Hey guys. Just dropping a quick message in regards to the Horror Blogger Awards from Bloody Disgusting. When I first found out that our name was in contention for this award, I’ll be the first to admit, I was absolutely estatic. The attention simply being on that list can (and already has) bring to your horror blog is absolutely fantastic. I informed my staffers that we were nominated, and it meant a lot to me to see their excitement. That in turn, excited me even further. I would think anyone would be excited for such an honor, and I’m pretty sure that all other horror bloggers are. So I went to work, and my staffers went to work in getting the word out.
Perhaps it was at this moment that I grew a little too excited. I am nothing short of a hardcore promotional hound. Anyone that knows me knows this. I went to work in getting the word out harder than I ever have on anything (with the exception of Scare Fest). I exhausted all of my resources. I contacted personal friends, online friends, important people within the horror community that I’ve grown close to, as well as message boards in which I frequent. I figured that, if nothing else, this was a great way to increase readership. I assumed everyone was going to do the same thing. Heck, I’ve even offered up my custom MadMan Marz figure to Wes of Deadpit Radio for a mention on the air. (by the way Wes…THANKS! You’ll still get it regardless of what happens) Assuming (and assuming wrong it seems) that everyone else involved would spread the word as much as they could to draw interest to the polls and gain readers, I had no idea that this thing would become as “lopsided” as it seems like it has.
With that said, I noticed today that a couple of horror blogs went on the offensive, and though I do not agree that doing and saying what they have said in such a public fashion is the way to go, they do indeed have a very strong case to feel how they feel. It’s so weird to see the guns come out. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. It led to reading a lot of negative things about my site and even myself (and most of those doing this portion of the opinion voicing know nothing about me in the slightest) It’s never fun to read that sort of thing. Especially by people in which you consider close friends. But again…maybe they have valid points in some instances and I can’t say I wouldn’t feel the same way if I was on the other end of the spectrum. The best advice I received all day was to simply brush it aside and not worry about it. Would I have appreciated simply being let in on this beforehand so I could make good on it and go from there? Of course I would. Without a doubt! But it doesn’t matter. What is done is done.
So I struggled with an important decision through most of the morning. I spoke my peace with these very same people as best as I could. Then I decided to contact BD themselves and see what they suggest be done.
I am the first to admit, I’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of votes we received. So I questioned it myself. I was informed that we have gotten a lot of votes from within our state. Some even matching the same IP here and there. This, likely to have been attributed to married/dating couples from within the same household who both registered and voted. I don’t want this to go down like this. So I asked that these votes be removed (and they will be soon) as well as votes from first time registered people who are located within the same general area. This is going to be the norm for all blogs to have any matching IP’s removed (as they should be) and this was already known to anyone involved.
After the initial rush of excitement for being nominated passed, I’ve even felt bad about it. If there was ever an example of “overtrying”, then perhaps this is it. So I’m doing everything I can to right the situation. I am still on the fence as to whether or not to stay in the poll. I’m absolutely honored to be on that list. Believe me. It meant more to me and the guys on my staff than anyone will every know. But perhaps it meant too much to me and I tried too hard to get the word out. This will not go down this way, and I apologize to anyone who may have taken it the wrong way.
With all things said, I do appreciate everyone who has showed passion for this as well as your constant friendship. I’ve read all of your messages and emails and you truly are amazing people in my eyes.
Once again, best of luck to all of those on that list. Each and every single one of you deserve being there. All of these horror blogs stand in their own light and are ran by people who love this genre. Keep on doing what you are doing. You all have your place within this ever extensive community. God bless.
So let me get this straight. You got entered into a voting poll, and because some sites couldn’t get votes from their readers, they cry foul on your part because you actually have the fan base that supports you and voted for you?
I say ignore them and go about getting the votes. That is what it is, a voting poll. You let it be known and it was done by your fans. I see nothing wrong with that. If the other blogs have a hard time with that, then maybe they need to look at their readers for support.
It’s a funny thing when you see popular sites complain about smaller sites when they round out better poll numbers.
I remember when I used to valet.I would make a killing in tips because I ran my ass off. I would then hear guys complain that they made chump change … I also saw those same guys walking to cars and delivering about 1/3 what I did.
Not sure it means anything to you given you’re probably pretty pissed off at me right about now, but I gotta give you props for making this post and for trying to make things right. That says a lot about you and I now see that your intentions were good with all of this, despite how it may have come off to me and many others. The best thing I can say to you is to take what myself and others have said about the site and turn Benevolent Street into the blog you think it should be. Your reputation within the horror blogging community may be a bit tarnished, but if you start delivering some really great content i’m sure everyone will look past it and start visiting the blog on the regular.
