Chris Leon’s Roar

41 Comments Add your own

• 1. Susie  |  January 25, 2008 at 1:08 am

  Thanks for letting me know about your latest blogg post, Chris. It’s good to have you back! As usual, you are right on target. I agree with what you said. They are doing wrong.

• 2. Ben  |  January 25, 2008 at 8:51 am

  I was pleasantly surprise to see this pop up in my RSS reader this morning. Where the heck have you been???? We need more strong voices like yours!

• 3. Ben  |  January 25, 2008 at 8:59 am

  My RSS reader says that you published this last night. I just took a look at Deaf Read and looks like they decided to censor you. Talk about ethics! Or should I say lack of? I’ve been hearing more and more negative stuff about Deaf Read lately.

• 4. aonymous  |  January 25, 2008 at 4:50 pm

  Ben is right. I don’t see this on DeafRead. Not even in Extras. Since you are blogging about them, I’m not surprise that they censore you from the readers. I have heard many complaints about censorsehip from others. More people need to become aware of it. I use rss software reader on my PC, same as Ben does, but I think many do not know how. Result, many deaf probably never know you wrote this. I bet DeafRead people are counting on that. Don’t let them silence you.

  I’m going to send email to everyone I know about this blog and also on mailing lists too! It is disgusting I don’t plan to vote now on their stupid awards. It probably rigged anyway.

• 5. sherlock Steve  |  January 25, 2008 at 8:49 pm

  Chris..
  when I looked at last year’s awards, RIdor got nominated 4 times yet won once in 2006. Yet, why was ridor named in almost all the blogs last year and this year (2007) NONE?
  Why did his site go down before the selections come about? Tthat really made a puzzle to me. got a clue on it?

• 6. Just Me  |  January 25, 2008 at 11:21 pm

  Agree with you 100%. Also did anyone notice who the keynote speakers are for the awards ceremony? Of course, Taylor and Jared! Who else?! They are running the ceremony and pick themselves as keynote speakers. Talk about EGO! *LOL* Bet they nominated themselves for the awards as well. I would not be surprised.

• 7. Tom Willard  |  January 26, 2008 at 3:20 pm

  Unfortunately this is nothing new. DR has been censoring me since I publicly questioned their judgment last spring. You can go to my blog “Tom’s Deaf Advocacy” and find plenty of DR-worthy posts and see at http://www.deafread.com/blogger/290 that nothing has been picked up since last March.

  Two days ago I blogged about NTID not providing interpreters for workshops at this summer’s 40th reunion. I submitted it as a link to DR and was amazed when it actually showed up on their front page a short time later. But within an hour it was gone, poof, not even on the Extra page. So typical of the crap they cook up.

  What bothers me most is when DR’s petty nonsense affects innocent people. Yesterday I put an article on another blog I maintain, DeafROC.com, about a deaf Rochesterian who won a prestigious award. I submitted it as a link to DR and it didn’t show up, not even in Extra. So this guy doesn’t get the recognition he deserves and people all over don’t get to read about him, just because DR has a problem with me.

  When I started DeafROC.com, it was part of DR for the first month and about a dozen posts got selected for their front page, resulting in thousands of hits. Then DR sent me an email saying they were no longer going to post DeafROC’s stuff because it wasn’t appropriate for their site. If that were the case, then why did they pick a dozen posts in the first month and why did those posts get so many hits?

  I started out with a positive impression of DR but now I don’t like them at all, and it’s because of how they go out of their way to make trouble when none exists. They are very biased and have no compunction about throwing their weight around and taking advantage of their monopoly.

  Yes, I hope someone will come out with something better, and I hope Sprint Relay will rethink its sponsorship in light of these glaring examples of censorship. (Frankly I stopped using Sprint Relay when they signed on as DR’s sole sponsor.)

  PS .. It goes without saying that they should not be competing in a contest they are running.

• 8. Paotie Rules My World  |  January 26, 2008 at 7:09 pm

  Re: Censorship: Like I said in my other comment, censorship at DR is nothing new. The so-called editors are really *discriminators*. They don’t edit anything. They approve/disapprove blogs based on whether they like them or not and whether or not they supposedly fit their guidelines which they themselves don’t always follow.

  Re: Awards: Last year when I saw Jared Evens nominated and then win the tech blog award, I cringed. I have nothing against the guy, he seems like a nice fellow. But his winning didn’t seem very kosher since he’s part of the DR team. He should not have accepted the nomination. It should have gone to Grant Laird. Like you point out, DR *discriminators* have an unfair advantage over other bloggers/vloggers. When I voted last week, I made a mental note not to vote for any of the *discriminators*, not because I don’t like their blogs or vlogs but because like Chris, I firmly believe they should not have been on the voting ballot.

