I'm Up for a Yahoo Video Award!

Well, actually not *me*, but Something to Be Desired, the web sitcom I created and have been producing since 2003.

I learned yesterday that STBD is one of 5 finalists for "Best Series" in the 2008 Yahoo Video Awards. Very cool! We're up against 4 other talented contenders, and it looks like each of them alerted their supporters (aka, "blurbed their mailing lists") long before we did, so now we get to play catch-up.

It's an uphill battle, but we Pittsburghers know a thing or two about hills...

If you'd like to vote for us, you can check our little box and see the results here. (And if you do, thanks!)

And, if you've never seen the show, you can check it out on our homepage -- or, if you're in a Yahoo mood, watch it here.

Here's our most recent promo:

What Do You Expect from Your Community?

A few months ago, I joined the Yahoo Videobloggers group. I was interested in taking the pulse of that subset of the web video world. (I know it's not 100% representative of the web video world at large, but it paints a broad enough picture to be relevant.)

Lately, the topics among the group have veered more sharply from technology to ethics. Most digest updates I receive contain upwards of 20 messages about people's opinions about certain individuals or companies, or the behavior thereof.

Yesterday, a newbie popped out of the shadows to say that he'd expected more technological discussions from the group, and was surprised at the level of personal opinion and hand-wringing taking place. The response from another group member was a reminder that ALL types of conversation about web video are welcome in this space, and that the pendulum would surely swing back to technology soon enough -- once the personal fires had been put out.

That got me thinking: should the Yahoo Videobloggers group subdivide into Tech and Content sub-groups?

And, in a larger frame, what do YOU expect from YOUR community? Are there topics that are off-limits, or that seem counterproductive to the larger conversation?

Too Much Information?

If Chris Brogan blogs about a travel hiccup, rather than community development and social networking, is your day disrupted?

If Seth Godin were to pause the marketing machine and blog for a day about sushi, would his opinion about sushi be in any way relevant to you?

Personally, I know I enjoy Peter King's and Dr. Z's comments about coffee and wine in their respective SI.com columns, mainly because it reminds me that well-rounded humans are writing these articles, not football-driven automatons.

It's the same reason I actually ENJOY seeing the Yahoo Videobloggers group bounce between technology and ethics.

What about you?

Do you believe a group / information outlet should stick to its initial premise for the sake of streamlined clarity and maximum impact? Or do these humane touches ADD value to the overall experience?

And -- what happens if a group (or creator) finds the focus of their work / existence... is shifting?