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Labels: jester-in-exile, piere-tito-galla, site-updates
It has come to our attention that some of our readers have read an article posted on a blog by Mr. Pierre Tito Galla or popularly known online as the Jester In Exile. The article entitled, "The 2008 Philippine Blog Awards Acceptance Speech of The Jester-in-Exile: You Wanted Some? Here's Some", contains false accusations on our members and inaccuracies on its content that has lead to a twisted version of the truth. His version of the truth.
As a group and as one of the oldest websites in the Philippines, we have always maintained high levels of standards in interacting with our fellow webmasters/bloggers. The last Philippine Blog Awards "controversy" has left many bloggers scarred and although GameOPS only wanted to convey the truth in its posts, we have been left with cheap attacks on our site and members.
On 20th September 2008, GameOPS contributor Andrew Delos Santos (Siopao Master) posted on his personal blogs his disappointments over the list of finalists of the Gaming category of the Philippine Blog Awards. The post is entitled "Level-up being biased in The Philippine Blog Awards 2".Level-up being biased in The Philippine Blog Awards 2
Ok, As We all know Level-up Games! is now populated by a bunch of idiots who need iodized salt and is being commanded by corrupt GMs. But I can't believe they will go this far. Here's the story:
The 2008 Philippine Blog Awards had a gaming category wherein GameOPS was nominated.
Level-up! was the one sponsoring this award and the rules were as followsSponsor Award: The Level Up! Gaming Blog Award
Here is another Sponsor Award for Level Up and its The Level Up! Gaming Blog Award. The Level Up! Gaming Blog Award is open to:
1. A blog about gaming (console/handheld/online) in general or about Level Up!’s games only.
2. Philippine based Filipino Bloggers only
Judges:
Mon Macutay
Marketing Manager, Level Up!
Carlo Ople
Marketing Manager, Level Up!
Kevin Codamon
Editor in Chief, Level Up!
take not the word OR
now, Level-up announced the finalists and boy oh boy it was hilarious!
Some of the finalists had only 3 posts. I believe these were one of the criteria Content - 80%
The post itself and all its totality from the headline to the manner and style of writing is considered. Content and how the content was presented is critical. It is the total package, from the headline to the grammar and even to the effective use of images and sound, that is considered. Content for content sake is not enough it must be told in a manner that effectively conveys the idea and leaves an imprint in the readers’ mind.
Design and Usability - 20%
This refers to aesthetic and usability features of the blog. Not only should it look pretty but it should also be functional and stress free to navigate within. Is it pretty and user-friendly?
As you can clearly see. some of them haven't met the requirements compared to GameOPS
which I can recall is popular internationally
Was it because of our two negative posts regarding Level-up? Can't they accept constructive criticism?
You decide...
You can see that his post was clearly geared towards Level-Up! Games and not to the Philippine Blog Awards 2008 organizing committee.
On 23rd September 2008, Rocky posted his thoughts and observations on GameOPS entitled, "My Thoughts on the Philippine Blog Awards 2". He revealed his upset on the award giving body by mentioning several key point discussions. The key points need not be mentioned again but the evidence was very glaringly clear. There were indeed a few discrepancies with the judging and the rules.
Alleged bloggers in question had every right to comment and raise their concerns. But Mr. Pierre Tito Galla or The Jester in Exile was not directly part of the issue.
In a "private" Plurk, Mr. Galla pointed out that Rocky was an "effing idiot" and that he can prosecute him immediately if wants to. Rocky was able to prove his points so how can he be labeled an effing idiot?
Rocky edited his original post to clear his statements and apologized to all the parties he has offended. We thought this was the end of it but we were wrong.
On 25th September 2008, Mr. Galla made a post on his blog entitled, "The 2008 Philippine Blog Awards Acceptance Speech of The Jester-in-Exile: You Wanted Some? Here's Some". This post in question combined the separate articles of Andrew and Rocky and was revised to fit Mr. Galla's arguments.
Quoting directly from his post,Now, when one is weighed and found wanting against a judge's criteria, the criteria one uses to measure oneself is of no consequence. You lost, you weren't chosen, suck it up, betches. Consider this gem by the blogger Siopao Master, with regard to the PWNage of their GameOPS blog by someone else in a Level Up! sponsored category:
Was it because of our two negative posts regarding Level-up? Can't they accept constructive criticism?
You decide...
The judges weren't the convenors; had they a problem with the judging, it would have been correct to go and cyberpicket Level Up! Games, and not the Philippine Blog Awards Convenors. The panel of that category were a completely different group from the judges of the non-sponsor awards.
Interestingly enough, one of that blogger's colleagues makes a similar aside, with regard to a similar category:Why (were) Coy and Poytee included in the (list of finalists) and even won the top awards? Was it because they're volunteers? May the best volunteers win?
Here we have a blogger who has attached the honor and integrity, the very word and worth of the people involved, by implying that there was some irregularity based on favoritism... the charge of "palakasan". Was this fair and without malice?
Consider: out of thirty-six categories of which there were more than six hundred entries, of which only a small fraction of which were entered by volunteers, there were only two winning entries were of those who were volunteers. Do the math and then let us know if there was any favoritism involved.
The fact of the matter is this: the quality of this blogger's work was not up to scratch compared to what the judges wanted. Instead of graciously accepting defeat and making the choice to give out better work this time, quite obviously this blogger is impugning the credibility, integrity, and honesty of people who, yet again we must mention, have worked their asses off just to make the awards a success.
