Nominations for the 2007 Homeschool Blog Awards are open. Make sure to read the rules carefully. This one seems to be a sore point among some this year:
Family friendly (G-rated) blogs only. Do not nominate a blog that has cussing (no potty mouth), photographic nudity (I’m not talking about one image of some sculpture from the 1500’s in an art post), sexual content, or hostility toward other bloggers. HSBA
The comment thread is interesting. I would just like to point out that Christians are not the only ones averse to swearing and pornography. In fact, when I signed up for BlogHer, a decidedly more liberal leaning organization, I had to check a little box letting them know whether I swore on my blog. Not that they particularly cared, but some advertisers do. I know that drives traffic, but I have always (even before my conversion) regarded that as a mark of poor writing. I guess I’m out of touch.
…Right after that, pull your head out of your nether region. This award thing is a sham. It’s meaningless. The best homeschooling blogs, the ones that are truly great, the ones that garner the most traffic on the net, will not be represented here. The “ladies” here have tweaked the rules to eliminate the real winners. May God forgive you all. –the wicked witch of the west
So the really great blogs either curse, share nude photos or are hostile to other bloggers? I can see where the “hostile to other bloggers” could leave a bit of room for interpretation, but is that really an attitude that the best need to take on in order to garner this much coveted traffic that is apparently the mark of a truly great blog?
Last year, I believe the criticism was that this was just a popularity contest. (A contest of those that “garner the most traffic?”) At least one blog said that the only fair way to do this was to have an independent panel of judges. Great blogs are not always discovered. Some just blog away quietly to the small circle of people who stumble across them on the web. And there are a lot of blogs out there with insane amounts of traffic which have nothing to say and say it poorly at that.
Assuming I know who these “real winners” are, weren’t they both in the contest last year and didn’t they both not win? I know Doc (Doc’s Sunrise Rants…and yes, following the link will bring you cursing…um, maybe even questionable images) was perturbed about being questioned whether she had homeschooled during 2006, which I actually thought was a fair complaint last year given the way the rules read when voting began. Daryl (HE&OS who also shares his distaste at the awards through cursing and images) came near the top in his category, if I remember correctly, but who could beat Spunky?
Are the blog awards meaningless? I guess, depending on your point of view. They are “just for fun.” This is not the Emmies. Which, come to think of it, are criticized every year for something, too. And if they are meaningless, why are we getting so rankled about it?
Even with this subtle tweaking of the rules in my favor, I doubt I have much of a chance but do take a moment to check out the awards and nominate the bloggers you would like to thank for helping to keep you inspired, informed and sometimes just entertained. Even if it is “just fun” everyone likes to know someone appreciated them enough to be nominated. And if the rules are too much for you, Doc has started an alternative for you. I do commend you on your sense of humor, guys, but do you really want that in your sidebar?
[tags]homeschooling, HSBA, homeschool blog awards[/tags]
Well said, Dana!
God bless,
Sallie
Dana,
I was nominated last year under a category that I don’t even normally write about. I think it was Best Political Commentary. I thought that was so weird and I wondered if whoever nominated my blog ever read it. I don’t generally write about politics ever. And, I agree with you cursing, nudity and being disrespectful to people who are philosophically diverse has no place in a truly great blog.
I noted that the rules did include, “Do not nominate a blog that has nothing to do with homeschooling.” But this seems very ambiguous to me ~ You seem to have clearly identified the purpose of this blog as writing about issues affecting homeschooling or education. I have not. In fact, I purposefully combined my homeschool and spriritual blog into one because I didn’t feel comfortable compartmentalizing my life. I write about whatever I am passionate about, reading about, involved in at that moment in time. Only about 20% of my entries are about homeschooling. That is what I found when I wandered around the web last year checking out some of the blogs that were nominated. The blogs weren’t really about homeschooling. They were about homesteading, child rearing, healhty living, family, Christianity, etc. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with any of those things, but if the focus of the blog is something else with an occasional post about homeschooling, is it really a homeschooling blog. If the only thing that identifies the blog as homeschooling is a profile statement that says, “I homeschool…” is it really a homeschooling blog? I think this is the bigger issue ~ the rest is posturing.
My personal honest opinion of all of it is that some people just want an excuse to be upset with certain other people and the reaction is infantile. But that is just me.
You make some interesting points. I wasn’t sure last year what exactly the categories meant or what the distinctions were. I preferred the 2005 list because it made more sense. And most of the awards were for homeschooling moms, dads, etc., making it clearer, I think, that blogs by homeschoolers were welcome even if homeschooling wasn’t the focus of the blog. So long as voting is by readers, there really is no control over what categories a blog is chosen for, but some of them did seem an odd choice to me.
There are certainly a number of ways this could be improved, but I honestly would be more inclined to go into all that if the awards were being run by a company. At this point, it is an amateur endeavor by a group of homeschooling people who decided to keep it going.
