"Hello,
After serious consideration, we have decided to cancel our Adoption Blogs by Moms – 2012 contest. Our Top 25 program is meant to celebrate, connect, and support mom bloggers. Following some feedback from participants in our 2011 contest, we decided to make this year's Top 25 more inclusive. In doing so, we unknowingly stepped into a very sensitive issue and debate, and we apologize to all the moms who have been offended, no matter what your position on adoption is. We're committed to finding a way to give all parties in the Adoption Triad a voice on Circle of Moms. If we run a Top 25 Adoption Blogs in the future, we'll consult with mom bloggers in each part of the Adoption Triad on how to create a supportive contest where all bloggers would feel welcome and respected by Circle of Moms and by all participants. We appreciate the time and energy every participant put into this contest during the past week, and we sincerely regret that we can't reward those efforts in the way we had planned to when we launched the contest.
We will be closing the contest at 3pm PST today and all blogs will be removed from the contest page.
Sincerely,
The Circle of Moms Team"
After serious consideration, we have decided to cancel our Adoption Blogs by Moms – 2012 contest. Our Top 25 program is meant to celebrate, connect, and support mom bloggers. Following some feedback from participants in our 2011 contest, we decided to make this year's Top 25 more inclusive. In doing so, we unknowingly stepped into a very sensitive issue and debate, and we apologize to all the moms who have been offended, no matter what your position on adoption is. We're committed to finding a way to give all parties in the Adoption Triad a voice on Circle of Moms. If we run a Top 25 Adoption Blogs in the future, we'll consult with mom bloggers in each part of the Adoption Triad on how to create a supportive contest where all bloggers would feel welcome and respected by Circle of Moms and by all participants. We appreciate the time and energy every participant put into this contest during the past week, and we sincerely regret that we can't reward those efforts in the way we had planned to when we launched the contest.
We will be closing the contest at 3pm PST today and all blogs will be removed from the contest page.
Sincerely,
The Circle of Moms Team"
Do I think that the contest was biased? Yes.
Do I think that it was really crappy for the Circle of Moms team to send out disqualification notices to some of my friends who were entered in the contest? You betcha.
But as Linda said, they haven't just silenced a few of our friends. They've silenced ALL of us.
"If we run a Top 25 Adoption Blogs in the future, we'll consult with mom bloggers in each part of the Adoption Triad on how to create a supportive contest where all bloggers would feel welcome and respected by Circle of Moms and by all participants."
They should have had that with this contest. And they would have, had they not decided to play favorites and delete the blogs with which they disagreed.
My feeling is that there were adoptive mothers who had their blogs on the list who started complaining about the bloggers who aren't cheerleaders for the adoption cause.
Well, isn't the point of reading blogs? To get different perspectives on life and things that are important to you? I don't agree with some of their blogs either, but that doesn't mean I'd tell the owners of an online contest to disqualify them.
Makes me wonder even more how they can call themselves a Blog With Integrity when one of the prime directives is that people can disagree, they just have to do it respectfully.
ReplyDeleteAnd now the ap's start harassing Cassi. It's just more proof of their entitlement and how they make everything about themselves. God, I love it when "these types" show their true colors.
ReplyDeleteIntegrity, my ass...
ReplyDeleteAnd Linda, they just can't help themselves. It's like moths to the flame.
I am glad they stopped the contest--even though I voted for a couple friends (shout out to Sunday and GB's mom!) I personally think something as deeply complex and personal as adoption shouldn't even have our writings as a "contest." Somehow that further objectifies things. I also find it horrific that bloggers were "uninvited" or deleted or whatever. Free speech folks?
ReplyDeleteIt certainly has been an intersting last few days!!
ReplyDeleteI agree if they had wanted a fair and open contest about adoption blogs then it shouldn't have mattered what blog entered as blogs are about a person's experience or view on a topic and therefore to be fair they can't really pick and choose.
Good on you Christina for picking this up and getting it out in the open. It can only send the message in the long run that just because we don't "fart rainbows" as the saying goes, we still have something valid to add and will keep speaking out. Love you girl!!