More fallout this week from "Podcasting the media story", truth or myth?
This week may go down as "the wake up call" or at the very least the "first clue" for podcasters and most importantly the podcasting PR machine to learn the fact that centralized voting systems don't work in the blogosphere.
In case you missed the 2 stories that happened this week in the podosphere: #1, Free Talk Live took the #1 spot for the first time from podcast pioneers and podcast media story darlings The Dawn and Drew Show on Podcast Alley's Top 10 on or about 3/5/2005. This is significant as the ability to move Dawn and Drew out of the #1 slot is something no other podcast had be able to do since they became #1. This may go down as the event that caused the "Podcasting Voting Wars"!! We'll know more about this playing out as the week progresses and if podcast listeners start to flock toward Podcast Alley to vote. If this event gets any significant attention from the media at all get ready for a week of "Please go vote for me" on a podcast near you.
If that wasn't already enough podcasting news for the week, in reality there was another equally interesting podcasting story that brewed around the events prior to Free Talk Radio taking over #1 spot for the first time. The #2 story revolved and began around the methods Free Talks Radio was using to bid for the #1 spot. Some podcasters believed the folks at Free Talk Radio were using at best questionable methods to fuel their sudden rise toward #1. It was the public identification of these methods that sparked and inspired a group of pioneering podcasters to rally negatively in the blogoshere about the current centralized voting system at Podcast Alley.
The blogosphere conversation that followed included input from the developer of Podcast Alley's Top 10 helped to expose and explain the questionable holes in the current voting system that most believed led to the rising of Free Talk Live toward #1 and other issues podcasters had with Podcast Alley's Top 10 in general.
Even though many podcasters were never really comfortable with the issues surrounding Podcast Alley's centralized rating system's results or the need to campaign constantly during their podcasts to get their listeners to vote everyday, in the end it was the sudden rise of Free Talk Live toward #1 on Podcast Alley's Top 10 that got some in the podcast community talking about the failing voting system at Podcast Alley this week on their blogs:
Here's what Doug Kaye of IT Conversations had to say on 3/1/2005 in his post Podcast Alley Self Destructing?:
"... So why am I wasting so many bytes on what appears to be so trivial? It’s because that due to that major-media coverage, Podcast Alley has been granted a franchise. Lacking any alternative, journalists and others are turning to Podcast Alley as an authority of podcast popularity. It’s the lazy thing for a reporter to do, and they can cover their butts by writing loophole copy such as, “According to web site Podcast Alley…” rather than survey users for themselves. ..."
here's what Dave Slusher of the Evil Genius Chronicles had to say on Mon, Feb 28th about it in his post Scumbaggery and Skullduggery:
"Despite the best intentions behind it, it's seemed from the beginning like Podcast Alley was doomed to be a festering pit of corruption. At its best, it was impossible to tell between true popularity and differentials in willingness to campaign. I went out of my way not to worry about it for a long time, until a few things happened: ... "
and then there's Michael Geoghegan of Reel Reviews who had this to say in his post from Monday, February 28th, 2005: "Is This What It Has Come To?":
"... Pretty soon Chris is going to have to realize that though well intentioned, his current voting scheme is going to encourage more of this. The question is whether Chris will act fast enough to protect Podcast Alley from becoming a voting cesspool? ..."
and lastly here is what Free Talk Live is saying about the latest results on Podcast Alley's Top 10:
03/05/05
Free Talk Live is #1 in the World!
Thanks to great listeners like you, we're the number one podcast in the world according to Podcast Alley! We still need your help to stay on top. ...
5:18:48 AM 
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