• 9. B.G.  |  January 26, 2008 at 10:12 pm

  PAH! I was wondering when someone would have the balls to say something about the awards!

• 10. J  |  January 26, 2008 at 10:20 pm

  I think some people are making much ado about nothing in a way. I think Tayler and Jared are honorable people. But I’m not comvinced some of the others are. They think of this like a popularity contest, for one thing. I do think none of the DR editors should be eligible for awards, and they should’ve recused themselves immediately. Leaving them in was a mistake on the DR team’s part.

• 11. Tex  |  January 26, 2008 at 11:08 pm

  Chris! Welcome back to the deafblogworld! You were missed big time dude!

  I agree w/ ya about the Awards stuff. I think most people probably raised their eyebrows and then let it go as most just don’t care. If the Awards were being run by NAD, on the other hand, you bet there would be an uproar if this situation were the same. But DR? So what. BFD. Who cares about their little stupid Awards. It’s more about glorifying themselves than the b/vloggers. It’s all a publicity stunt.

  My take on DR is “whatever”.. just like their logo, but add my rolling eyes.

  Cheers!

• 12. ILY  |  January 27, 2008 at 1:57 am

  I think the awards are a good idea. It’s a good way to recognize the bloggers for their contributions. I also agree with Chris and those who feel the editors, which include Tayler and Jared, should have been disqualified due to their association with Deafread.

  It would be nice if other organizations came forward and had these type of awards. Tex mentioned NAD. They would be perfect for this and am sure would be more neutral than Deafread.

• 13. W. David Samuelsen  |  January 27, 2008 at 2:35 am

  This is absolute no difference from the Oscars and Golden Globals. Only the members inside decide.

  The President of Academy is NOT disqualified from winning an award just because he/she happens to be President.

• 14. ILY  |  January 27, 2008 at 3:23 am

  Comparing Deafread awards to the Oscars and Golden Globe? Ha ha you gotta be kidding me! Those awards have thousands involved, paid staff, etc. Huge difference.

• 15. Deaf Perplexed Reader  |  January 27, 2008 at 5:19 am

  Chris, you made good points. Jehanne, a young girl, is even puzzled by DeadRead’s censorship practices. She made a vlog at her site asking for help from the Deaf community in asking Tayler to include her vlogs in DeafRead Youth http://www.deafread.com/youth , but no action has been made by Tayler or his team. Her KFC vlog http://www.jehanne.wordpress.com is amazing and it is not even at DeafRead Youth. I believe Tayler may have issues with anyone who speaks up including this young girl. Tayler’s ego is too fragile. It is obvious that the Deaf community wants to help Tayler and he needs to listen to feedback to make DeafRead an amazing place to visit.

• 16. Jan  |  January 27, 2008 at 7:05 am

  I wonder if it’s possible for us to re-vote? I would like to take back my votes for the deafread editors I voted for. I concur that it’s not right for them to be on the ballot.

• 17. JD  |  January 27, 2008 at 7:31 am

  Jan #16,
  A good question! I want to take back my votes, too. Let’s see what DR will say.

• 18. Paotie  |  January 27, 2008 at 7:49 am

  According to DR’s website, you cannot re-vote.

  “Welcome to voting for the 2007 Blog Awards!

  Some important items to know before you begin voting:

  1) Be sure to vote on all categories. Once you click on the vote button, you cannot go back to vote on the categories you did not vote on the first time.”

  Reference: http://www.deafread.com/blog/?p=199

  :o)

  Paotie

• 19. Paotie  |  January 27, 2008 at 7:51 am

  Oops .. copy and paste error:

  I forgot to include #2 of DR’s voting policies:

  “2) Votes can be submitted only once. Please take careful consideration before submitting your vote. You can go to the voting page as many times as you wish to do research on each blog or entry”

  :o)

  Paotie

• 20. deafsingle  |  January 27, 2008 at 8:05 am

  Agree with you.

• 21. LaRonda  |  January 27, 2008 at 8:54 am

  Hi. My comments here are said respectfully. I’m not looking to stir up a fight, Just sharing my own humble thoughts.

  From reading your comments above, it looks like you’re a blogger who has been away for a while. We’ve recently learned that if a person’s v/blog has been inactive with DeafRead for a certain amount of time, that person will to re-register it. Otherwise, it automatically “turns off” on the DeafRead website.

  You might want to check to see if this was the case of why your blog post was not posted on DR. It might just be that your blog was inactive there an needed to be reactivated. It appears to be up and running now with more of your posts, now that your active again. What this means is that you may be making an assumption about censorship that is not really true. It may have been just a technical glitch. It’s important to read about how DeafRead works and is set up before jumping to conclusions.

