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Dear Huffington Post, WTF Is Going On with You? (IGNORED – 9 Months)

By jmacofearth On 08/02/2021 · 6 Comments

Update 10-4-15: I suppose a smarter blogger would’ve given up by now. I mean… Really, is there any confusion about the message they are sending me? But if they’ve cut me off, why don’t they cut me off? Why don’t they kill my account (I posted another article last week) or kill my archive? Maybe all I really needed from being ON the Huffington Post was the ability to say "frequent Huffington Post contributor" on some of my biographical material. But that’s not really it. My quest continues, because somewhere the [email protected] is getting my emails and my postings. And someone in the chain of command has flagged my account, so that none of the channels (Divorce, Women, Parenting, Healthy Living, or Technology) are picking up my offerings. Nobody. It’s odd. And the only thing I have is my ability to escalate and investigate. Let’s turn up the heat and see if we can get a rise out of them.

Update 9-2-15: Are Men’s Voices Being Silenced on The Huffington Post?

Update 9-1-15: Tomorrow it will be a month. I’ve tweeted at the editors, and blog editors, and relationship/divorce/dating editors. NADA. Hmm.

Update 8-27-15: I suppose you *can* simply ignore a blogger’s questions. But the blogger, if persistent, is going to continue to make waves. I have no more escalations on this post, time for a new track, perhaps. Hello, Salon, we need to talk about what’s going on at the Huffington Post.

Update 8-21-15: I really thought I was going to get an answer by now. Some answer. Some outreach. Even if it was someone saying, STFU. Instead, yesterday I got a Twitter response from Sr. Women’s Editor Emma Gray. And just as I responded to her she deleted the tweet. (Before I was able to screen grab it. But I have the traces captured elsewhere.) Then, I’m pretty sure she MUTED me on Twitter. (A first for me.)

Perhaps this is a bigger story. I’m looking into a more alarming trend: Are men’s voices being muted on The Huffington Post? Typically, women write 90% of the posts on Parenting, Divorce, and Dating. And a good portion of the leadership at the Huffington Post are women. That’s all fine. But when strong male voices are shut out, without explanation or cause… Well, it’s a bigger story, and through the feedback I’ve gotten as a result of this post, I am by no means alone in my quest for answers. Stay tuned.

Update 8-15-15. I guess I’m an optimist. I’m still submitting, imagining at some point someone in their organization will think it is appropriate to answer me. I’ve tweeted, emailed, and submitted, but I’m getting ZERO feedback. What gives? RADIO SILENCE DAY 13! Here are my submissions during this last 13 days.

Maybe it was this slideshare presentation: The Degrading of The Huffington Post (Nah, that was just last month.)

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Yes, I’m like a lover spurned. I’m sad. I’m angry. I wish I just knew WTF was going on with my previously successful Huffington Post publishing empire.

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Update Day-10 – Radio Silence. Hey, Huffpo, are you listening? This social media thing? Hello?

.@ariannahuff Welcome back from vacation. I hope Greece was nice. Would love to talk about my HuffPo problem. THX http://t.co/PhP3D1H1g3

— John McElhenney #ATX (@jmacofearth) August 10, 2021

+++ Dear Huffington Post, WTF is going on with you? You don’t call, you don’t write. And my once hot connection has grown icy. Nada. Ziltch. I’ve even written directly to Arianna, who invited me in the first place. Please let me know if we’re breaking up, or if I’ve violated some unspoken rule, cause I really want you back. Okay. Thanks. Bye. Here’s my archive, so you remember how close we were: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-mcelhenney/ Maybe the Huffington Post is undergoing some huge changes and cannot respond to everyone in a timely manner. Maybe I did something wrong and one of the freelance editors put a black mark against my writer’s profile and I’m never going to get a post published on The Huffington Post again. Maybe my writing went off a cliff and now sucks, some combination of whiny divorce posts and pathetic fitness journals. Maybe… But I am not getting any answers from the "blogteam." Ever. Not a peep. I keep submitting. I keep writing and publishing, in spite of my Huffpo death. But I’m confused at how a professional organization can simply cut off all communication. Not one response from anyone on the editorial board for 9 months? That seems

Unprofessional

Abusive

Rude

My professional life does not hinge on putting "Huffington Post" in my bio. But I do know that my ego took a nice leap the day I was accepted by Arianna herself, to be a voice on the Huffington Post. And we had a great run. I published 2 – 3 articles a week. Maybe we got burned out. Lost interest. Grew bored of one another. I don’t know, but it wasn’t on my end that the relationship has grown silent. See, that’s what I do. I’m a relationship blogger. A divorced dad blogger. A recovering fitness blogger. A writer and communicator. I have not been quiet about my silence. But nothing I have done has produced even a peep out of the blogteam. So I’m going public. Here on my marketing blog. To ask The Huffington Post team directly, on social media, "What causes you to kill a writer on The Huffington Post?" That’s essentially what’s happened. I’m still putting up posts. (1 – 2 per week) I’m still hoping that someone will respond or some post will find an editor who’s willing to break my dry spell, or tell me why I’m no longer relevant. I suppose if something had happened, and my credentials had been revoked, that would’ve at least let me know what was going on. So, after some 50 posts on "divorce," "healthy living," "business," "dating," "parenting," and "relationships" I’m just done? That makes no sense.

I didn’t get paid.

I wrote a ton of good content that is still shared from The Huffington Post.

I generated hundreds of thousands of hits and page views for the Huff Po.

I’m still writing good stuff, based on the growth and readership of my 100% positive single-parenting blog. The Whole Parent.

And this is how you treat me?

Dear Arianna Huffington and The Huffington Post, Please forgive me if I’ve done something wrong, but can you ask your editors to at least answer my requests? Can you ask them to tell me directly why they’ve rejected 50 posts over the last 9 months?

