Is it just me or is the popularity contest getting a little out of hand?

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You'll want to stop by and see if you have the intellectual horsepower it takes to be the Apprentice.NET!  The Winner will receive a ticket to the EXCLUSIVE INVITE ONLY .NET Influencer's Dinner and rub elbows with various .NET Illuminati.  Truly a lifetime chance, and only possible to those with chops enough to be the Apprentice.NET. 

For those of you who are more 'Survivor'-brute-force-scavenger-hunt types ;) don't worry, we'll have RD Bingo for you to play.  You'll have a card with the faces of Bloggers and RDs that you know and love.  Get that individual to initial over their face.  Getting Bingo (or Blackout Bingo) wins prizes (plus it forces you anti-social bastards to network!)

Sure, I know some of this is tongue in cheek sorta thing, but still. When did Bloggers become rock stars to win dinners with? “.Net Influencers“? hmm... I know these are all great people but C'mon! just wear the “I'm a Legend, worship me.” T-shirt and be done with it already.

Do we really want to cultivate the cult of the worshiping masses? In the last year I've seen Bloggers become celebrities, celebrities become legends, and I've seen legends become myths. We need to remember (and especially those who are at the helm) who we are and what we are here to do. We should not get all full of ourselves creating contests for people to meet us. We should just meet them. We should not be handing out autographs, but software, tips, tricks and code. Oh and gadgets. I have to say that yes, I'd love to meet with each and every one of the “cool bunch” but I would feel really awkward trying to win their grace through a contest. What's next? A Don Box coffee mug? wasn't the “software legends” thing enough? Isn't this all getting a little out of proportion?