I’m not gonna apologize for the post I made earlier today, as I still feel that what you did with all of this was wrong, but do know that it wasn’t intended to be a personal attack on you. It was just something that had to be said and who better to say it than someone who knows you and who used to write for this site.
Reader – Nobody is crying foul because their blog has less votes than Benevolent Street. You’re missing the whole point here and if you read up on any of this you would realize that. This had nothing to do with “popular sites” complaining that “smaller sites” were doing better. If Benevolent Street was fairly getting more votes than anyone else because their fanbase and readership were loyal and were voting for them, myself and others would have absolutely no problem with this. It was the fact that Tony was actively seeking out and pandering for the votes that we had a problem with.
Benevolent St. is an AWESOME site!! They have the best revues on figures!!!! I’m really glad to see that they’re getting the recognition that they deserve!!
Johnny Boots,
I fail to understand why going out and seeking votes is wrong? Is this not the same way a presidential candidate gets votes? … by seeking out and ‘pandering’ votes?
All Tony did was tell people, hey, we are being recognized for such and such, would you guys mind voting for me… THANKS !
BD made it so that you have to be a member of BD to vote and only get ONE vote to be fair.
I wonder what the guy who hands out his business cards to get more customers than the other guy, would think of this argument?
I’m pretty damn offended that it even came to this. especially since I nominated Benevolentstreet for this award. They may not always be the best and most flashy looking blog. They may not update as often as a lot of other site, but this site is ran by a great group of guys who work hard to get their name out there. I’ve yet to write an email to any of these guys that went unanswered. They are the nicest group of people I’ve ever met online and screw anyone in the goat ass who cries foul or thinks negative of them just because they wanted something and went for it.
I was the one who put in the nomination because I felt like they deserved it, if for no other reason than having a positive attitude about anything. I’ve never sent Tony a message in which he didn’t respond in a positive manner. That means a lot when dealing with so many smartasses in the horror world. and u all know that we have plenty of them. Sometimes it’s more about the people than the posts.
Keep up the good work Benevolentstreet. If you drop out of this I don’t blame you one bit. Let them have it if it bothers them all that bad.
Reader – Tony himself admits that it was wrong. What are you missing here? Offering up prizes in exchange for votes in a best horror blog award poll just isn’t right, at least where I come from. It was a poll that readers of horror blogs were supposed to vote on, not friends, family, and friends of family of horror bloggers.
For the record, the Deadpit thing was my idea. Not Tony’s. We were both very excited about possibly winning this thing and getting some exposure for the site. We apologize that our friends and family and the friends we’ve made online want to support us. We went from being majorly stoked about this award to being bogged down with all this unwanted drama. I fully support Tony’s decision if he wants to drop B Street from the poll.
I’ve never said I was directly in the wrong for going for the votes. I feel I’m wrong because I overdid it. I feel I’m in the wrong due to seeing how it has negatively effected other participants and people I’ve considered as friends. That was never my intention. My intention was to increase readership and take this in an entirely new direction. I didn’t see anything wrong with using this opportunity to get the word out even further. It’s the same reason that I submit every article for the imdb hit list. The same reason why I hit any message board that I may feel would enjoy any said article. Not just my own. I do this for every person who contributes to us. Always have, always will.
Either way, no hard feelings. I’m just not wired that way. You already know that.
I hope you guys win if you decide to stick in it. I’m sorry people have to be babies about not getting the outcome they expected and drag you into net dramas. You didn’t do anything wrong in my opinion, especially after re-reading the award’s rules, other than be cool guys that know how to advertise and reach out to people properly rather than being elitists with the same small fanbase making it hard to welcome in new people.
It’s also pretty cool that while people are throwing tantrums and trying to trash you that you’re good enough to make an entry about it all and be more than fair with everything and not drop down to their level.
I dunno who this Johnny guy is talking all high and mighty like he’s someone important while passively insulting your place and telling anyone that doesn’t agree with his opinion that they’ve not read enough to understand but uh…
I heard of a horror story once… I think it was called The Green-eyed Monster…
Hey Dustin. I’m not into net dramas either. I’m doing my best to keep this from becoming one and I don’t see that happening. I’m not here to bash anyone. That’s not my intention. I like to think I’m level headed most of the time.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Yeah, I was a little smashed by some of the things that were said, but it’s all good at the end of the day. 100 years from now I’ll likely not even remember it.
