By: Ruk
The pioneer group was the Amazoness Quartet. Of course, a
lot of people whose pages were handpicked for scrutiny had
grumbled at first. They didn't think that their site
deserved to be called the Worst of the Web. But then, as
time passed, the Quartet began to inspire web site authors
to do better, to make SM site authors feel that they have
to make their pages worth visiting. The respect became so
phenomenal that the judgment of the Amazoness quartet was
held in high esteem. And rightly so.
It seemed that everybody was in a frenzy to gain this
group's attention. And rightly so. Soon, a lot of people
realized that the cause of the Amazoness Quartet was so
noble in that it helped a number of websites to improve.
Soon, a few people decided to follow the pathways that the
Amazoness Quartet had walked, in a sincere desire to stamp
down the increasing number of worthless pages--of course,
the Quartet could not handle those gazillions of crappy
webpages on their own, could they? And so three other
highly creative groups emerged: The "M" Squad, the
Needleleaf Society, and the Fifth Witch. All three remain
to be as creative and original and as noble as the pioneer
group that they wanted to help.
Alas, an exasperating monster was also released. I had
forgotten the handful of bitter "Worst Page Winners" who
were just waiting for the right time to exact their
revenge. The year 1998 seemed to be just the right year for
multiplying everything: free space megs rising for every
free homepage server we know; more benefits to gain for
every page that you create; more crappy SM pages to be
seen; and lo--more SM review sites adding up to the queue!
The last is the monster I have been talking about. Not only
once have I heard the line: "Your review of my page sucked!
Just wait and see, I will make my own review page and yours
will be on my 'worst' list!" If that isn't the most
hilarious line I have ever heard! It is to be dismissed
like a housefly hovering around your meal.
A few weeks later, I find myself to have been sorely
mistaken. They did make their review sites and these sites
multiply like rabbits left inside a cage for a month. It is
exasperating as well as annoying in the extreme--to see
another review group which unfortunately lack the
originality and the creativity of the first four that were
created. They are actually worse than the crappy SM pages
they have set out to review!
What they wanted was to give recognition to the sites that
they own, or the sites that their friends own. What they
wanted was to get as much attention as they could for
themselves. What they wanted is to jump into the
bandwagon--review teams are the in thing, aren't they? What
they wanted most was to exact revenge from the prestigious
review group that had put their pages on their "worst"
list! Now I ask, where is the point--the noble goal--in
these? Even if you hide these motives under the lines, "Our
purpose is to lessen the crappy SM pages out there," the
falsity could be seen in the kind of sites they even put
into the "Best" category, as well as the sites they put
into the "Worse" category.
I don't mean to generalize all new review teams (surely
there could be some out there that could be just as
original and unique as the first four), but, before even
writing anybody's guest book (especially mine) and inviting
the web site owner to form another review team, why can't
these people blink and
ask themselves: Isn't this getting a little bit out of
hand?
Comments on this article can be sent to:
Ruk.
