So two random and slightly hilarious things happened just this afternoon. One, I was playing yet another Disney Tsum Tsum game on my phone when suddenly there was that shrill notification sound from Facebook Messenger. And popping out on my screen was that little circle which shows the display picture of whomever’s messaging me – and it had 5 Worker’s Party MPs including Sylvia Lim and Pritam Singh. Gave me a shock, honestly! Turned out to be my pal ‘S’ with a generic ‘Good Morning’ message quote thingy. My reply: “Walau I thot WP msg me sia” XD And now the second thing… an email from someone who’d previously emailed me with an offer to collaborate, which I turned down. (I’ll explain why later) This time, it was to inform me (hur hur) that I have been selected as 1 of the top 30 lifestyle bloggers in Singapore. 2020 marks a good ten years of blogging for me, so it might seem fitting to receive yet another “award” (of sorts), except that it’s not.
To all bloggers, I hope an email header that reads “Congratulations! You been selected…” sets off some alarm bells in your head. If you did not take part in any sort of blogging contest, there is no reason why you should suddenly be selected as any sort of winner. And what sort of criteria was there? How did they determine the top 30? Why am I not in the top 10, at least?! (Haha! Just kidding)
The question you should ask immediately is… WHAT IS THE CATCH?
This “title” of best whatever-the-hell-it-is gives no prize money, no publicity, no invite to an awards ceremony and certainly no prizes whatsoever. To me, it just sounds like yet another website which wants to rank well on Google, and wants all the backlinks it can get.
And it’s certainly not the first. Another LOCAL website which I shall not name as it is now so famous in Singapore that you’ll certainly have heard of it, had similarly been SMART enough to reach out to me many years ago with a random award just like this one – probably Top 100 Bloggers in Singapore, or something like that. I turned him down then. And today I turned her down too. Nice try, folks. Go earn backlinks properly lah.
Top 30 Lifestyle Bloggers
Top 30 Tech Bloggers
Top 30 Food Bloggers
Top 30 Fashion Bloggers
Top 30 Parent Bloggers
… and the list goes on. And you get a ton of backlinks. Fast and free way to give your website a boost. It’s like Oprah dishing out awards to everyone – you get one, you get one, and yes, YOU get one too!
I’m sure there are many bloggers who’d happily accept this title. But I hope that you, after reading this, will not be so gullible.
And I’d previously rejected this same lady regarding her proposed collaboration. So I don’t know why she’s so insistent on working with me. 
She’d emailed me just 8 days ago, claiming to be a long-time fan/reader. (@_@) It was regarding a pillow she’d reviewed for a client, and was proposing to send me a similar pillow as well. I’d have to publish a review on my blog AND include a “permanent do-follow backlink to her article”.
Zzz…
I guess I’m out of the Top 30 now. Boohoo. Woe is me. 
Maybe I should have accepted that pillow so I can cry into it now.