As for offering prizes for votes…
No sir. That makes it sound like there was a lottery of gifts waiting for anyone who shelled out the most votes. That started when Wes The Creepy Kentuckian got a look at my Madman custom somewhere or another. He’s a huge fan of the movie so he expressed interest in the figure. Avenger and I jokingly spoke about offering it up to him for a mention on air a few weeks ago. Before this thing even came to be. So after that, this came up and we just decided “why not?”. And that was that. He and Avenger talk back and forth from time to time. We honestly never expected to hear our name on that show. But it happened. I actually got a good laugh out of it. Because they made it pretty obvious that they (just like all of the horror bloggers who have been vocal about it) have never heard of us. It was a pretty funny little 1 minute segment, and we all got a kick out of it. There is no s on the end of prize when it came to this.
I think You handled yourself perfectly tony!!I would not worry about it.You are a great guy and you are very informative in your blogs, interviews and articles.I think everyone knows your character and reputation and that speaks volumes.
Keep up the awesome work!!!!
Hope to see ya again soon on the convention circuit.
-Wickedbeard-
So, in advertising the polls, and suggesting a selection, he was doing something wrong? He gave a figure to a guy in return for some airtime to further promote the site. Promotion isn’t a bad thing in terms of a contest, I don’t know if you understand WHY folks set-up contests like this, but it’s to advertise and bring folks to their site.
There’s nothing that suggested any site couldn’t have done the same thing.
If he went to a site you frequented and asked you to vote for him, you’d do like anyone else would.. look at the list and vote for the one you know/like the best. If he required PROOF that they had voted for him, and offered a reward for doing so, that would have been an entirely different thing.
As for suggesting that only readers of the horror blogs should have voted, that’s a neat idea, and in-future perhaps the rules should indicate what types of advertising were permissable. Since those rules don’t exist, they’re merely your personal opinion of what the intentions were.
As it is, by requiring registration, it’s likely that Bloody Disgusting just wanted a turn-out to attract attention to themselves. I’m sure they prefer blog readers to vote, but if nothing else, the extra attention draws folks to check out the site for themselves and potentially BECOME blog readers.
As for his “admission of wrongdoing,” I think the attacks against him have suggested to him that he did something wrong, and he’s bewildered by it, but he’s not dismissing the concept that it may have been wrong, since folks are having a hard time with it.
However, I suspect most sane folks without an ulterior motive should agree that him advertising the contest and suggesting people vote for him, isn’t somehow creating an unfair advantage over anyone else, or violating rules.
Unless there are rules in-place that I haven’t seen?
Hey Wickedbeard Jeff! Dude, you know I have a lot of love for ya! Thank you so much for the kind words. I truly appreciate your friendship and anything you’ve ever done to help me no matter where I’m writing. We’re definitely going to cross paths again.
As a matter of fact, I appreciate all of the comments and messages from you guys. It means a lot. Regardless of what we ultimately decide to do when it comes to this, just know that you are all awesome people.
And if nothing else can be said to call today a “good day” when it comes to a close, we’ve gotten over 300 hits in the last two hours including a visit from Blood Creek writer David Kajganich on Avenger’s review of the film. Maybe a few more people will have “heard of us” at this point. Tack those on with the 9000 people who walked through Scare Fest back in September, as well as those who read the Richmond Register back in October, maybe even those who read Danielle Harris’s blog with a link to our interview a few months ago and we may…just maybe we might be onto something…
Maybe
I never read any rules about who could vote, other than the voters had to register at Bloody-Disgusting.
It seems to me, that what Tony did was completely in the rules, and I back that. If my blog was ever nominated for an award, you bet your sweet ass I’d go above and beyond to get it – while still saying within the rules.
It’s fine to get excited, and ask for votes outside of this blog, I frankly fail to see what, if anything Tony should apologize for. He’s proud of this site, and all of the hard work he has put into it, the guy is full of passion for everything horror related – votes or not, he’s a clear winner to me, and a ton of other people.
You guys that are having a pity party for yourselves need to realize what Tony did was self-promotion, and whether you like it or not was COMPLETELY within the rules posted on BD’s site. It seems to me, you could have easily done the same thing, and now you’re pissed off because you didn’t.
Tony, don’t let this get you down, in my eyes you have NOTHING to be sorry for, or be the slightest bit ashamed of. It’s people like you that inspired me to start a blog in the first place. Through all of this, you’ve come off to me as nothing more than a class act.
Wow, Tony. I have been gone all day and see this now. I never thought I would see anything like this ever, regarding your website? I think you were trying to do the right thing and it seems as though it backfired on you. I am surprised that Johnny has called you out in this manner.
I don’t know any of you personally as Tony just invited me to help out from time to time here and add what I could. I have what amounts to a full time gig at fridaythe13thfilms, which I truly enjoy, and pop in here as much as possible to help out.
That being said, I know that Tony was nice enough to let Johnny post here, even help him promote his Unicef program, which I donated to, and this is how he repays Tony. That’s cold man. If Johhny really had concerns, why not just shoot him an email?
