WAG Boycott Gymnastike

[gasrgoose]

I really hate what they did posting the link and writing the story. BUT, I also really hate a culture that gives you one mistake and you are done! And yes, I've read the complaints about Gymnastike and you tube posts. You can call that another mistake but I think that is a petty complaint. I personally like being able to go to one sight and see the video links and so does my gymnast. I'd much rather have her going to Gymnastike then looking through you tube videos. Maybe they will mess up again. And maybe the apology is fake or only to retain business but either way I'm giving them another chance. I hope to judged by my best moments and not my worst moments and I'm going to do the same for Gymnastike.

Hopefully they've learned a valuable lesson.

 

[my4buffaloes]

Well, I think one of people's issues is that Gymnastike waited days to make an apology, when it should have been right away. Then it was a very lame apology - you know, like you force your child to say sorry for something and everyone knows they don't really mean it. They had a chance to fix their mistake but they didn't.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I really hate what they did posting the link and writing the story. BUT, I also really hate a culture that gives you one mistake and you are done! And yes, I've read the complaints about Gymnastike and you tube posts. You can call that another mistake but I think that is a petty complaint. I personally like being able to go to one sight and see the video links and so does my gymnast. I'd much rather have her going to Gymnastike then looking through you tube videos. Maybe they will mess up again. And maybe the apology is fake or only to retain business but either way I'm giving them another chance. I hope to judged by my best moments and not my worst moments and I'm going to do the same for Gymnastike.

Hopefully they've learned a valuable lesson.

okay, then. i respect your right to say so. but now i'm curious.

given my analogy in the other post, and your club posts a nude pic ...let's call it "athlete of the month", on the wall at the gym. the gym thinks it's artistic. it would be good for sales.

then you would give your own gym another chance? and i'm not being facetious here. i'm serious.

 

[gasrgoose]

The quick answer is no. But I understand your logic and that some people will think I'm a hypocrite for my 2 (apparently contradicting) answers. In your example my daughter could not avoid seeing the picture since it's on the wall of her gym. Another huge distinction is my daughter spends @ 30 hours a week at her gym and the coaches beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors will greatly influence my child. With gymnastike my daughter is a gold member and uses their site regularly and did not see the picture or even the article. That doesn't make it OK to post the link and I'm not giving them a complete free pass. I'll watch their site more closely and look to see if they've truly change or if they are just paying lip service to the problem. Yes Gymnastike has lost my trust but they haven't yet lost my business.

The nudity aspect is the deal breaker for many and it would be for me in the example you stated. Maybe it should be for me in the Gymnastike situation, but as of now I'm not there.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

gotcha. i was sincerely interested in your logic. this is not dissimilar from another issue.

a gym has known banned members coaching at their gym. everyone knows it. the gym is filled with kids.

why question is almost the same. club owners have never understood WHY parents still bring their kids to those programs. understand?

this is what makes it so hard for club owners and for USA Gymnastics.

 

[cbifoja]

I was wondering what everyone thinks of this second apology by Martin Floreani that was posted last week:

Dear gymnastics faithful,

On Aug. 31 Gymnastike regretfully posted an article that brought attention to an unfortunate event and linked to inappropriate content involving one of the most endearing athletes in the community, McKayla Maroney. Spreading gossip or promoting material that sullies the reputation of our athletes and reflects poorly on our sport is not in line with our editorial voice.

We are not NBC News, ABC, BuzzFeed, Huffington Post or any of the dozens of traditional media outlets that covered this story. While they can feature a story of that nature, we are to be held to a higher standard because of the die-hard nature and youth of our audience. We accept that responsibility even though we clearly didn't live up to it or even recognize the sensitivity of our audience. For that I am sorry.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Ms. Maroney, her family and fans. I most want to sincerely apologize to the parents and young girls training hard to be elite. As a parent, I would not want my daughter to come to Gymnastike and see our post. It was a major error for us to put it on the site.

I would also like to apologize to our Gymnastike team. They are a group of great, hard-working women who were blind sided by the post. As a group we leverage the resources between our verticals to create meaningful and high quality content. In this instance it clearly went wrong.

I understand that by our actions we have lost the trust of many of the passionate gymnastics community. I understand and accept responsibility for that loss. We will work tirelessly to win back the faith of the parents and young girls who visit Gymnastike to consume wholesome content about the sport they love, and to be inspired.