I haven’t read the comment thread over there, yet. In fact, I’ve been avoiding it, because I know I will spend hours nominating people.
What place do cursing and nudity have on a homeschool blog, anyway? I mean an occasional baby in a bath…but nudity?
I was taught that people who use curse words don’t have mastery of language.
Um, thanks for the link (I hope).
Let’s be honest. The blog awards page will generate a lot of interest for *some* homeschoolers, a majority of which will be conservative. They’ll come away believing that they’ve witnessed the best of homeschooling blogs. The premise of the awards is to congratulate ‘the finest’ of homeschool blog writers. In reality, it’s going to be the finest of “conservative” and most likely “Christian” blogs. That’s fine. Bill it as such. There is a huge contingent of more liberal homeschoolers out there. Potty mouth, pornographic images, sexual content, and hostility are subjective and dependent on the philosophy of the mind reading the material. Seriously. Can’t readers decide for themselves? Are homeschoolers so fragile that they need to be protected? Those in control of this ‘debacle’ have had their own problems with hostility towards other homeschoolers. Do you think they’ll disqualify themselves? Either let everyone participate, or redefine the focus.
Being a bit of a non-conformist who likes to keep things interesting and all over the place, I am not big on awards, period. (Hmmm, I hate writing out period but it seems the only way to make that particular point so now it reads period. Very silly.)
I seldom nominate people or give awards and am always a bit surprised if someone nominates me for an award. I mean, since I write about my life, and straight forward and honest about how things are, and what I am doing does someone nominating me just mean they like me? Does not being nominated mean there is something wrong with me? Frankly, all such things really are popularity contests–regardless of what anyone says, and I never was big on “being popular”. I have been debating on whether to nominate people and doubt I will, not because I hate the rules–I mean really, all they are asking is that it be family friendly and about homeschooling in some way, but I don’t read that many homeschooling blogs just because to me it is just part of life and a lot of homeschoolers still use too much “teacher” mentality for my taste. It is one thing if they are talking about the politics of homeschooling–like you often do at least in some manner, but when they start talking curriculum and my way is the best way my eyes glaze over and I wonder over to Cool Tools or some artist’s blog or some other non-homeschool related blog. I enjoy stories about real life in the homes of fellow homeschoolers but the how to’s and whatnot, since I often disagree, I avoid.
Wow, that got all rant-y without meaning to. But really, unless the writer of a blog has stepped back and is writing purely informational stuff, anything else really is just about who is a favorite. That said I do peruse the nominees looking for interesting new blogs to read–occasionally Ifind a real gem in there.
I have been meaning to do a post about this. I agree with you that profanity is a mark of poor writing. It’s not that you are out of touch, but that you recognize standards of excellence, something all but lost in our current culture.
Some people think that swearing makes them cool. It reminds me of sixth grade.
Some people just want to differentiate between the *cool* kids and the *boring* kids, drawing attention to the fact that they are the cool ones. Again, reminds me of sixth grade.
So much of the blog world is very clique-y. I think that is why I shy away from social networking and commenting. I just think life is too short to go back to middle school. Besides, who would want to?
Thank you everyone for your thoughtful comments.
Doc, I understand what you are saying. And I am not normally one for warning people on links, but your latest entry was a bit over the top, even for me.
I don’t know why, but I found it ironic that we did not seem to have these issues back in 2005 when the awards were more closely associated with TOS. The categories made more sense and they did not mention anything about family friendly. The winners still were predominantly conservative Christians, so far as I can see.
Last year, the same was true. HEM and HE&O may have had more of a chance if it weren’t for Spunky, but political and religious views aside, I think she deserved it. Readers were able to decide, they did decide and by and large it was still conservative Christian blogs that won out.
Who are the truly great homeschool blogs? Do we really need a badge in a sidebar to show that? The best blogs to me will get nominated because I will nominate them, but will they even make it to voting? Likely not. My two favorite blogs have very few readers. They are too busy being homeschoolers to worry about blog promotion, social networking and commenting on sites.
It is all “fake” in a way. Last year, I got emails from people asking for votes. Ironically from some people nominated in the same category as me. That didn’t bother me, but it isn’t something I would ever do…I felt weird enough even posting the nomination and I think I posted that when the voting was almost over. Bloggers in networks are going to have a decided advantage because they have a number of people in the network which will vote for them even if they never read the blog in question.
Why did the HSBA team add family friendly to the rules this year? Should they have? I don’t know. I have a hard time getting worked up about it. And no, I don’t think it is that subjective. We all know what an explicative is and I think that might be illustrated by the sudden increased use of them in certain blogs. The biggest problem I saw with it is the fact that there are a number of blogs I read that do use an occasional curse word but it isn’t that frequently. I someone actually going to read every entry of every submission? It seems like a logistical nightmare.