Hey Jason,
This site is just as much yours as it is mine. You’ve done WAY more than your share. You came in and have picked up the torch anytime it’s been fizzling on the ground. You honestly keep this place running at times and you’re a heck of a guy. How you toggle all you do over at fridaythe13thfilms and still find time to keep this place running when we have things on our plate is beyond me.
Though some of the things said stung pretty bad, it’s all good. I never expect anyone to repay me for anything. I love helping people and working to get the word out about the things I believe in. I would have, however, prefered to handle it a little more privately. Either way, what’s done is done at this point, and I’m ok with it overall. I’ll still go to bed at or around 11 PM each night and wake up between 6 and 7.
It’s been awesome hearing from all of you guys. The friends, frightstuff guys, fridaythe13thfilms folk, WFers. All of you are great people and I’m thankful for you all.
I’m beyond appalled. Like someone said, you haven’t broken any rules, Tony. It all boils down to jealousy in the end. If you decide to have B Street removed from the contest, I fully support your decision, but I think it’s really low that people would post negative things about your site like that when you didn’t do anything wrong or break any rules at all.
Tony dude, you did nothing wrong, it´s amazing that people have to go to some lengths when they feel diminished on something as a poll…
you have a very cool blog and Johnny should understand that not ALL of us that visit your blog for the articles and the reviews and stuff POST all the time if at all. I love your reviews man, I told you that over at FS. but I never posted in your blog, is that wrong? no. just as self promoting isn´t either.
stay on the poll dude, and pay no mind to those that can´t stand losing. if you win it´s because you deserve it.
i think Tony and Benevolent Street should win this because their site kicks ass.
I can honestly say that I’m shocked at the juvenile behavior regarding posters on other sites that spit nothing more than what we ourselves spit… opinions. Tony was excited, as anyone would be, and started putting the word out for people to vote if they wanted.
While I knowingly am not the best writer or reviewer of anything, I write what I write for this site for enjoyment and out of love for this genre. To say what Tony did was wrong is like saying you can’t go to a friends ball game and cheer for them because that would be one extra cheer just because your friend was in the crowd. Fuck that. This whole blog drama is inanely ridiculous and childish.
Don’t write about not worrying about whether or not you win and say it isn’t about that when clearly the entire situation would be ignored. I for one did not keep my self updated on what site was in how ever much of a lead. I just enjoy the thought of it possibly bringing more people to Benevolent Street, and because of the contest I have also discovered other sites I didn’t know about.
It would be an honor to win, but even better were it to bring more visits to any of the sites. I’m happy to just see our name on another page just in case that brings us one extra viewer. No one is claiming to be the best, but we’re sure as hell not going to just sit in a room and hope somebody notices us. You get nowhere if you don’t spread the word, and Tony, as well as my self, have mentioned this contest to others. And yes, a few of my friends did go and vote for this site because they actually enjoy visiting it. It’s called support. For a blog site that brings no money and pays you nothing for writing on it, you’re goddamn right we look to whoever we can to stop by and drop a word of support or criticism.
I care what people think about this site. I’ve read about how Benevolent Street half asses the writing and just rehashes bullshit that you’ve read before from other blogs. That’s fine. It’s an opinion and that’s why people blog to begin with. I’ll be the first to say that I’m not the most talented and not as articulate as some, but I’m also not going to browse the web and shit my pants over where votes are coming from and who is in the lead of what.
And don’t repost and ask once again how someone could be missing the point. I think the point was missed in the beginning and what should have just been fun turned into an online knockoff of reality tv bullshit. If you are claiming that Benevolent Street isn’t worthy of the amount of votes, and you also claim that this site does not post enough or write with the skill you think is deserving of votes, then you are claiming to be the one to maintain the credentials with which all sites should be judged. When it comes to votes, all votes are based on bias. I don’t shop the magazine rack to give every rag a chance, I pay for the one that I want. When you vote for something, you automatically vote based on your own reason (whatever that reason may be that brought you to the poll for your vote). Anyone of us can ask as many people we can to go vote, but it comes down to whether or not those people choose to. I’m sure many of our favorite actors sell a few extra movie tickets just because their friends and family want to see them on the big screen.
I don’t care if any of the other sites make facebook clubs, send myspace invites or take pictures of themselves fucking our favorite slasher characters just to draw attention to the fact that their blog is part of a contest. It probably got at least someone to notice didn’t it?
I for one am all about just continuing to write and post to the best of our abilities (or half assed abilities) whenever we want. We are blogging and putting our opinions out there for others to read. I believe sometimes people forget what that is and start acting like primates throwing their own feces at each other. You don’t have to like this site or any other site, but you can at least remember your opinion is the same smelly asshole the rest of us have (no matter what adjectives and sentence structures you use). I enjoy being part of Benevolent Street and love having even the most minuscule involvement in my favorite genre. I also support keeping our name in the contest that Bloody Disgusting has so kindly put in motion (win or lose) and hope that this site and all others listed are able to gain more recognition for doing something they enjoy.