We hope to build back that bond by covering this great sport with the same passion that we have over the last six years and with a renewed understanding of our core editorial values.

Sincerely,

Martin Floreani
CEO - Flocasts

 

[profmom]

Some of you will know this parable.

In a small town in the shtetl, there once lived a man with a terrible reputation as a gossip. Whatever the bad story was, he was the first to ferret it out and the first to repeat it. Several people remonstrated with him, but no matter what, he would always go right back to his gossiping ways.

Finally, one day, he decided that it was time to turn over a new leaf, as Yom Kippur was coming. He went to the town's rabbi to explain that he was sorry for all of the harm he had caused with his gossiping and wanted to be forgiven. The rabbi scratched his head for a moment. Then, he went into his bedroom and got a large, plump feather pillow. He handed it to the puzzled man. "I will grant you the forgiveness you seek, but first," said the rabbi, "take this pillow to the center of the town, cut a slit in it, and shake it as hard as you can!"

The man did as he was told. It was a breezy day, and the feathers from the pillow raced away from him in all directions. He returned with the empty pillow to the rabbi.

"I will gladly forgive you," the rabbi said. "All you must do is go back to the center of the town, collect up all the feathers, and return them to me."

"But rabbi!" exclaimed the man. "What you ask is impossible! The wind has carried the feathers to all corners of the town by now. I can never recollect them all!"

The rabbi shook his head sadly. "And so it is with gossip. And now you understand why just saying you are sorry to me is not enough to make amends. You can never repair all of the damage that you have done."

 

[bogwoppit]

Good parable.

 

[BachFlyer]

We are not NBC News, ABC, BuzzFeed, Huffington Post or any of the dozens of traditional media outlets that covered this story. While they can feature a story of that nature, we are to be held to a higher standard because of the die-hard nature and youth of our audience. We accept that responsibility even though we clearly didn't live up to it or even recognize the sensitivity of our audience. For that I am sorry.

This paragraph makes his apology mean nothing to me. He sounds so petulant, reminding us that everyone else did the same thing, but somehow only Gymnastike is being held accountable. He'll accept responsibilily, as a martyr. Not buying it.

 

[gasrgoose]

Some of you will know this parable.

In a small town in the shtetl, there once lived a man with a terrible reputation as a gossip. Whatever the bad story was, he was the first to ferret it out and the first to repeat it. Several people remonstrated with him, but no matter what, he would always go right back to his gossiping ways.

Finally, one day, he decided that it was time to turn over a new leaf, as Yom Kippur was coming. He went to the town's rabbi to explain that he was sorry for all of the harm he had caused with his gossiping and wanted to be forgiven. The rabbi scratched his head for a moment. Then, he went into his bedroom and got a large, plump feather pillow. He handed it to the puzzled man. "I will grant you the forgiveness you seek, but first," said the rabbi, "take this pillow to the center of the town, cut a slit in it, and shake it as hard as you can!"

The man did as he was told. It was a breezy day, and the feathers from the pillow raced away from him in all directions. He returned with the empty pillow to the rabbi.

"I will gladly forgive you," the rabbi said. "All you must do is go back to the center of the town, collect up all the feathers, and return them to me."

"But rabbi!" exclaimed the man. "What you ask is impossible! The wind has carried the feathers to all corners of the town by now. I can never recollect them all!"

The rabbi shook his head sadly. "And so it is with gossip. And now you understand why just saying you are sorry to me is not enough to make amends. You can never repair all of the damage that you have done."

I agree with the idea about how gossip spreads and how it can't be bottled back up. But we just see things differently. I don't believe someone must make amends to be forgiven. Have all of you made amends for all your mistakes? I know I haven't. I choose to simply except their apology. I will watch them closely. I do understand that some of our actions have severe consequences and we can't avoid these consequences just because we are genuinely regretful. But I don't think this single mistake (even a big one) is enough for me to end my business with them.

 

[Seeker]

This paragraph makes his apology mean nothing to me. He sounds so petulant, reminding us that everyone else did the same thing, but somehow only Gymnastike is being held accountable. He'll accept responsibilily, as a martyr. Not buying it.

This was the part that I scoffed at as well. It clearly shows that they don't accept responsibility and are only apologizing because they are being forced to. I am sure they are "sorry" about the situation....but not for the right things. They don't get it (and have clearly shown that they have no desire to actually 'get it').