I think there are a number of things that could be brought up to make the awards more interesting and more professional…and maybe mean a little more if one is awarded to someone. I could think of three off the top of my head, but it is a bit difficult to take the discussion seriously when handled in this manner.
I like Heather and the other bloggers working on this. I think they are trying to do a good job with the time they have. I like the idea of having a community discussion about ways to improve it and have it run more smoothly, but I don’t know that the current team has that kind of time or expertise. And the homeschooling “community” can hardly be called such. We are two communities…one conservative and Christian, the other secular.
Interesting. I haven’t participated in the Homeschool Blog Awards in previous years, but this year I did make a few nominations. I had no idea there was this cloud of “controversy” over the whole thing. I’m not terribly surprised, though. Somehow, whenever someone tries to do a good thing, there’s another someone criticizing them for not doing it well enough. Or, simply not doing it the way *they* would have preferred. Slightly ungrateful, if you ask me. I know the time it takes just to post (especially if I’m adding in photos) and I’m certain that the bloggers who organize and run the awards are not just sitting around doing their nails and eating chocolate all day. I don;t know them at all, but I’m thankful for the effort they are putting out to try to encourage and sharpen (at least the Christian, conservative) homeschool blogging community. I’m excited to follow the awards this year. Sure, it is what it is. Does anyone really expect it to be perfect? But, it’s fun to read some of the blogs and, as a previous commenter wrote, to find a gem in there that you didn’t know of before, right? So, I’m looking forward to the “fun” part of it. Thanks to the crew that puts this on!
JacciM, you are right. The people putting this on are volunteers and are putting a lot of effort into this at no personal gain, other than recognition of their personal blogs and the pleasure of serving.
There is a cloud of controversy over the Carnival of Homeschooling and over who we link to, so it is inevitable there would be controversy over this, as well.
And I’m looking forward to it, too. There usually are a few good gems!
“We are two communities…one conservative and Christian, the other secular.”
And though they might not be as vocal, there are members of the homeschooling community who wouldn’t fit into either one of those categories, even just within one of the local homeschooling groups I’m a part of.
Hmm…I somehow managed to misspell my own name in that last post.
Shauna,
Of course, you are right. And most don’t really seem to care either way, regardless of their religious affiliation.
Not everyone is so divisive, regardless of their religious and political affiliations.
And don’t worry about misspelling your name. The other day, I signed my name as the person I was responding to. Made me feel a little silly!
Dana,
You said the following: “There are certainly a number of ways this could be improved, but I honestly would be more inclined to go into all that if the awards were being run by a company. At this point, it is an amateur endeavor by a group of homeschooling people who decided to keep it going.” and… “I think there are a number of things that could be brought up to make the awards more interesting and more professional…and maybe mean a little more if one is awarded to someone.”
I think I can speak for all of us at the HSBA site in the fact that we would love suggestions on how to make the blog awards better. Last year I was basically doing the entire thing myself (2006 Awards – Run in March 2007). Laura set the polls up and helped me to make sure there were no cheaters… and Heather designed the site. That was it, though. All the emails came to me, all the posts were done by me, and I was the one who recruited the PR and prizes. I can certainly see where it wasn’t a professional job … especially since it was thrown together in a New York minute after me picking up the torch because Spunky left the blogosphere. I thought it was a neat idea and enjoyed finding all the new blogs once it was over in 2005.
This year, I was going to just drop it if I couldn’t find helpers. It is way too much hassle for me to do alone. I wouldn’t have done it if 14 ladies had not emailed or commented or accepted my invitation as to joining the team. You are correct that we all don’t have a whole lot of time to dedicate to it… but then it is a volunteer endeavor – meaning UNPAID. The only payment is in prizes for those moms/dads who win the contests.
I have never won anything (prizes) for it. I have been on the team and still not won any category. However, I have seen first hand how blessed the winners are when they get their prizes… and that is a great feeling – knowing you have helped out a family getting homeschool books, curriculum, and other gifts that they may not have been able to afford themselves.
You are right that we are two homeschool communities… Christian and secular. The fact that most of the prize awarders are providing Christian-themed gifts (Vision Forum is our biggest vendor) is one reason why I am amazed that 1. some people have a problem with the family friendly rule, and 2. that they would care (since they probably wouldn’t like the prizes they won).
Anyway, all that to say… if you have suggestions for the awards, you can send them in on the same form you would use to nominate people… and we would be glad if you took the time to do so (you mentioned category suggestions above… would like to hear what your suggestions are).
I really came in here to say that I was nominating you for the Current Event/Political/Opinion category. I like to hear people’s level-headed opinions (especially when there’s no cursing involved). LOL I may not always agree with every point, but you have the gift of being tactful and eloquent with your speech.
