Sarah Kempner, a student at the University of California at Berkley (whose boyfriend worked at pets.com until it folded earlier this year) said several people in the row she was sitting in were making a sport out of checking the Webby program for the most endangered Web site.
"It's kind of a gallows humor I guess," Kempner said.
The show reserved its one earnest moment, biggest round of applause and sole standing ovation for the winners of the first Webby Lifetime Achievement Award, Ray Tomlinson and Douglas Englebart, two crucial contributors to the invention of e-mail.
Vint Cerf, a founder of the Internet, made the presentation on behalf of the sponsor of the award, WorldCom, where he is a vice president. Afterward, Cerf said that all the dot-bomb talk was getting a little silly.
"Eighty percent of all start-ups fail -- it's the same formula for all businesses," Cerf said. "This fantastic show proves that we ain't dead yet."
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