this is just soooo ridiculous: "This was an unusual year for the Ars Electronica .Net jury. One disappointment in this year's competition was the decline in the number of entries in our category from about 500 to 250. The jury spent some time discussing the reason for the decline and although a number of explanations were put forward, the most likely reason appears to be the vast and unprecedented rise in e-commerce activity on the Internet. Simply put, with vast flows of venture capital available to start Internet enterprises, virtually anyone with any skill or interest in the Net has increasingly been spending his or her waking hours pursuing commercial rather than artistic endeavors."

as the monkey climbs the tree, more and more people can see his arse electronica (never mind the prix pricks).