Oh, and I FINALLY updated my blogroll with your new address. I’m so slow about those things. I’m sure there are tons of broken links on my blog.
This is the deal—the people who run HSBA are good nice people, and I enjoy their blogs. I have an opinion, and I hate to drop it on everyone because I like them as bloggers and people. But in the end, I think most awards are stupid. And I don’t say that because I didn’t win one last year
You know, I’m a conservative. I’m a Christian. And I’m a human being too. Occasionally, I curse. I have a martini once in awhile. Okay, more than once in awhile. I enjoy “married life” with my hubby and I’ve been known to share that on the blawg. I’m human. Sue me
My blog is first a PERSONAL blog and a homeschool blog second. I talk about homeschooling a lot, because it is a huge part of who I am. But the blawg is not exclusively a hs’ing blog, like many out there.
I’m just not a fan of awards of any kind, homeschool or not, because in the end, it is pretty much a popularity contest. Most of the best blogs out there are still the little known ones. I know most of my best writing was 2 years ago or more when I had 10 readers.
But more readers equals more votes, and that is how you win.
So when someone says it is NOT a popularity contest, who are they kidding?
I hope this doesn’t sound horrid–I really do like the folks at HSBA and if they want to take the time to do these, then more power to them because it is *alot* of work. Me personally, I’d rather not win and keep the “right” to run my blog however I’d like, with the occasional curse word or reference to nudity thrown in.
Heather, I hope you didn’t take anything I said as in any way belittling your efforts. I would not burden y’all with suggestions until it was over…goodness, the carnival is an insane amount of work and I’m sure the awards are a great deal harder.
You guys are doing far better than I would with it and don’t deserve the flack. If I recall, last year there was a decided and public “disappointment” at not having won certain prizes.
The sad thing is, there are a number of secular blogs I enjoy who definitely qualify under your rules and while they may not be interested in the prizes, I am sure they might like the “thank you.” I doubt they get much attention if this whole event means that the most active and vocal aren’t participating.
And what? You don’t agree with me on everything?!!! I’m devastated. : )
Oh, and thank you so much for thinking of me. I really do appreciate it.
[Gasp} What ever are you talking about, Lindsey? : )
Whoever is running the awards gets to make the rules. And all these awards are popularity contests. Even the "big" ones. They just bring more traffic to those who already have traffic. But it is nice to have an opportunity to let the ones you read know they rank high on your list.
Of course you can do that in comments, but it is kind of fun.
And I wouldn't ever expect anyone, even Doc, to change their blogs to conform to a standard for a blog award.
Not sure how I ended up here. I don’t make it to ALL your blog posts Dana (sorry, it’s a time thing – NOT personal), and this one isn’t even really up my alley. I don’t consider myself a “great” or even “good” blogger, and expect NO nominations, as already said above, I’m one of those who are “too busy being [a] homeschooler to worry about blog promotion, social networking and commenting on sites,” to get into this. In fact, much of the time I’m too busy homeschooling (and discipling others) to even blog at all.
But for those involved, go for it, and keep things about the family, family-friendly. The best writing finds a tactful way to say it.
Lisa @ Me and My House
Lisa, I’m honored that you stop by at all…you are a busy woman!
Oh good grief. If some people want to go the work of setting up homeschool blog awards, then they can call the shots. And if other people don’t like those rules, they are free to do all the work of setting up their own homeschool blog awards so that they can make their own rules. As far as I know, it’s still a free country
Hey Dana,
Thanks for stopping by my site, and thanks for initiating a good discussion. I hope to be back soon.
Kathi
Here’s what I see as two sets of people.
The hotel states check in is at 3pm, you arrive at 11am and expect to be checked in.
The grocery store advertises a limit of 4 and you demand 6.
People wait in line at the DMV for hours with the same complaints as you insist you be moved to the front.
A company’s promotion is a limit of 1 per household and you send in 3.
A football game has it’s rules and regulations but you are sure that they are bent to your persusaion.
One is asked to respect the dead yet continues in perverse loud conversations.
God created the heavens and the earth but you must deny His very law.
What ranks the antagonist so is the fact that they know the truth and have denied its very power. They have found the path narrow and difficult with few travellers. The one who would be their rock, foundation, peace and salvation they have rejected.
Now the very enemy of their souls will take then down the broad and easy path to destruction with many travellers. The one who is their every enemy now drags then embittered to damnation.
Is it no wonder so fierce an attack on a subject asking for so civil a behavior.
Just my 2 cents.
I am very busy and do not have time to host Blog Awards.
I do not have time to help host Blog Awards.
I do not feel, therefore, that I should criticize those who are hosting Blog Award even if I do not agree with them.
If I want Blog Awards done MY WAY, then I host them. Otherwise….