Well said CJ
Hey guys. Just dropping in to add a little bit to everything that has already been said. I’ve had the chance to sleep on it and I think I’ve came to a decision.
I have decided to ultimately remove our name from contention for this award. When this was announced, it was in no way, shape or form mentioned that you should not promote your vote anywhere you see fit. In fact, I would imagine that BD would have WANTED everyone to promote it everywhere. And that’s what I did. In hindsight, perhaps that was the wrong thing to do. I don’t see how. But I get that a large number of people do and I can accept that. With some of the negative crap that’s been spewed, obtaining an awesome award as such would never feel right. I get that within this hobby, there are always going to be people to come out of the woodwork and talk negatively. There’s just no way around that. And I fully accept that. I know a lot of you will think that it’s lame to let a couple of rants drive us away from something we truly wanted. Yet these very rants may have been what ultimately sparked my mind to travel in this direction, it’s not that that completed my decision to leave contention for this award.
The fact is, that when the sun sets on this thing on February 12, I will still be able to stay that this has been a very positive experience. I have heard from a LOT of you, both here (thanks for coming out of hiding lurkers!), facebook, email and even on the phone. You have all offered up so many encouraging words that have helped make all of the negatives roll off a little easier. We’ve gotten our attention, and it’s been great. So if we can bow out of this and increase the opportunity for another possibly even harder working blogger or group of bloggers to have a chance to increase their readership, then so be it.
This award would have meant a lot to all of us here. Myself especially. But if it can be used to better serve another, then by all means it shall. Does this mean I no longer believe in these awards? Not a chance. I will continue to support these very awards. I will drop emails, forums posts, myspace bulletins, facebook updates and all of the above in order to drive people to vote for the blog of their choice. I stand by the fact that what BD is doing is one of the most honorable things I’ve ever seen within the great people who work to get the word out for this genre. It’s a rarity to see the horror blogging community recognized, so this is a pretty big deal. Just being on that list alone has been a big deal in and of itself. And for doing this, bloody disgusting should be commended.
I want to thank everyone once again for their outpouring of support. To Frightstuff, WF, Scarefest, Mezco, Friday the 13th Films, Deadpit and everyone else who have helped to spread this thing, I thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for sticking by us. You are all true friends.
First off I see NOTHING at all wrong with getting your name out there using any means possible. You have a myspace, and a facebook fan page for benevolent street, so why would posting a bulletin to let fans and members know that you have been nominated for an award be wrong? I for one would not understand if you didn’t. I am a big fan of podcasts, and they have contests every year and every podcast that I listen to “panders” out votes to try to win. Is this wrong? No. It is in fact what you are supposed to do. I am sure that bloody disgusting would like to receive more hits to their site from regular readers from your site and others.
I read benevolentstreet.com because I like it. Sure I may know some of the writers on a friend level, but that does not count as to why I tend to frequent your site daily. I have had many friends of mine get into different projects in the past. I will show them support by checking it out a time or two. But with benevolentstreet.com I actually WANT to come here to check up on horror news. If I did not think this was a good site then regardless of who wrote for it, I would not check for new articles daily. To be quite honest this is my favorite site. Simply due to the fact that when I come here I can expect the articles to be cleanly presented to me in a easy to read format. And no, I am not talking about grammar or the writing skills of your writers. I am simply talking about page layout, easy site navigation and the lack of a shit ton of advertising popping out at me. I fully would like to see you get a few advertisements on your site to get some income from this great site, but I know that you do this for a passion of horror and not for monetary gain, but a little compensation for yourself would be nice and well deserved. I have tried to read a few other horror blogs in the past, some had good articles, but the advertising was too out of hand and ultimately was the reason I quit going back.
I do not like your decision to pull your site out of the contest, but I have to say you are a stand up guy for being man enough to do what you feel was right. Like I said before, this site has writers that do this for a passion of horror films and not for fame, or money. Blogs were created as a means for people to get their opinions out there for anything they felt passionate for and you and you’re writers are doing a great job of keeping the original spirit of blogging alive. The way other people who run sites are acting over this does nothing but prove to me that they have long lost the original idea of why they created a blog site to begin with.
The way that you wrote this article and did not mention the sites where childish people are dogging you is to be applauded. If they were half the adult you are then all this could have been avoided. I for one would love to know the exact sites that had something to say simply so that I could go to them and share my impression of this with them. But I do get a bit of comfort in knowing that they will not receive a visit from me because I do not know which sites said what, and with them spouting out benevolent street so much that they have incidentally given you a lot more traffic with their readers coming here to see what all this is about. So congrats on that! The internet has always been full of people saying things they would never say in real life simply because they are anonymous.