 

[bogwoppit]

More like I am sorry that people were ticked at us for reporting the way everyone else did. However no news media I saw included links to the photos.

Reporting is one thing, providing the links to the actual images sets them far apart from news media and ranks them with Perez Hilton and TMZ. Squalid.

 

[JBS]

I think there was just a bit of corporate interference at Gymnastike again. Hopefully they will be able to balance their corporate needs with the type of community that they need to run for the gym world in the future.

I believe that they made a mistake and they have learned from that mistake.

I cannot boycott them as I will not punish myself...they do have much good information about gymnastics on the site...and I am all about learning about gymnastics.

 

[2G1B]

OK. I didn't see the pictures; but from the sound of it they actually provided links to what is legally classified as CHILD PORN. If it was a link to photos of someone under 18 nude then clicking on that can lead to legal problems for the person clicking and that they provided the link seems it should be a legal issue. A CRIMINAL legal issue.

I can see them reporting that it had happened; but providing the link was too much.

I can forgive a company for many things. I'm actually one that leans towards letting private companies do what they want and I know I might not always agree with them. But i draw the line at something like providing links to photos of naked minors (to other minors!!!!and to perverts!!!!). There was just no reason to provide those links IMO.

 

[kandkfunk]

"...Spreading gossip or promoting material that sullies the reputation of our athletes and reflects poorly on our sport is not in line with our editorial voice.

...I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Ms. Maroney, her family and fans. I most want to sincerely apologize to the parents and young girls training hard to be elite."

These two passages struck me in the wrong way. Like the first apology, they are saying that the criminal act of exposing these private pictures somehow negatively reflects on the athlete and the sport as a whole. I don't get that point of view.

The second passage talks about apologizing to the parents and young girls training hard to be elite. This tells me that the CEO of Flocast doesn't understand who the target audience of Gymnastike is. I'm not sure why he threw in the 'Elite' qualifier, but the vast majority of young girls who frequent that site are not training to be elite. They are just trying to watch or learn about the sport they love. If I had a younger daughter, Gymnastike would be on my list of no-no sites until they earned back my trust, if they ever could. Luckily, I've never had any use for their site since I refuse to pay to watch most of the videos they post.

 

[bogwoppit]

Read the article on gymnaticscoaching.com it highlights the other things that bug me about gymnastike. Make sure to read the 14 comments under it too.

http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/2014/09/gymternet-plagerism-gymnastike/#comments

 

[JBS]

Read the article on gymnaticscoaching.com it highlights the other things that bug me about gymnastike. Make sure to read the 14 comments under it too.

http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/2014/09/gymternet-plagerism-gymnastike/#comments

Ok...you're starting to convince me.

I guess what I really need to look at is the content that I am getting for my $20/month. How many videos come out per month that I can really learn from? Looking now.

 

[JBS]

Alright...are the videos at the following link the only thing that I'm getting extra for my $20/month???

http://www.gymnastike.org/premiumvideos

 

[bogwoppit]

Ok...you're starting to convince me.

I guess what I really need to look at is the content that I am getting for my $20/month. How many videos come out per month that I can really learn from? Looking now.

I do see your point though. We need as many good gymnastics resources as possible. Though as time goes by there are more and more out there that are filling the void.

Gymnatike brought so much good to the table, but in the end they seem to be more about selling content than about promoting gymnastics.

The world of the internet is still a brave new world to us all. Monetization of videos, paid ads, money through clicks and click throughs are not things many people even know about, let alone ponder.

But I think with gymnastikes choice to financially benefit from a crime against one of it's young gymnasts shows that it is all about the mighty $$$ first and then gymnastics. Though I believe many of the sites contributors love gym and are genuinely horrified at Flocast, collateral damage.

Gymneo will be a great coaching site, it is in it's infancy, but it has great promise.

Also much of what they aired before was not available to us. But most gymnastics federations are putting all their meets online and even live streaming podium training etc. USAG is one that is doing an incredible job with it's social media presence. Most of what I wanted to see was on gymnastike, but now less so. Though their purchase of NCAA meet material and then locking it up for paying customers ticked me off. That is life.

 

[bogwoppit]

Alright...are the videos at the following link the only thing that I'm getting extra for my $20/month???

http://www.gymnastike.org/premiumvideos

Yes, premium videos are what you get for your $20 a month.