I’m not saying someone doesn’t have the right to complain, and I understand why some are upset, but it would make more sense to create your own Blog Awards, in my humble opinion.
I’m a Love It or Leave It type of gal. That’s just me.
As I said, just my 2 cents.
Sorry. That should have read, should NOT criticize…
As I said, I’m a very busy person. No time to proof read.
Looks like Barbara Frank, Jack’s Porch and Life on The Planet all agree…those in control have the choice to run it as they choose.
Which would pretty much be my take, as well.
What was wrong with the awards as they were run last year? In truth, the rules were changed to eliminate blogs the awards committee found distasteful – not blogs that OTHER BLOGGERS (those who nominate and vote) found distasteful! Find me a blog, conservative or liberal, that qualifies under the current rules – and qualifies as “the finest”. That means, no agendas mentioned, no hostility towards other bloggers or groups of bloggers, either in word or in deed, no pictures of their littles in the buff, no mention of controversies in the world of education or politics that involve s*xual content. Believe me, nobody is that pure. Every single rule is subjective to an agenda. You’re right, the people who run the blog awards can make the rules. But don’t bill it as ‘the finest homeschool blogs’, because it won’t be, it will be ‘the narrow scope of blogging we accept as adequate’.
Being “new” to the whole world of blogging, I had NO idea what a hornets nest these awards would be! WOW.
Very well put Dana. I’m so new to blogging that I have NO idea who’s popular and who’s not. I just know a good (interesting, creative, attractive, etc) blog when I see one. Those are the ones I’ll vote for. And there’s probably LOTS of folks like me out there.
Thanks, Linda. I think that is how most of us are, even if we do know where the traffic is. There are so many great blogs out there that get so little traffic…but on the other hand, there are those with insane amounts of traffic that I just can’t figure out.
Doc, I didn’t say there weren’t problems with last year. I know you were questioned, but wasn’t your blog left in the voting? I am obviously not going to remember as well as you would, but I thought you asked to be removed after being asked whether you still homeschooled. My only point was that secular blogs were nominated, some seemed to do ok but none won.
I thought Spunky did a great job with them in 2005 when TOS was directly sponsoring it. I was brand new to blogging back then and don’t know if there was any discussion way back when before HSB boycott, etc., but but even without the rules as they now are the winners are predominantly conservative and Christian. I see one person who is liberal.
It doesn’t matter how the rules are set up, you can never accurately judge “the best.” That is too subjective. You bring up the highest trafficed blogs. Are they necessarily the best? Popular and best are not equal.
You can have open nomination, but most people are going to vote for who they know. Even if they commit to checking every blog…it takes time to really appreciate a new blog for what it offers. Something would have to really stand out for me to place it above the blogs I already read regularly and enjoy most because I lack that relationship with the blogger and their writing.
I do not think that “family friendly” is such an unreasonable qualification in a contest such as this. Of course there are always potential difficulties, but I think that is difficult to make the arguments you are making with most of the people who are going to be involved in this. “Family friendly” does not mean “everyone who agrees with me.” There are a number of blogs out there that are liberal, secular, etc., but choose not to use profanity or display pornographic images. Mom is Teaching, Alasandra and Serious Learning come immediately to mind because I read them more regularly.
What a conservative Christian can actually win something? I didn’t know they could spell…
I guess we’ll have to get rid of them anyway possible.
I’m behind the eight ball with the blogosphere due to a death in the family.
I just blogged yesterday that the award nominations were open.
I also yesterday wrote a long post about some controversies and some of my thoughts about the awards in past years, and issues but DIDN’T PUBLISH IT as I felt it needed revision for clarity and I was also a bit afraid to open a can of worms.
Dana, I just found your blog post here today so now more than ever realize there is no need for me to blog the issues as they have been covered here so why be repetitive? You’ve got the can open here…
I’ve enjoyed reading the comments from everyone.
My main issue with the awards is it IS a popularity contest.
Last year when I was nominated I didn’t get a lot of votes as I chose to NOT rally my personal friends who don’t read blogs to vote for me. I didn’t rally within my local HS community to vote for me. If I asked my local support group to vote for me I could have won in my category as I would have exceeded the winners numbers. I didn’t vote for myself or use other email accounts to vote for myself or anything like that.
I blog to write and share my thoughts. I feel that I am NOT part of a clique. I don’t blog through HSB so I’m already out of that clique. I don’t blog to be part of ‘a popular group’. I don’t spend time cultivating a ’social network’ of clique-y-ness.
It seems to me that some blogs are turning more into MySpace accounts with lists of friends and formation of cliques and stroking each other on the back rather than being content-focused.