But in closing, I do love this site. I think you and your writers have done a fantastic job with it and with getting the word out about your site. You have done nothing wrong with regards to how you handled anything with the contest. If a site can get more votes with a smaller readership then the problem is not with you. Maybe the other sites need to quit pissing and moaning and look at the larger picture. If you have a site with a larger amount of visits per day, and yet your readers and friends do not feel a strong passion to go out and vote for you, maybe instead of moaning and lashing out at benevolent street you should wonder what you can do to make people WANT to go vote for you.
Yea, Tony. I don’t think you should pull out of this. Don’t let negative comments pursuade you to do something I know you do not want to do. Stick with it, man!
Doesn’t change the fact your blog is still one of the best, don’t sweat it!
Just wanted to say sorry Tony (and the other Benevolent writers), that you’ve been strong armed out of the Awards by people who are very pretentious about how important they think they are. In my book you’ve already won and will still be the winner in my eyes simply for displaying such a passion for the genre without any of the negative attitude others have displayed. Even after the gauntlet had been thrown (and yes, such terminology needs to be used as I’ve looked at the other blogs finally and CERTAIN ones were downright high school level in their treatment of you) you still kept enough common courtesy to not name drop or bash back and that speaks tons.
I think what is perhaps most insulting to me, personally, from all of this is how certain people have tried to dictate to the general readers what it means to be a fan of Horror. I thought we were talking about horror, not high school. They won’t do it, but I think certain people need to sit back and think about the things they’ve said and the image they’re wanting to put off.
This blog has a lot of fans that are simply put, for lack of a better term, lurkers; I should know I was one of them. Apparently because I don’t actively comment I’m supposedly not a horror fan now. Apparently because I had no clue what Bloody Disgusting even was before this awards thing I’m not a horror fan. Apparently because I don’t know of all these blogs that think they’re so self-important they matter in our age of instant information and the fact I don’t constantly keep track of them I’m not a “true” horror fan.
That’s bogus. I’m sorry but being a fan of Horror isn’t some little high school clique I’ve got to buy the right clothes and watch the right things and do this and that to fit into. The second people start doing that they’ve lost all my respect and that’s why this blog will always be a winner in my book.
It might not have the most updates, there might be typos here and there but the people are geniune and they genuinely love what they do and want to share that love with as many people as possible. They don’t act like they’re hot shit or somebody important when all any horror blogger is doing is something anybody else could do should they decide they want to devote the time to it. They don’t try to dictate to others what it means to be a horror fan or try and lessen other people for not doing certain things.
Anyways, I guess more to the point, I think you made the right choice Tony. The people who have already acted out as, for lack of better terms, damn brats would just throw an even bigger tantrum when you won (because you would have won, I have no doubt). It’s sad that because you have more people surrounding this blog that give a damn enough to go vote for you and they don’t (which if all this childish bitching is any indication to their attitudes I’m not surprised they can’t top 5%, I wouldn’t go vote for dicks either) that you have to be ousted for it. You shouldn’t be punished just beacause they have higher reader numbers yet less people that care to vote for them. Why they think people will want to vote for them when they act like this is totally beyond me, but that’s another story.
I mean hell, if you read some of the other blogs they’re already talking about how not-important BD’s award is compared to other awards they might win later which is obviously trying to lessen the blow to their fragile little egos since they were obviously going to lose. They talk about how it’s not an issue of win or lose and all this shit but then they were the ones that MADE it an issue of winning or losing.
I’ve never seen so many people openly lie with “I’m not saying this because I’m mad I’m losing, but…” yes… you are mad, get over yourself and be honest to your readers; they respect that.
You’re mad that you’re losing to a site you don’t think “is a part of the horror community” which is already some fragile little high school clique you’re trying to make and so the only answer to that is to first cry foul play and second sling around insults like “I bet his granny voted for him.” Way to be an adult. Personally, if I was running a blog on the thing I love and my family cared enough to take an interest in it too then I’d feel pretty damn proud of myself to know I had their support. Sorry, maybe it’s just me, but I just think you can be a fan of horror without being some misreable brooding loner outcast from society who is only understood by those already “in.”
I’ve also seen a certain blogger that went out of his way to twist in extra lies just to make the cause seem more just. Spinning that whole figure for radio time incedent into “they were bribing for votes with prizeS” (denoting multiple cases). Way to be mature. Way to not get you way and just try to strong arm Benevolent Street out so you can take a crack at getting what you want and save your pathetically fragile ego.
