website which is taken on the day I grant him the award. This, I presume, will prevent me from removing the site for any design reasons.
The only reason I can imagine for removing a winning website would be a violation of the automatic disqualifiers in my criteria. These disqualifiers are clearly stated in my award program so that all winners will know what to avoid.
Vina Galindo, Webmistress
4 Elements Award Program
I try to prevent removing any winners on my list by contacting them to resolve any problems. Removal of sites on a winners' list depends on the awards program and its criteria. Some of the more common reasons for removing winners are listed below.
| 1. | The winning site doesn't exist anymore (contains page not found error). |
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| 2. | The winner fails to display the award graphic and the criteria states that proper display is an obligation. |
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| Winning sites should ALWAYS properly display the award they were honored with if it's required in the criteria. Evaluators take much of their 'free' time to give your website a thorough evaluation, and this is something you should do in return. | |
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| 3. | The winner alters the award graphic. |
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| Winners should not optimize the graphic (most of them are already optimized), make a thumbnail without permission, or change it in any way. Most award givers don't like it when their award graphics are altered. They have put a "special touch" to their graphics, so you must not change them without prior consent. | |
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| 4. | The winning site is changed in a way that violates the criteria. |
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| The criteria of an awards program will usually state the "do's" and "don'ts." They establish what is perceived as acceptable and not acceptable for each individual program. The award giver runs the program and applies the criteria. If a site passes the criteria, wins an award and then is altered in a way that violates the criteria, the award giver has no alternative but to remove it from the winners' list. | |
Most award programs are created for what I call the 3 F's: Fun, Fairness and Factor. Fun of running a program, fairness of evaluation and the factor (the criteria). The fun will quickly fade if you are not consistently fair or if you fail to preserve the integrity of the factor.
As a courtesy, award givers should always give winners time to fix any problems and winners should always reply to award givers within a reasonable period of time if they intend to fix a problem.
Maggi Norris, Webmistress
Nem5 Awards Program
There are many valid reasons for removing sites from winners' lists. Some are beyond the control of the award giver and others relate to violations of the award program's criteria. Reasons that are beyond the award giver's control include:
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submitting false information on the application, such as the age of the applicant; |
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the applicant specifically turns down the award; |
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laws which will govern Internet activity change in the area where the award site resides; |
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the winning site changes the award graphic without permission from the award giver, which is a violation of copyright; |
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the site adds or links to illegal or other undesirable content; |
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the winning site closes; |
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the winning site moves without notifying the award giver; and |
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since only the original domain applied for the award, a redirect to a new domain should be considered a valid reason to remove sites from the winner's list. |
Most award programs have a list of disqualifiers in their criteria. They are commonly known as "don'ts." Some of the reasons I have seen for disqualification due to violation of the criteria include:
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not maintaining the winning site to the standards that originally earned the award; |
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design or content changes that are so great it seems to be a completely different site; |
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changes to the site that cause it to no longer meet the criteria; and |
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not displaying the earned award graphic. |
The truth is that there are many reasons for removing sites from the winners' list, and they often vary depending on the award program's criteria. But as long as the reasons are clearly stated in the criteria, then they are valid.
Janice Magro, Webmistress
NC's Outer Banks Awards (site closed)
If a site, which previously met the criteria of an Awards Program, and was awarded and listed on the winners' page, violates the criteria under which it was awarded, this would be a valid reason for removing the site from the winners' list.
For example, if a program requires that Family Safe meta tags be placed in the HTML code of the awarded site, and a winning site later removes the tags because it no longer meets the criteria for a Family Safe site, then this particular site should be removed from the winners' list.
This principle can also be applied to other criteria of the Awards Program. Sites are awarded because they meet particular criteria, and they must continue to meet this criteria to remain listed as a winner. Any site that no longer meets the criteria due to changes it makes after being awarded should be removed from the winners' list.
Vitor Oliveira, Webmaster
BigEye Award Program
The first valid reason is to remove sites which later add content (graphics or text) that is not family friendly. Most award givers, including myself, try to keep their sites free from undesirable external links.
A few more valid reasons that come to mind for removing sites from the winners' list are:
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removal of sites that close down. |
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removal of sites that alter the award graphic without permission. |
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removal of sites that later add unethical or rude comments of any nature. |
Other reasons may vary from program to program, depending on the program's rules, criteria and code of ethics. As a rule of thumb, any change that contradicts or violates your rules, criteria or code of ethics is a valid reason for removing a site from the winners' list.
A word about broken links. URLs are constantly changing, and every month a number of sites will move or even close down. The best way to deal with this, I think, is to remove the link but not the winner. We should maintain a complete and accurate list from the beginning of our programs because all winners deserve our respect.