So I’m not popular, I’m not in a clique. I feel like I’m in public school all over again…
One of my blog readers emailed me to tell me she nominated me. I don’t know if I’ll get the 3 nominations to qualify for the voting (the ‘finals’). And even if I do, I doubt I’ll win. And that is okay because I blog to share my thoughts…
It is flattering to know someone likes my writing enough to take a minute to nominate me though.
Christine, Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! It is a bit of a can of worms and I did ponder briefly how much I really wanted to step into it. Oh, well. I think that those who put this on have put a great deal of unpaid effort into this and do not deserve the number of personal attacks which has come along with this. I think I understand what they are trying to accomplish with the rules and do not fault them for that.
As to whether they are actually workable and where the lines are, etc., I think there could be a productive discussion around that, but when the response is made thus, it is difficult to take seriously.
They are a popularity contest…and some will feel inclined to campaign which is fine. I don’t want anyone to think that I think poorly of that. Campaigning is a part of successful blogging, etc. But a lot of people feel uncomfortable with it and the result doesn’t mean one has a better blog than the other.
I do appreciate the nominations. How my readers perceive my blog is more important to me. : )
Christine says… “It is flattering to know someone likes my writing enough to take a minute to nominate me though.”
Although the blog awards ARE technically a CONTEST, the main reason we do them is for the person to know that at least SOMEONE out there is reading and cares. It is so that each person who is nominated can have the little nominee badge on their sidebar. It is obvious that the bigger traffic sites (like Spunky’s was) will always win … I mean, really, WHO can beat the Rebelution? That is why we had to separate the teen categories this year… because they will always win due to their huge readership.
The whole thing is about fun. Nothing more. The other nice thing about the awards is just the site itself – where the group of us ladies are working together to post for other homeschoolers. That has been really enjoyable. Each day someone different posts something… if you haven’t read them, you should check it out sometime. There are 14 great bloggers I am working with on the site.
I am amazed at the “hornet’s nest” that this dumb contest has become on the blogosphere – and the lengths that some will go to in making attacks personal and malicious. I can honestly say that I have not said anything ugly about the disgruntled ones – even though most of the attacks have been directed at me personally. And it will stay that way. In case any of them are reading in here… I forgive you.
For everyone else – good luck in the awards and hope you enjoy your prizes from the generous people who have donated them. Vision Forum donated over $1,000 dollars worth of merchandise. It would be rude of me not to be thankful – and it is certainly not their fault that this controversy has broken out.
I think what some people are failing to remember here is that 1. we are human people, 2. the awards were set up quickly and these same rules would have applied in 2006 as well if I had thought about it up front… we put the site up and started awards in just a week or two for 2006! There is no hidden agenda… because if I had one, I am not so secretive that I wouldn’t have just called it the Christian Homeschool Blog Awards from the get go! I really don’t want to exclude people. I am not one of those Christians who points fingers at people or feels better than them. You can read my testimony on my blog to see that I have no right to do so.
Sorry for the long reply, but I’m a very non-controversial person who can get along with anyone… and it hurt me that people are assuming the worst of me and being so hateful in their comments and blog posts.
Sprittibee, I think you are doing a great job. There have been some valid points made amidst the attacks, but the personal nature of many of them is completely uncalled for. I think the intent is clear and if people want to discuss the difficulties that might come from the rules, that is one thing. But making this somehow about an attempt to discourage blogs with an ideological difference? What does that say about secular blogs? Do they all engage in this kind of language? Not that I can see. Even the ones that do not do it as often as they have this past week.
Outside of homeschooling and parenting circles, “family-friendly” isn’t as much of an issue, but I have seen “suitable for work” set as a standard for some communities and blogrolls. I think what you are trying to do is a good thing, and I certainly do not question your character or motivation in this at all.
For someone without an agenda, Sprittibee is working awfully hard at defending herself. Funny that she’s doing it on other people’s blogs instead of the HBA site (where she deleted all the negative content from comments, people genuinely concerned about the perceived “agenda”), and she has quite an interesting history of saying unkind things towards people who don’t believe as she does. Is it really honest to be doing that on someone’s site who has no way of verifying this? I don’t know, it sure smells like an agenda to post on a site where she’s sure to have complete support… too bad it contains such an element of untruth. Tsk tsk. She’s targeted because none of the other “ladies” is putting their name on the questionable activities. Just be honest, the awards doesn’t represent the finest, it represents the narrow view of “fine” as seen by the “14 ladies”. Don’t be so surprised that other elements of homeschoolers are sick and tired of a loudmouthed majority the keeps attempting to be the “voice” of homeschooling. Times have changed. There was no controversy last year EXCEPT when Sprittibee attempted to enforce a rule that didn’t exist,( and doesn’t exist in this year’s rules either, funny that.) The same rules could have applied, and at least it would have given all homeschooling blogs a fair chance to participate.
Doc, I don’t know what you are referring to in regards to Sprittibee, but I have a difficult time imagining her assaulting someone with the same profanity that she is currently being assaulted with.