A lot of people were also ranting about it being a popularity contest and all this shit but ironically nobody cared and this was never on the table until they spoke out about it. To not care so much about winning or losing they sure are caring a lot about who was winning and how they were losing, eh?
Anyways, I could go on forever about this because it really sickens me to see people that are supposed to be the “face of the online horror community” or whatever self-righteous BS they said acting like high schoolers over an awards thing they’ve already labeled as pointless/with no prestiege so…
Sorry they strong armed Benevolent Street out, but it really is the better choice I think. You would win and then there’d be a whole new set of people trying to grill you guys or talking about how lame and worthless the award is. It takes a good person to take all the flames they gave, never shoot them back and then be the better person enough to realize that sticking in and inevitably winning means more drama and you’d rather not have more.
You guys are still the winner in my book, you guys still have my respect for being sincere about what you do without needing to take pot shots at other blogs or belittle other people’s level of fandom…. end result is you got more people aware of you and I think anyone with a level head that looks at both sides to the issue will see you guys are a class act and worth keeping tabs on.
Best that can be done now is to just march on and keep doing what you do best. Keep playing to your own tune and to hell with all this “in-crowd” horror community crap.
Thanks for your support Dustin. I choose not to flame anyone. I just don’t like to partake in that. As bad as I thought I wanted to win this, it is obviously a lot more meaningful to those who choose to act in such a manner. In fact, I haven’t bothered checking anymore blogs since the first one I noticed. Considering it was the last one I expected to do such, I decided to not even bother with the rest of them. But there are indeed a number of good people within this said community. And as you said, there are those who consider themselves part of the “in crowd”. I see what you’re saying. I’m just me. That’s how I want to keep it.
Self-promotion is never a bad thing as long as you do not intentionally stab anyone in the back. Tony is passionate about his work, as I already knew from the F13 site, and he seemed genuinely touched by the nomination. As long as he did not badmouth any other sites or poach readers from them then there is nothing wrong with bringing this nomination to the attention of his friends and readers.
Personally, I am very happy for Tony and Benevolent Street as it does not seem that long ago since he launched it and to get recognition from somewhere like Bloody Disgusting so soon is something to be proud of. Only ten sites could be nominated so there were bound to be plenty of bloggers who would not make the list, they should be happy for those that did. After all, we’re all doing the same thing here: keeping the horror genre alive.
Roll with the punches Tony and focus on giving your readers the best service you can.
Christian
Tony, there is absolutely nothing you should apologize for and you damn sure do not need to take OUR name out of the contest. I’m tired of reading about this “tight-knit community.” People need to remember that being too tight knit only encourages inbreeding. Branching out and “pandering” for votes is nothing more than just saying “hey, check out my site.”
I don’t fucking care if I’m not part of some tight knit boys club that jerks off each other from site to site. If you want to call it a community then you aren’t going to attack someone and start specific name calling cheerleader games in an attempt to demean them or their site.
Tony is a stand up guy and for the years that I’ve known him in different circles, whether through music or in the horror genre, he breaks his back to be fair. For the ignorant sewer leak spouting how unfair it is to ask for votes, then it could be true that the little posted link to the awards on your pages should be removed. Guess what, one your fans may see it and only vote for you (so “unfair”).
A real “tight-knit community” will let you walk through their yard to get to the road. They won’t build a fence and say you’re breaking up the lawn. You want votes, you have to go out and tell people where to vote and let them know you would appreciate if that vote went for yourself.
Mr. Christian Sellers. Thanks so much for your kind words. I’ve always valued your opinion and advice. If anyone knows anything about these things, it’s you. You’ve always been incredibly direct and honest with me. So I’ve always taken anything you’ve said as very valuable from day one. Keep up the amazing work with your numerous horror outlets. Your help and support will always mean a lot to me. You’ve been a top notch friend within the horror community and I’m very thankful to know you.
CJ, I’m done apologizing. I’m pretty much over it at this point. But I love hearing from so many of our good people. lol. I’ve never been more motivated in my life. I’m very thankful guys. You all are just as passionate as anyone and it’s really served to motivate me. In fact, I’ve already worked up/outlined enough articles to keep it fresh for quite a while.
