infringement festival.... snubbed again... how about an honorable mention under m&t next year?

How can something be snubbed when it's voted on by the masses?

This is something we ought to reiterate every year, I guess: The staff of Artvoice makes no choices in this survey. We do not prompt readers with a choice of candidates in eacb category. We do not choose the five finalists or the winners. We just tabulate votes.

Though we had, I believe, more than 2,000 valid ballots this year, not everyone votes in every category, and sometimes the difference between making the top five and not making it is a couple dozen votes, often fewer than that; winners are often determined by a couple of votes. So, for example, if the organizers of the Infringement Festival really coveted an AV plaque, they might consider courting their audience by throwing a fundraiser for that summer's festival during the Best of Buffalo voting and encouraging those who attend to fill out ballots. Maybe provide them the ballots.

Or maybe it's not really that important to them. Either way. My point is, in many categories, a barroom full of people could change the outcome. And I believe it often does -- otherwise how on earth would Joe McMahon have been a finalist in "People Who Should Run for Office"? No offense, Joe.

Thanks for reading.

So Geoff, you're arguing that there isn't any legitimacy to the Best of Buffalo. The way to win is to throw a party and get a few dozen of your friends to vote for you.
Beyond ad sales, what is the real purpose of this ?

That's not my argument, that's the straw man you're presenting as my argument. Nowhere in my post did I even use the word "legitimacy," much less question the legitimacy of the results. On the contrary, the only position I'm taking is that the survey is democratic: Readers vote, and we report for whom they voted. This was a response to Klinger's suggestion that the paper slighted the Infringement Festival.

The purpose? Entertainment. To attract readers, which it does -- this issue has one of the lowest return rates of the year and generates lots of web traffic. To throw a big, fun party. Sometimes, though not always, to turn some of our readers on to something new.

And yes, some people campaign for the awards, so I assume winning them makes them happy, and as long as they're not ballot-stuffing, I can't see what's wrong with that.

That's no "straw man," geoff, that's EXACTLY what you were suggesting.

And legitimacy? Calling it "democratic" doesn't make it "legitimate." The problem is that the poll is misnamed-- the results don't represent the "best" of Buffalo -- they represent the "most popular" among the small percentage of your readers who vote.

Artvoice has a circulation of what, 55,000? If you assume one reader per copy (it's likely higher) that means that less than 4 percent of your readers submitted a ballot. And in many categories, I'd be that fewer than 1% of your readers cast a vote.

So why bother with the expense of conducting a poll that means nothing? Rather than running a bogus popularity contest that doesn't legitimately represent the "best" of Buffalo, your editors would be better off making a real, informed effort to identify the "genuine" best in every category. At the very least, I'd like to know the "editor's choice" for each category along with the "choice" of your readers.

I agree with iDavid, and like him I am very upset over this. Calling the poll the "best" implies that the far superior taste of an Artvoice editor was responsible for these choices, not just a bunch of people! Likewise, I feel that only the editors should be allowed to vote in the upcoming presidential elections. Rather than running a bogus popularity contest that doesn't legitimately represent the "best" candidates, your editors would be better off making a real, informed effort to identify the "genuine" best candidate. We all know everything only has one right answer, and democracy just confuses things. I've gotta get back to cleaning the scum out from under my toenails. Just don't screw up again, or me and iDavid will have to come back, and dish it out again.

How can anyone be the best...you never heard of.....ummmmmmmmmm weird.Also are they really the best?

Lets see Advance Furniture on your list some time. Do you just nominate from your advertisers?

John: No. Please read my previous explanation. We, the editors, don't nominate anyone. Our readers do over five to six weeks of balloting. If you want Advance Furniture to be a nominee, vote for it next year, and encourage others to do so.

How does Gramma Moras win Best Mexican? Have you eaten there?

Maybe instead of Best of Buffalo it should be Most Popular in Buffalo?

How about adding nomination ballots for those who do charity work to make a difference in WNY? There are plenty of people who do just that in our community.

In 2011 Terror Technologies Extreme Events for Charity raised in just 5 events: almost 4,000 pounds of food for the Food Bank of WNY, $1,065.00 for Make-A-Wish, hundreds of pounds of winter clothing for Hearts for the Homeless, UNYTS will save 18 lives in WNY from our blood donation drive, Buffalo Paws & Claws just benefited from the event we did for them in late December, we co-promoted with the Tonawanda Moose Lodge to raise $1,400.00 & a couple hundred pounds of food for the Tonawanda Food Pantry, and our Free Haunted House for Charity had 4,123 guests attend.

I am not asking that we be nominated but these are just some of the things I did to do my part last year, and I know that there are many others doing charity work that deserve some recognition, so it would be nice to vote for them if the opportunity was available.