Battle of the Blogs: Round 2

Addendum to Battle of the Blogs
The battle of the blogs will continue this week, as planned. But I think instead of continuing with the pairings, I will just throw up the sixteen blogs next week, and have you chose one of the sixteen. Then, the following week, the top two vote-getters can go mono-on-mono. Pimping your blog takes a lot of energy, and I know my readers would grow tired of voting for me for seven straight weeks. I should have done the math before now, and I probably would have had foursomes instead of pairs of competitors.

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The "Battle of the Blogs" really went well for Round One. Lots of people voted, and most of the contests were very close. It really went down to the last vote or two. So here we are at Round 2.

Why Have A Competition?
Congratulations for all of the contestants who were nominated. Just being nominated means that you have readers who like what you are doing. For many of this, this is not the reason we blog, but it is such a nice benefit. And part of me is sad to know that some may see a "defeat" in the competition as a "my blog is not as good as so-and-so's blog." I might feel that way myself (I didn't in the last competition I was entered it, now known as the darned pink website contest). The contest is really not set up to pick the best blog, just the favorite of those who cared to vote.

I have been asked why have a competition. Why not just link a bunch of blogs that people like? As this has a March Madness theme, I will answer with the March Madness analogy. Unless you are an avid college basketball fan, the regular season for college basketball is okay. You can see some great basketball, but most sports fans do not care (except, again, for avid college basketball fans). Fast forward to March Madness – where there will be one winner (and gambling), and then you have people interested that are not normally interested. I could not care a bit for college basketball, but come that time of year, I fill out a bracket. I don't know many of the teams (Georgia Tech beat a ranked team last night – North Carolina or someone like that), but I will fill out my bracket.

The format was chosen to add interest. Nothing more.

Is There More Voting?
As in tournament-style format, there is more than one round of games. Each of the winners will be pitted against one another in the second round. A few blogs – 7 to be exact, had byes to the second round. This was done quite randomly. Not fully randomly, because if I blogrolled you before the competition, I made sure you did not get a bye. Just call me bitch Leesa if you would like, but it was so I did not play favorites (being a favorite was, actually, a bad thing).

Timing
People want to know when each round ends. I have not looked at the calendar to see if I have taken a Monday off in the next few weeks, but my intention is to post the new competitions on Monday. The voting ends on each Sunday evening (technically I think I actually put 12:01 AM on Monday morning, because it was easier to enter). I notified all of the blogs – via spam – when I started this. I was hoping not to do so this time. We will see.

Traffic
I hope all of the blogs who were nominated have seen an increase in traffic. I have noticed that a number of people who enter my site, have left via the competition pages. That tells me that they are jumping off there, and it leads me to believe that they are either voting and/or viewing other sites.

Sex Blogs
I got the sweetest note from someone who asked me if sex blogs were part of the competition. I decided against it, but I did reply to the woman who writes Ramblings From An Insatiable Submissive. I don't often view sex blogs, but hers seemed very nice, meaning it seems to have original content (not taking pictures or stories from other sites) and was well-done (meaning you don't log onto the site and have her shaved muffin staring you in your face). Okay, that might be the intent for some sex blogs, but I would favor a sex blog that was more like a lovemaking session – a bit of foreplay before you do the deed, please. Now, I am not encouraging you to view her blog, but if you like sex blogs, hers is quite unique. And, yes, boys and girls, there are naked pictures of her on the blog so be forewarned, this site is not "work safe".

Call to Vote
All of this being said, now is the time to vote for Round 2. Good luck to all, and more importantly, browse outside of your normally blogging boundaries. You might find a new favorite blog. And none of the contestants will have a picture of some nice woman's muffin staring you in the face.

Here is the Code
For those who would like, there is some code below that point to the different brackets. Oh, and I mixed up the order for Round 2. Not sure if it matters all that much, but it allows others to be read first.

Eastern Bracket
<a href="http://dsmoya31410.blogspot.com/2007/03/round-2-eastern-bracket.html">Eastern Bracket</a>

Western Bracket
<a href="http://dsmoya31410.blogspot.com/2007/03/round-2-western-bracket.html">Western Bracket</a>

Northern Bracket
<a href="http://dsmoya31410.blogspot.com/2007/03/round-2-northern-bracket.html">Northern Bracket</a>

Southern Bracket
<a href="http://dsmoya31410.blogspot.com/2007/03/round-2-southern-bracket.html">Southern Bracket</a>