More importantly, can you please start publishing my content again. It helps. I like The Huffington Post. I like being part of [email protected]. But I don’t like being ignored.

Respectfully, John McElhenney – The Whole Parent.

And it’s not like I didn’t try and reach them to mend fences. I do understand, people are busy. Let me know what you think when you get back from Greece. I hope you’re having a ball. Sincerely, The Whole Parent / Uber.la – John McElhenney LINK: The McElhenney / HuffPo Archive @jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth) permalink: https://uber.la/2015/08/dear-huffpo-wtf/ Here are a few of my favorite posts on the HUFF:

The Six-Step Relationship Strategy for Adults

Is There a Me Inside of Here That Is Dying to Get Out?

Prayer for Single Parents, and My Ex

Positive Divorce: From Blame to Forgiveness

And a screen grab of the top of my 59 unpublished submissions to The Huffington Post since Nov. 2014. It is nice to see some folks are having good results. Ho hum! (grin)

@marcosjsaldivar @HuffPostParents @ariannahuff am on a roll. 4 published, 3 in queue. ? — laksh (@lakshgiri) August 1, 2021

I couldn’t get Marcos to respond either. Ho hum. 20-days and counting… (grin) My submissions are still going through. Here’s the nice message you are presented with on the Movable Type submission site. I’m stumped. I would love any ideas, feedback, or stories about how you’ve either gotten silenced or gotten a response from the Blog Team at the Huffington Post. I’m still waiting for any kind of response. You see, for a minute there, I felt like I was PART of the BlogTeam on the Huffington Post. I guess never was the case.

John McElhenney

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)

Sharing is nice for everyone.

6 Responses to Dear Huffington Post, WTF Is Going On with You? (IGNORED – 9 Months)

theiconoklast says:

04/26/2016 at 8:59 am

Welcome to the real world of female domination and domination-by-proxy of the socio-cultural sphere. This was the inevitable outcome of the dynamics set in motion by the information/propaganda age and the descent into socio-cultural anarchy initiated by the wars of the 20th century. Brace yourself, we ain’t seen nothing yet. The world has just begun to reap the whirlwind. Whilst young women are increasingly aware of the destruction wrought by their mothers and fathers, young men and their growing awareness of their predicament are like a sleeping giant. Who knows what will happen when it awakes? The coming financial/ economic collapse triggered by the threat of global warming and population growth will be the alarm that finally wakes that giant.

Allan Kirk says:

04/26/2016 at 8:56 am

Welcome to the real world of female domination and domination-by-proxy of the socio-cultural sphere. This was the inevitable outcome of the dynamics set in motion by the information/propaganda age and the descent into socio-cultural anarchy initiated by the wars of the 20th century. Brace yourself, we ain’t seen nothing yet. The world has just begun to reap the whirlwind. Whilst young women are increasingly aware of the destruction wrought by their mothers and fathers, young men and their growing awareness of their predicament are like a sleeping giant. Who knows what will happen when it awakes? The coming financial/ economic collapse triggered by the threat of global warming and population growth will be the alarm that finally wakes that giant.

Joe DeProspero says:

04/11/2021 at 7:50 am

I thought it was just me. I’ve gotten the silent treatment since February. Solid blogger, never gave any reason to be shunned. Yet, here I am, two months later, no closer to an answer. I hope you get some sort of response from them, as our work should not be swept under the rug like this. Unacceptable on every level.

– Joe DeProspero

Martina Mercer says:

01/28/2016 at 4:12 am

Hi there,

I’m not a dad, I’m a mum. I was happily writing for Huff Post. I had one article that they didn’t like, I think the reply was, "we’re choosing not to go ahead with this one but looking forward to your next submission". 10 submissions later NOTHING has been published. I’ve emailed so often I really am doubting my sanity. I feel like I’ve been ghosted. I’ve emailed every Huff Post address I know. I did get a reply from one, who said he’d look into it for me, when I emailed a week later to find out if he’d got anywhere, he’d blocked my email addy!

I’ve written for Yahoo, the BBC, Channel 4, I’m the editor of Sunday Woman magazine and this has really tested my patience. I just want some kind of answer, even if it’s "look, we hate you, get lost!" Nothing. Zilch, Nada. Still trying, still have access to the back end but like you, something has been flagged as my posts, although submitted fine, are not being published. Gutted. Would love to hear if you ever got anywhere. P.s. I’m in the UK

Dave G says:

12/08/2021 at 7:49 am

I read through your HuffPo issue. Although my issue isn’t related to the silencing of male parent bloggers, it IS related to BlogTeam, Arianna, her entourage and everyone in between. One day, I log into my Backstage, and bam. Cut off. No reason given, my posts look like your image above. Published posted DELETED. That was in February. It is now December, and nobody will answer emails – even section editors. I just don’t get it how Arianna built a publishing platform and made herself millions off the backs of free content contributors, then tosses them away when she’s finished.

Dr. Josh Misner says:

08/03/2021 at 5:58 pm

I know the feeling. I used to publish weekly and had great traffic with almost all of my posts, every one of which was shared to Twitter and FB by HuffPost Parents, and sometimes, if I was lucky, by the FB page of Huffington Post itself. Recently, I wrote an article that I was sure was a viral hit, so I emailed the editors to let them know it was taking off, requesting that they share it via social media. Nothing. Zilch. Luckily, The Good Men Project picked it up, ran it, promoted it, and next thing I know, I’m on Yahoo News and A Mighty Girl gaining hundreds of thousands of likes and views. Somehow, someone over there decided to cut off contact with dad writers, because 95% of the articles being shared by HuffPost Parents are by moms. Even the Dads section is being taken over by moms.