Fee Based Awards: Part 1

by Wally Gross, Webmaster
Surfers Choice Internet Awards
15 May 2001

It looks like the Free Internet is finally grinding to a halt, and I am rejoicing that all the schmooze is finally being resolved. I am elated to see the economic paradigm of the Real World has finally settled on the vast Internet. Cyberspace is shrinking and will continue to do so, and we're all going to be better off for it. Although my opinion will be frowned at by many, it's nevertheless based on sanity and logic.

You Must Have Seen It Coming

Freda my wife tells me I'm no genius, but I'm smart enough to know the difference between that which is really free and that which is funded by misguided Venture Capitalists. I'll bet many of you — and I hope there are many — are just as smart.

Come on people! We all knew the free ride was funded by simple greed. Free DSL, free websites, free content, free e-mail and whatever else you can think of, was all paid for (and maybe still is) by greedy Venture Capitalists hoping to make the big score. Free is being replaced by Fee and that is not such a bad thing. After all, did we really deserve all that free stuff? How many banner ads have you clicked on today?

Well, we are now privy to the facts of the Free Internet's rise and fall. I won't bore you with the details, but we are all aware of the huge losses that have and will continue to occur.

I've seen this coming for four years and I am not in the least surprised or disturbed. In fact, I think the real opportunities are just starting. Fee for services will consolidate the Net economy, and those who are ready and able will reap the rewards.

The Greatest of Ironies

The incongruity of the economic model of the Internet and the economy we have known for many years is irony at its best. How many hours and other resources went into website development and all the other infrastructures that have been spawned by the Net in the hope that people would click on banners?

Most webmasters couldn't raise enough money for a decent Denny's breakfast by rotating banners on their sites.

What has worked for centuries and made your country and mine the richest in the World will surface on the Internet. It's called the exchange of goods and services for a fee, and that fee is money! It puts food in our mouths and a roof over our heads.

The Reality of Commerce

This "everything should be free on the Net" mentality, in my opinion, is directly related to the historical concepts of the Internet. Over 30 years ago — or so I am told — educators used a primitive electronic medium for the free exchange of ideas. Somehow this idealism has filtered into the commercial sector of the Internet.

Folks who know me are aware that I am a philosopher and philanthropist above all else, and I believe that transcendental realities have no place in the business world. The concept of the free exchange of ideas will live on, probably for longer than the economies of this and future generations, but it has no place in the real world of commerce.

Commerce is equational. The left side of the formula must equal the right side. If it doesn't, we have chaos and imbalance, which is exactly what the Internet is experiencing at this moment. It's all good news, however, for those who understand what's happening.

Surfers Choice Awards

I am uncertain as to when I started Surfers Choice Internet Awards — 1994 or 1995. The latter is the date I share with others, but I think it really started in mid 1994 while I was still on Compuserve.

In any event, it had more to do with practising this new thing everyone was talking about called HTML. If I had even an inkling of what I was getting myself into, there would be no Surfers Choice Awards today. As Hamlet would say: "There's the rub."

I remember the very first week the site was up and running. In those days you would submit to Yahoo (new at the time) and a few other directories, and before you knew it you were getting hits galore. Little did I know that people were so enthralled with recognition. I had fun — plenty of it — but the sacrifices were just too much. If you run an awards site, then you know of what I speak.

Get Off My Cloud!

There comes a point when you finally decide you've had enough of the "Bubba and His Dog Named Boo" websites. You get your fill of those who can complete an application but seemingly can't, or won't, read the simple instructions. As I said in the first article I ever wrote for Website Awards:

So I banned them from submitting, but only via the written word on my site. This did nothing to stop them, of course. They continued to come in swarms, like ants at the church picnic. Somehow they thought my time was their's and it meant zilch that hundreds of others just like them were intruding on my privacy.

Others said, "it comes with the territory." I said, "Hogwash. Getting thumped in the head comes with the territory for an NFL quarterback — and even that's not worth the millions they receive — but being treated rudely does not come with any territory anywhere."

Buried in Spam

Search engines have seen drastic changes in the last 6 months. Infoseek and Go are gone. NBCi is winding down, or at least that's what I read in the Standard. You need $200 US to even get considered for Yahoo, and the same applies to The Looksmart Network.

The reasons for this are many, but I can assure you that spamming is at or near the top of the list. Search engines and directories are interested in building valuable libraries of relevant information. That is difficult to accomplish when rules are not heeded. In fact, and I can assure you it is a fact, many larger domains have been banned from submitting for this reason alone.

Turning Back the Tide

To turn back the tide, I initiated a fee for the Surfers Choice Awards in 1997. Best thing I ever did. It got rid of the swarming masses of adolescents and things definitely changed for the better.

I once saw Bill Cosby live here in Toronto, and I can remember him saying: "The first sign of insanity is when we try to please all of the people all of the time." I hope my memory serves me well on that.

There is great truth in what he says. Many of us spend our daily trek serving those we have never met? Without doubt anything we do in life, whether it is for commercial gain or our contribution to society, requires careful thought. We make choices and abide by them. I made the right choice for me.

Running an Awards Site requires hours of dedication each and every day. I have been there and earned my "contribution to the betterment of the Web" several times over. But as much as I think we all need to help others, we also need to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff. We need to put things into perspective and take time to live. I can assure you my wife knows who I am and so do the rest of those I am lucky enough to call family and friends.

Ask Me If I Care

Do I care about kicking people off my cloud? Sure I do! It's not easy saying no and enforcing rules. There are limited choices to be made, however, when one is trying to turn away spam from adolescents and others who do not have the common decency to abide by the rules you post in your site.

I care enough to get tough about it and enough to make my services available only to those who see their values and respect their paradigm.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

As much as I would like to tell you that Surfers Choice was based on some intelligent plan that would eventually lead to millions, the truth is turning it into a fee based service was strictly a move to end the insanity of an e-mail inbox loaded with too much junk.

The good news is that it's working. Not as well as I would like, but persistence does lead to loftier accomplishments. Anyone who knows me is familiar with my survival instincts — not just for business but more for the battle of just being here. So running a fee based award site really is a challenge that I welcome and enjoy. Surfers Choice will be there as long as there is air moving in and out of my lungs.

Seventh Inning Stretch

There is still much to discuss, but I'll leave that for the next article on this subject. It will address the everyday activities as well as the services and expenditures that are part and parcel of running a fee based service.

Before I go, I extend my sincere respect for those who run free award services. I know the work you do is huge and your dedication is simply incredible. I am standing and applauding all your efforts!

See you soon!