  As for the nominations for the votes for the awards, that was entirely open to the public. WE as a public nominated the people who are on the voting list. The nominations were not rigged by DR editors. Those of us who have been actively watching and reading v/blogs over the 2007 year knew whose v/blogs made an impact and we therefore, nominated them. If a person got more than a certain number of nominations, then their names were added to the voting list. If some of the DR editors made v/blogs that “powed” people, then those people brought their names to the nomination table.

  ~ LaRonda

• 22. Paotie  |  January 27, 2008 at 9:34 am

  LaRonda ..

  Not necessarily an assumption that some blogs/vlogs are discriminated against. “Censorship” is not the right word, thus I termed the editors “discriminators” since they MUST discriminate between articles they deem appropriate for DR. Some equate this discrimination as “censorship.”

  The guidelines do not specify what is appropriate or not, other than in general terms.

  Besides, if the editors are good at one thing, it’s using a virtual Etch-a-Sketch thingie - screwing up and then shaking the Etch-a-Sketch after declaring, “technical difficulties,” to absolve them any accountability, which seems to encourage the editors to continue “technical difficulting” their way out of mistakes.

  And when another mistake happens, we get the good-old stand by, “technical difficulties.” Round and round the editors go with their Etch-a-Sketch pads.

  And I referr back to a comment in which someone noted that editors have an unfair advantage over most other bloggers/vloggers, which I agree with. Editors have access to information, such as blogs/vlogs that are NOT picked up and can use those for their own personal benefit if they choose.

  I’m not saying that’s what they DO - I’m saying that there’s a PERCEPTION that’s what the editors do.

  Frankly, the editors perpetuate that perception routinely and not just with “technical difficulties” but also with the blatant disregard by DR editors to comply with their own guidelines.

  That was my take. My impression never had anything to do with censorship or technical glitches - just the fact that I noted what the editors say and do are two separate things far too often.

  :o)

  Paotie

• 23. Paotie  |  January 27, 2008 at 9:38 am

  First line should’ve read:

  Not necessarily an assumption that some blogs/vlogs are censored against.

  :o)

  Paotie

• 24. Jared Evans  |  January 27, 2008 at 11:54 am

  Thanks for sharing your concerns about the fact that some of our editors have been listed as nominees for Deaf Blog awards.

  I would like to clarify a few things and put to rest some of your concerns:

  We are merely following the voice of our readers. If the readers want to nominate one of our editors to a category, we are following their wishes. Unlike a sweepstakes where a winner is selected at random and employees and their family members are exempt, this contest is based upon a majority voting approach. There is nothing more democratic than allowing our readers to determine who deserves to be nominated or be the winner.

  One of the reasons we chose some of our editors is because of their apparent enthusiasm and dedication to v/blogging. If their contributions are recognized among other v/bloggers, they are likely to be nominated as well. This is nothing wrong with this.

  Our editors who blog or vlog do so on their own time and separately from DeafRead. They have no bearing on the voting process nor do they get preference over other nominees.

  We realize that it is necessary to have a level of trust in whoever runs the Deaf Blog Awards contest and have confidence that the tally is done fairly as possible. You may rest assure that Tayler and I are not willing to risk our professional reputation by purposefully skewering the results one way or other.

  This contest is not the end-all and just for fun, so RELAX folks!!

• 25. Beta  |  January 27, 2008 at 12:13 pm

  Jared wrote:, “nor do they get preference over other nominees.”

  OMG. You’re kidding me.

  Being the white male that you are, Jared, it’s no surprise that you are not acknowledging the unfair priviledge that you and other Editors have over other bloggers. As Chris points out, you and other Editors have an unfair advantage. As Editors your blogs are more promiently displayed than other bloggers on DR. Why do politicans spend millions on advertising? Because they know voters will more likely go with someone they recognize and are familiar with. The same is true of blogs. Y’all should not be in the contest. Period.

• 26. J  |  January 27, 2008 at 1:13 pm

  Jared,
  I believe you. But perception is everything. Allowing DeafRead editors to be eligible for awards gives the whole thing a whiff that’s not pleasant. Again, it’s the perception that matters. For what it’s worth, I think you guys are getting a whole lot of undeserved, unfair flack. but next year, please leave editors out of it.

• 27. J  |  January 27, 2008 at 1:14 pm

  Jared,
  I believe you. But perception is everything. Allowing DeafRead editors to be eligible for awards gives the whole thing a whiff that’s not pleasant. Again, it’s the perception that matters. For what it’s worth, I think you guys are getting a whole lot of undeserved, unfair flack with all the flap about censorship. But next year, please leave editors out of the awards..