Good memories dude. In fact, I hadn’t thought about the music days for a bit. I miss those days. I went through something like this back then too. The band had a myspace page. I promoted it like mad. We got a ton of plays due to me just getting on there and talking and talking and talking. So people would give it a listen. Maybe they listened 10 seconds. Maybe they listened to the whole songs. But They listened. And at the time, myspace had a chart system for Major Label, Indy, and Unsigned bands. We went to the top of the “Unsigned” charts and I got some nasty messages from those in the lower positions. It was pretty similar. lol
Hey this is Rhonda from the Dollar Bin Horror blog. I discovered your blog thanks to the contest and just wanna say I love it! I know what you mean about goin all out, the Ms horror blogosphere competition was the same for me. I was brand fuckin new when it happened and I was first runner up thanks to callin in some on buddys to vote! so I say keep up the good work, congrats on all the votes, and if ya win I’ll be the first to congratulate you
oh and I hope you don’t mind if I post a link to your site on mine
Hey Rhonda,
It means a lot to have another blogger drop in with some kind words. I’d be honored to have a link up on your site. I’ll go right now and put one up for you as well. You’re a true class act.
When I first heard about this blog drama, I laughed because I thought it was a joke… apparently, not. I will be the first to say that I told my family and friends about the site. Why???? Because I wanted to see them get recognized. I thought the whole point of having a blog site was to obtain readers? You know, people outside the same horror community?? Those that voted for Benevolent Street, whether they read it everyday or that was their first time visiting, they NOW know about the site and whatever there horror fix may be they will go to it first. I really enjoy Benevolent Street and something I admired about the “horror community” was how much fun and passion those that were part of it have, but I am honestly surprised and disappointed by the behavior that others have displayed, its sad, really. But all will work out in the end, and despite how these votes turn out, Benevolent Street and its staff will be the winners to me and to many, MANY others.
PS. Tony, I am currently majoring in PR and would love to get some advice from you, because you, my friend, know how to market. : )
Thanks Rhonda! I agree with the support system. Though it doesn’t always work out that way. But if you need anything, let us know as well. The last thing I read that was negative was that we wouldn’t have taken ourselves out of this if we didn’t think we had went about it the wrong way. And to that I get “douche chills”. ::) We dropped out because it’s simply not worth it to see the blogging community in such an uproar. Yet, they obviously cannot be pleased. We stepped aside, and they are still crying foul. It’s a no win. So “lol” to that. They’ll all be ok. They’ll go to bed and they’ll wake up in the morning most likely. The world is still turning.
Darla, thanks a lot. The best way to market is just use any resource you have. If it sounds like it may get the word out, it probably will. Even if one person sees what your marketing, as long as you haven’t poured a fortune in it, you’ve done your job. We handed out 2000 + “business cards” back in September and it only cost us 4 bucks. Easy an inexpensive. You just have to keep your eyes open for easy ways to spread the news. Anything and everything is can be used as a potential marketing opportunity. And sometimes, it’s all about how you treat those around you. Friends can sometimes be the best marketing tool. You just have to let your mind go to work. Never dismiss something as an ineffective way to spread the word.
And some more good advice, treat CJ like a King.
ok dude…I tried
Well, since Benevolent Street is officially off the list now I just thought I’d say good job you guys. It still sucks what happened but it was handled with far more respect than was given to you. Props for that!
Incedentally, it seems my vote was “refunded” as it were since Benevolent Street is no longer in the running. A part of me says to not vote again as apparently I’m some “rogue element” to horror fandom. However, a bigger part of me realized how defunct that entire circus of thought is.
After checking it out and getting lost for a good while in the archive of old entries I’m throwing my hat in for Dollar Bin Horror. I feel I should say that openly so I can also apologise to the owner there in advance if you suddenly come under flames for my “not-horror fan vote” cause you seem like cool peoples.
I guess on the plus side if this little song and dance gets repeated 20-25 more times they’ll be a winner decided totally independant from any system of democratic voting and that, most certainly, would deserve an award all its own~
Pandering for votes is pathetic. It lacks integrity on the part of the blog owners, and it makes an otherwise fair competition centered on awarding the best blog with recognition seem like nothing more than a popularity contest.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with self-promotion and marketing, but outright telling people to vote for you, as well as asking your friends to register on a site they’ve probably never been to just to give you an unfair edge is absolutely reprehensible. I am absolutely baffled that people can’t fucking realize this.
meh. Going from blog to blog and complaining about it could be looked at the same way. Think what you want pal. I did nothing against the rules. I don’t regret a thing. If you seriously thought that nobody would promote themselves, then I don’t know what to tell you. The world can sometimes be a very unfortunate place in that we’re all entitled to our own opinion. And no matter how much slamming, cursing, moaning and crying happens on either end, it’s pretty obvious that there are two sides that are never going to agree on this. It’s like farting in the wind. It’s not going to work. I’m quite ok with that man. It’s part of life.
Either way, it’s all water under the bridge to me at this point. I bowed out because I felt like this has already brought too much negativity to something that should be filled with positives. You’re going to feel how you feel. I’m going to feel how I feel. There’s no changing that. I haven’t came to anyone’s site and bashed them. As far as I’m concerned, it’s dead in the water from right now forward. Best wishes in doing your thing.