I don’t know who the “loudmouthed majority” is supposed to be exactly. Are you taking your frustrations with HSLDA out on Sprittibee’s blog awards? I don’t really see where anyone is trying to be the “voice of homeschooling” here. And I only see one side really being particularly loud in this particular instance.
There are a number of issues that can be discussed which will be infinitely more productive if we can keep it from being personal and inflammatory. I think there is enough to discuss regarding the family friendly policy without taking this as a personal attack against you, or as some underhanded ploy to try to take secular blogs completely out of the competition. Not all secular blogs engage in the kinds of activity that is targeted with this….goodness, in that family-friendly blogroll I have on this site, there is even a Wiccan.
“Family-friendly” is not a specifically Christian thing. “Safe for work” is another little phrase I’ve seen popping up on communities and blogrolls because of the number of people who blog at work. And it isn’t about homeschoolers who blog with their children present. A lot of adults do not like to read the profanity, etc. I have a rather high tolerance of it because my husband comes from a culture where it just isn’t the big deal that it is here, but I don’t particularly like it.
You are right that this could be decided through the normal voting process. And if we are the “loudmouthed majority” than likely those blogs who do not adhere to some standard of decorum (for lack of a better expression) will not fare well.
Thus far, most of the arguments you have raised against this policy remain unconvincing to me, because most of them come across more like a personal assault against Heather than a rational disagreement.
From the beginning, the argument against this seems to have centered on “the ones that are truly great, the ones that garner the most traffic on the net…” somehow cannot participate because of this rule. I object to that on two points:
1) I don’t think that all the truly great blogs curse and illustrate their posts with pornography nor are hostile to other bloggers. Does this gain traffic? Of course it does. The base always has and always will. But to me that is not the mark of the “truly great.”
2) Traffic doesn’t equal greatness.
This blog award isn’t going to determine that, either, but the discussion occurring on this level is not really helping anything.
I just wanted to state for the record why the comments were removed from the other site and then I’m done with the entire discussion. I know that this conversation is getting stale.
The reason the comments were removed from HSBA is this: I warned the commenters to keep it nice and do not attack others. Myself and Sallie were attacked by the commentors.
Here’s what Wicked Witch of the West said to Sallie:
“wicked witch of the west |
Sallie, you’re amazing. You have far reaching knowledge that transcends this website. I believe you missed your calling. Call Bush and tell him where Osama is.
Right after that, pull your head out of your nether region. This award thing is a sham. It’s meaningless. The best homeschooling blogs, the ones that are truly great, the ones that garner the most traffic on the net, will not be represented here. The “ladies” here have tweaked the rules to eliminate the real winners. May God forgive you all.“
and towards myself, here is what Electric Barbarella said…
“ElectricBarbarella, on November 8th, 2007 at 1:43 pm Said:
Spiritbee,
I wonder if you realize just how a**inine you are really being? You and HSB are the bane of homeschoolers existence–but underneath your perfect persona, you will one day crack. HSB has issues, big issues and for you to follow them and actually support the wife/child beating abusers they do, only proves you’re just as “issued” as they are.
Too bad really, because you do offer some nice prizes, sometimes. I always thought these awards were rigged, judging from, what was it, 2 years ago when you gave away the camera for the “how you homeschool” thing..the winners were people who used copious amounts of scripture/bible study to do their lessons and were totally UN-Natural. But someone like those of us who actually wrote a true post on how we did it, lost out. I guess I didn’t include enough “Praise Jesus’” in my post, huh?
But no, contrary to what your warped mind believes, I am so not jealous of you. As both a Christian and a homeschooler, sadly, I wish you and HSB would just dissappear already. You do not represent homeschoolers and you never will. Yet you and HSB constantly think you do.
You are a hate filled woman. You are excluding homeschoolers because of sexual orientation, judging by the fact that one blog in particular, kicked ALL of HSB’s rear ends in the contest the last few years.
You just can’t admit that a gay person does the job better.
Enjoy your controlled, bubble filled world for one day soon, it shall pop.
toni”
The comments broke the rules – and bordered on threatening. That is why they were removed.
As for the other ‘rule’ that was in question… when we started out to have a contest for a homeschool award that is “year specific” (ie: 2006, 2007…) it was thought to have been pretty clear that we meant blogs for homeschooler who were homeschooling for that particular year. I know that others were disqualified (and had no qualms about it – some even disqualified themselves via email to me) besides Doc. It wasn’t until we started seeing blogs being nominated who were not homeschooling any more (or never had homeschooled) that we even thought – hey – we should have put this in the rules. It looks like I didn’t put it clearly in this year’s rules, either – probably because, again, I assumed with a title like 2007 Homeschool Blog Awards that it was the case. This was an oversight and I’ll certainly fix it.
