We've been discovered

[balzaccom]

OK--So I did get a bit more info from them about this thing.

1. It's for blogs, apparently, and not websites that don't have blogs.

2. They don't have a list of the other 99. (hmmmm.)

3. I have now been notified that I am among the 20 finalists.

4. Still no list of the others.

Seems sadly shady....

[Shawn]

Hmmmm.....

"You attempted to reach http://www.justbackpacksonline.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, but instead you actually reached a server identifying itself as *.americommerce.com. This may be caused by a misconfiguration on the server or by something more serious. An attacker on your network could be trying to get you to visit a fake (and potentially harmful) version of http://www.justbackpacksonline.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. You should not proceed."

[rlown]

hmm. clicking the logo worked for me:

Your Blog Has Been Chosen As One of the Top 100.
On November 17th we will release the Top 75. Stay tuned!

Each year, Justbackpacksonline spends weeks reading and ranking hiking, backpacking, and camping blogs to determine who has the best content, advice, and ideas in the outdoor blogging world. If you have been directed to this page, then we have read your blog and we believe that you have proven yourself to be one of those. By simply putting the badge below on your site, you will automatically enter yourself to win an Amazon $100 and more on January 1st, 2012. Then we will choose from the field of 100 to determine who is the best. How will the winner be chosen?

Each week we will narrow the field by 25. As of next week, we will release our first "Top 75" list. We have read each and every blog closely and will continue to do so. The blogs chosen will be those with content updates and whoever sends traffic via the badges provided below. Each week we will also "feature" one blog from the list who has displayed excellent quality that week on their site.

On January 1st, 2012 there will be only 1 blog remaining as the top outdoors blog. Good luck and here are your badges! Choose whichever fits your site best.

But it still looks like advertising..

[balzaccom]

Yeah--they just released the top 75--and we're still in the running.

I'll see if I can get the list--it seems to be sites from all over the place.