• 28. Pam Estes  |  January 27, 2008 at 1:17 pm

  Jared, your comment to just relax and that it’s just all fun slaps those in the face who take the awards seriously and who it means something to.

• 29. Eric  |  January 27, 2008 at 2:09 pm

  So J.J. is supposed to be the unbiased person at DR counting the votes and he’s making comments like these when the voting hasn’t even ended:

  ““The Greatest Irony” video clip…whether you agree with it or not…that had to be the single most influential vlog of 2007.”

  “I was the one who counted the nominations. That was ALL ME. Nobody helped me. It took me three days.”

  The Awards should be gathered and tallied by a totally neutral independent party. I don’t know J.J. but how do we know that since he feels so strongly about certain blogs that he won’t give a nod in their direction? Where are the checks and balances?

  Pathetic.

  I’m another person who agrees that the DR folks should not be involved. Especially if they want to be part of the awards contest. To use the tired cliche, they want to “have their cake and eat it too”.

• 30. Eric  |  January 27, 2008 at 2:17 pm

  Deaf People’s Blogger Choice Awards!

  And the Best Blog of the Year Award goes to…..

  (drum roll)

  Paotie!

  Who needs DR?

• 31. White Ghost  |  January 27, 2008 at 2:47 pm

  Eric….

  We’re gonna be at the red carpet. I’ll be with my boy, Casper.

  I’ll be wearing my red lipstick and heavy diamond necklace, earrings and bracelet from the Tiffany’s.

  *Smack*

• 32. Eric  |  January 27, 2008 at 3:28 pm

  Way to go, White Ghost! I’m wearing a tux. Come sit at my table

• 33. ILY  |  January 27, 2008 at 3:51 pm

  I’m so there!

• 34. White Ghost  |  January 27, 2008 at 6:53 pm

  Eric

  Be my guest!

• 35. PA  |  January 27, 2008 at 7:39 pm

  I read all the comments and just want to chime in with my 2cents….. Tayler, Jared and Human editors should not be challenging other bloggers for the awards. Does not make sense. If I had a www site and then put on a contest, not make sense for me to participate in contest of my own www site. Strange that they seem to be stubborn and clueless about it. Good idea about having separate awards. Do it.

• 36. from L.A.  |  January 27, 2008 at 10:34 pm

  Keep in your mind they are human. They make the mistakes. Hopefully they learn from this and do better job next time.

• 37. Ridor for President  |  January 28, 2008 at 1:35 am

  I voted last week. There are two blogs by DR Editors that I really think rock and I voted for them. After reading this, I will admit that if I had the chance I would also revote and change my vote. Not because I don’t think they deserve it but because I agree it’s a conflict of interest. There has to be another way that we can recognise them.

  I was also disappointed not to see Ridor nominated. He should have been.

• 38. Tom Willard  |  January 28, 2008 at 9:05 am

  It is interesting how we in the deaf community give out our awards. Here we have a case where the awards are being given by people who are also competing for them (weird!) and in the sports world we have the best teams being chosen by a single individual, Barry Strassler (also weird!)

  In both cases there is talk of setting up an impartial committee to make the decisions, but somehow it never happens, perhaps because no one wants to take the lead or maybe because in our small community it is not possible to be “impartial.”

  I maintain the DeafROC.com website and have been thinking of sponsoring a contest for deaf-related websites in Rochester. Many are unimpressive, and I thought a contest might prove uplifting. I figured I would line up a few judges from the hearing world who are familiar with website design. They don’t know us and wouldn’t be influenced by anything except what they are supposed to judge, the websites themselves.

  It would be a far cry from the current DeafRead contest and all the inherent conflicts involved.

• 39. Black Stallion  |  January 29, 2008 at 12:02 am

  I’m sure it’s going to be interesting watching Tayler et all give their song and dance at the Awards banquet trying to convince everyone how unbiased it all is. I almost wish I were going. For nothing other than the sheer entertainment value of it all. (snickers)

• 40. Daniel is Learning  |  January 30, 2008 at 1:06 pm

  Many of us apparently feel it’s not kosher. Myself included. I’m actually surprised that they haven’t bowed out of the awards nominations. Guess they don’t care what we think. It really taints the awards and the image of Deafread.

• 41. Pink Floyd  |  January 30, 2008 at 3:38 pm

  Seek GEO is one of my favorite bloggers. I just learned he has changed his mind about attending the DR awards banquet.

  Good on you mate!

  You don’t need their stinkin’ biased awards. You have your fans undying love and devotion.

  

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