Doc stated earlier… “There was no controversy last year EXCEPT when Sprittibee attempted to enforce a rule that didn’t exist,(and doesn’t exist in this year’s rules either, funny that.)”
Most others who were disqualified had no ‘controversy’ over it at all last year. I particularly do not remember any other controversies save the one Doc is referring to with herself.
In fact, here’s what Mountain Musings said after being disqualified and Doc went to comment on her blog that the rules were not fair last year:
“Doc ~ thank you for the comment. We definitely are not looking to get into any controversy over this; it doesn’t bother us at all if this is what the coordinators decide. We are just thankful they wanted to encourage other home schoolers to keep at it! We appreciate their hard work, and we support them in their endeavors.”
I’ll be sure to add the statement CLEARLY to the rule page tonight: “Please nominate only bloggers who are actively homeschooling grades PK-12 for at least part of 2007″.
Here is another fix we made this year due to not being totally clear last year:
23. Best NEW Homeschool Blog
It is hard making a name for yourself in the blogosphere. A lot of times, you feel as if you are writing and no one is out there. If you have stumbled upon a great new blogger who has a lot of potential and you want to share them with the rest of us… please consider nominating them for this category! This blog must have been created between Dec. 2006 through October 2007. Blogs newer than October 2007 can be nominated for NEXT year’s Best NEW Homeschool Blog.
OK… so we have added some new rules (due to the lack of planning ahead that you would expect of a professional and paid team of experts on blog awards). Hopefully now they are clear enough that in the future, there won’t be any controversy at all. That is what we are aiming for.
I’ll shut up now on the topic. Thanks for giving us a place to discuss this, Dana – sorry to take up your time and clog your email box. I felt like Vision Forum and the rest of the innocent surfers coming in to the awards didn’t need to see comments like those. It was scaring people off from participating.
In fact, one of our other HSBA members said this to me while we were discussing it:
“> It’s getting really nasty and totally beyond reasonable with what
> these guys are saying. The hatred is palpable and you have every right
> to get rid of it. The problem is that some of our readers are standing
> up for us and they are getting attacked.”
The ladies on the email list all discussed the pros and cons of leaving the comments up (which we did… until they got ugly), and then they asked me if we could remove them because of other comments they were seeing on blogs and emails they were getting. I knew that this would “fan the flame”, but it was a call that had to be made because the rules were broken and it looked ugly and disrespectful for the sponsors as well. Who wants to give away $1000 dollars worth of books to an awards that has a comments section with a full fledged assault going on it it?
I saw the comments up to one or two past the one I left. That was the whole reason I wrote this post to begin with.
Reasoned discussion could only benefit everyone. But the personal nature of the attacks is uncalled for and does nothing but drive away anyone who might be willing to discuss it further.
And Sprittibee, I would have shut off comments, too.
Dana, I agree with a lot of what you said here and I am impressed by your graciousness to all–a wonderful skill to have.
Just one correction: one or two of your commentators said that there are two kinds of homeschool blogs–Christian and Secular.
Which leaves me to say: “What am I, chopped liver?”
I am neither! I am a religious Jew.
Thanks,
Elisheva
Thank you, Elisheva. Unfortunately, I think I am the one who said that. : ( And no, you certainly are not chopped liver. I was referring to a rather marked schism between these two groups which seems irreparable and did not really mean to say what I said.
Sorry about that.
You talking too me………?
http://www.spurgeon.org/images/pyromaniac/TeamPyro/e-s_005.jpg
Profanity… my grasp of the English language!
http://www.spurgeon.org/images/pyromaniac/TeamPyro/e-s_043.jpg
First, congratulations on your nomination!
Second, you’ve made some excellent points here. I am actually not averse to potty mouth blogs, as long as they are well written. I don’t use this type of language on my blog because I don’t use it in real life. It makes me uncomfortable to use it.
What does bother me is porn. Last year I did come across some pornographic images on nominated blogs. I am not talking about breastfeeding. I mean images that could have come directly from Penthouse magazine. My children tend to read over my shoulder. I shouldn’t have to wait until they are in bed to read a homeschooling blog.
One of my own blogs was nominated this year in the funniest blog category. While I know I have no hope of winning, I am honored that some of my readers liked my blog enough to nominate it. That is more important to me than an award.
Thank you for an interesting read. Do you mind if I list you on my blog roll?
I’d be honored to be on your blogroll. : )
I do not mind foul language so much, but to me it generally comes across as lazy. It gets attention, but most of the time it is a short cut. When it is gratuitous, it is just plain bad writing. I agree on the pornographic images…and if banning porn excludes the “best homeschooling blogs on the internet” then I think we have some strange notions of what is good.
Congratulations on your nomination! The recognition from your own readers means the most!
Oh, and did not know about it. Thanks for the information …