So, to that question "you decide", here's my decision: You. Lost. Admit defeat and suck it up. Improve, evolve, or extinction. For you to imply that those who were finalists and were eventually awarded were given these honors because of some elitist, cliquish favoritism is to attack with malice aforethought the integrity of the convenors, the judges, the volunteers, the nominees and those who nominated them.
In defense of the convenors, judges, and volunteers, who with much composure and grace under pressure have put up with this sort of mudslinging, here's what I have to say: There is nothing more annoying than some passive-aggressive whiner who pretends to be conciliatory but in the same breath attacks with rabid malice, especially when the attacks impugn the credibility, probity, and integrity of those who have done nothing but their best efforts for the community. Nulla cogito, vermis est.
It was very clear that Andrew was referring to Level Up! Games and not the judges of the Philippine Blog Awards 2008 by just reading the title of his post. While Rocky was just asking honest questions... and those questions were unrelated to the gaming category where GameOPS was included. Those questions were about another special award that I PERSONALLY joined and completely unrelated to GameOPS.
If you review Mr. Galla's post together with Rocky and Andrew's original posts, you will therefore paint a picture that somebody is fabricating lies.
Despite these facts we again decided to put the topic at rest. Except for GameOPS contributor Karlo who posted an entry entitled, "Jester-in-Exile Should be Exiled" to defend both Rocky and Andrew.
On 28th November 2008, I received an email from one of our readers telling us how irresponsible GameOPS was when we published a story about the Philippine Blog Awards 2008. The reader apparently read the story on Mr. Galla's "acceptance speech".
That ladies and gentlemen was just the tip of the iceberg. We received 4 more emails, all of them have read the wrong information from Mr. Galla's blog. As a group, we decided to pursue action.
On 4th December 2008, I emailed Mr. Galla and requested that he edit his "acceptance speech" entry and correct the facts. Instead on 7th December 2008, he made petty insults on his blog, all directed towards me. Though he has not named me as the sender of the e-mail in his post, it was clear on the post that we was referring to my email.
He eventually revealed to his friends who I am while I did nothing on my part to expose him.
His email replies have also proven a point ---he doesn't want to consider my request. He has also repeatedly asked me why he should edit his post and that I should explain myself better to convince him to change his post.
If you follow these scenarios, you can plainly see that GameOPS did everything in our power to control the problem. We have always resorted in using the peaceful solution, even if it meant stepping on our pride.
Just before Mr. Galla's "brilliant speech", I was already contacted by one of the committee members of the Philippine Blog Awards 2008. I was told that our concern with GameOPS and even my personal entry have valid points and I was asked if I wanted to formally file a complaint. I said no. It won't go anywhere anyway.
To the people involved (same as with their friends), if you are still thinking we are bitter over the Philippine Blog Awards controversy then you are badly mistaken. Rocky's post had only one point: the truth. Let me clarify again, Rocky was not condemning Mr. Galla's friends but was asking if they are indeed guilty of something that a professional blogger should not resort too. Andrew obviously wasn't talking about the judges of the Philippine Blog Awards 2008. I am here to clear their names. Our name. GameOPS' name.
To all our loyal readers, on behalf of all our contributors, (Rocky Opiña, Glen Ramos, Mark Bravo, Mike Abundo, Karlo Datoc, Andrew Delos Santos, Micael Rivera, Dian Dela Cruz, and Alvin Infantado) please try to understand that we never maligned the people (judges, volunteers, etc.) who have worked hard to make the Philippine Blog Awards 2008 possible. Everything that Pierre Tito Galla aka The Jester-in-Exile wrote are full of malice and lies aimed to destroy the hard earned reputation of GameOPS and its staff.
GameOPS started out as a website 10 years ago and we've just relaunched the site as a blog last year to adapt to the ever changing world of cyberspace. We are not that famous on the Philippine blogging world and we don't have a "group" to back us up but GameOPS continues to be a labor of love for all of us. We don't get paid for this but we struggle and protect the image of the thing we hold most dear.
To Mr. Galla and his friends, you can continue to write bad things about us with veils on your eyes but the truth will never change. If this makes us sour grapes, trolls, bitter ocampos and jackasses then I don't know what to call you.
Just to quote something from Sun.Star General Santos, Pierre Tito Galla, a Baguio City-based blogger who was invited for an outside pundit's view of Mindanao, lamented that main stream media sometimes neglect to give the proper context to their reportage.
"For instance, the bombings that occurred in the past are not terrorism related but motivated by extortion. This must be clarified in the reporting," he said.
"As bloggers, we must give the proper context and there could be no limit to space since we could write all we want and post them in our sites," he added, citing the lack of time or space constraints in the mainstream media that result to good stories ending in the trash cans or in the inside pages.
Don't you find it hypocritical that the same guy who fabricated the lies about GameOPS and its staff is the same guy being interviewed by Sun.Star General Santos lamenting mainstream media's lack of proper context?
We thought that the Philippine Blog Awards was one of the perfect venues to tell everyone that we're back. Unfortunately, our recent experience with some irate band of bloggers, some not even directly part of the PBA 2008 board, proves that we should be better off on our own. I hope we're wrong.
Posts from the contributors of GameOPS:
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Posted by Jepoy on 12/28/2008 11:37:00 PM | 10 comments |
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