Jerry Tucker, Webmaster
JerryD's Online Award Program
Award winners sometimes change their sites in ways that violate our criteria. This is one reason for removing them from our winners' list. Another reason, and possibly worse, is that some winners change our award graphics in order to save load time, even though many of the graphics are less than 5 KBs.
Other valid reasons include copyright infringement, bandwidth stealing, adding undesirable content such as nudity, and linking directly to porn sites. We will remove sites from our winners' list for these reasons.
Last, but not least, we remove sites that change their URLs and don't notify us. Nobody likes dead links, so it's better to remove them. You don't have to remove the name of the winning site, just the link. This way, you will still have an accurate list of all your winners.
These are just a few of the many reasons for removing sites from the winners' list. If a site earns your award and later makes changes that violate your criteria or your ethics, then you have every right to remove it.
Dave Selig, Webmaster
Ultraweb Awards
As your award program matures, and you refine your criteria and gain experience as a reviewer, you may be tempted to remove some of the earlier sites that won your award from your winners' list. Instead, you should consider an archival system or yearly winners' display so that you can continue to show all of the winners on your site.
The World Wide Web is evolving in terms of technology and style, but an "old-school" site can still be effective. Borrowing an example from the film industry, some of the best films were produced as black and white dialogue films. The fact that action, color, and special effects are very popular today does not lessen the value of the older films.
There are, of course, exceptions to the general rule that you should not remove winners. I believe that you should remove sites from your winners' list if:
| 1. | the site no longer exists or is inaccessible; |
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| 2. | you require the winner to display your award graphic and link it back to your award program, but the site owner fails to comply; |
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| 3. | the site owner modifies your award graphic without your permission; |
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| 4. | the site owner fails to win the highest level of your award and sends an inflammatory e-mail message to you or other organizations; and |
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| 5. | the site adds content which violates the criteria that existed when you granted the award (such as pornographic pictures or racist language). |
Finally, honors and privileges of many types are often stripped from people who are convicted by a court of law of heinous crimes (rape, murder, etc.). I do not believe it would be inappropriate to remove a winner from your list in such a situation.
Nikola Kitanovic, Webmaster
Absolut Awards (site closed)
I think the answers to this excellent question will give award seekers and award givers an opportunity to learn something. It's not a pleasant subject, but reading the answers will help us to understand why sites are removed from winners' lists and, perhaps, help us to avoid the removals.
I am going to tell you why I have removed winning sites from my list. If this information helps you in any way, I will be extremely pleased. In no particular order, I have removed sites from my winners' list for the following reasons:
| 1. | On one occasion, the award winner asked to be removed from my list, and I had no alternative but to honor the request. |
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| 2. | In several cases the winner did not post the award graphic, even after I requested it. I don't ask the winners to link back to my site, but I do insist they post the award graphic. If they fail to do this after I send a written request, then I will remove them from my winners' list. |
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| 3. | Some winners drastically changed their sites after they received my awards. One became an X-rated adult site and several others added racist messages, or similar. I warned them that their new content violated the criteria for my awards and was not acceptable. The ones who retained the undesirable content were removed from my list of winners. |
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| 4. | Several winners changed the URLs of their sites without informing me, which left me with broken links. Some of them sent me the new URL when I requested it, and others did not. I removed the winners that did not send me their new URLs. |
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| 5. | Some of the winning sites simply ceased to exist. In this situation, I had not alternative but to remove their links from my winners's list. |
I added a new rule to my award program at the beginning of this year. Under this new rule, all award winners are obligated to vote for the best site among my winners at the end of the year. Any sites that fail to meet this obligation will be removed from my winners' list. This rule is clearly stated in my criteria, and it's repeated when I send the award to my winners. If people don't like it, then they should not apply for my award, or they shouldn't accept it if they win.
I hope this answer will help you in some way. I expect many of the answers submitted by my esteemed colleagues will help me to better understand the reasons for removing sites from my winners' list and to be more fair in my treatment of winning sites.
Míc Miller, Webmaster
Beehive Awards
Winners of Beehive Awards are awarded based on a verified attainment of Web excellence according to the program's criteria, rules and regulations in place at the time of application. Web sites with Beehive Awards are considered stewards of these symbols of excellence and are expected to maintain or improve upon the level of Web excellence that earned them their awards.
Failure to meet this obligation can result in a revocation of their award and removal from the winners' list as well as the removal of their special recognition listing(s) in The Beeline. To date, only a handful of Web sites have been removed. The reasons for removal were flagrant copyright infringement, closure of the site, and violation of the rules for listing in The Beeline, a general-audience-rated site.
www.website-awards.net
www.website-awards.net/answers/query016a.htm