AOL Listened - Response Concerning List

[solitude]

I received the following email:

Thank you for your phone call regarding the content provided to us through askmen.com. Our AOL editorial team looked at the material and were unanimous in their agreement that inclusion of Oklahoma City in that kind of negative list was wholly unfair and poor quality journalism. We have since edited/modified the list online and plan to monitor our content relationship with askmen.com in a more careful manner. Our apologies for the inappropriate nature of the listing for Oklahoma City. FYI, one of the AOL VPs was in Oklahoma City this past December and was appalled at the description of your city by the askmen writer. Mr. Werther described Oklahoma City as a dynamic city that rivals many that we're familiar with here on the East Coast. He told me to feel free to include his feelings in any responses to this unfortunate incident. Thank you again for taking the time to contact AOL.

Cordially,

LeeAnn Lubetzky
AOL Executive Assistant

I had called AOL early this morning and left a voice mail describing the situation and left my email address and phone number. I also had a nice voice mail when I got home saying basically the same thing.

[OUman]

Great work solitude! Thanks for posting this, and kudos to AOL as well for taking immediate action on the issue.

[jbrown84]

Good for them.

Looks like AskMen will pay for their irresponsibility with [possibly] less free promotion from AOL.

[Karried]

That is simply awesome!

Thank you for your efforts Solitude.

Honestly, I think being on a list like this was so very damaging to our tourism and national/worldwide perception.

The fact that AOL listened, responded and took action is just really very cool in my opinion.

[edcrunk]

i give you props solitude, i admire anyone who sticks up for okc.

[soonerfever]

I wonder if the City or the Convention and Visitors Bureau seen the article?

Edit: By the way thanks Solitude!

[ksearls]

Good work! Thank you

[Millie]

I received the following email:

FYI, one of the AOL VPs was in Oklahoma City this past December and was appalled at the description of your city by the askmen writer. Mr. Werther described Oklahoma City as a dynamic city that rivals many that we're familiar with here on the East Coast. He told me to feel free to include his feelings in any responses to this unfortunate incident. Thank you again for taking the time to contact AOL.

Think the reason for his visit was to close down their call center?

[HOT ROD]

Thanks Solitude.

We are all great ambassadors for Oklahoma City and it is nice that we (NOW) all stick up for Oklahoma City. Just think, a few years ago and I highly doubt such an article would raise much concern and definitely I wouldn't expect people to call/email about it.

This just shows how far OKC has come - it used to be ONLY Tulsa would stick up for itself (and downgrade OKC whenever it got the chance). Today, OKC has people informed and ONLINE, who stand up for their city - just like most if not all major cities in the world!!!

Great to see! Continue the Renaissance!

[metro]

Think the reason for his visit was to close down their call center?

AOL's OKC call center has been closed for years.

[dcsooner]

Thanks Solitude from a native Sooner who loves and misses his home State. It is awesome to see Oklahoma Citians finally realize how much Oklahoma City and Oklahoma have to offer and will stand up for both.

[Doug Loudenback]

My thanks, too, Solitude! Good job!

[Karried]

This could be a news story... oh Steve? lol

"Internet Warriors at OKCTalk Take on AOL ".... a community of online OKC enthusiasts were so incensed by the 'Hell on Earth' designation that the city recently received, they decided to take action.

By making phone calls, sending emails to the Editor, and posting endless comments on the AOL travel site and Askmen.com site, they were able to convince the editors to have the offending article removed from the site"

"Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. "Indeed, it's the only thing that has. - Margaret Meade"

blah, blah, blah.... you get my drift. Feel free to use my idea.

[Karried]

Nevermind, I found the news article but no mention of why it was cut or who made it happen.

I know we here at OKCTalk were instrumental in having it removed ( thanks Solitude, JBrown and many others I saw on the boards posting rebuttals) ...... I still think it would have made a nice feel good story! lol

[Steve]

Well, Brian Dean ended up being the reporter on this one. But I've noted this whole matter on my, well, you know.

[FritterGirl]

I think I posted in one of the other threads on the matter that the CVB should invite the article's original author, Mr. Clarke, to visit our little "Hell On Earth" and show him the many delights that OKC has to offer.

It could turn up being a great PR move for the City.

Of course, this would only work if we invited him during "blizzard season," so he can experience for himself exactly how hellish it is!

[brianinok]

I emailed askmen.com. Solitude, I hope you don't mind my using a little of your email.

To Whom It May Concern:

You may now consider your website to have less than 5 million readers a month. I cannot continue to support a website that has such blatant disregard for the facts. Your determination that Oklahoma City is the 5th worst hell on earth (including worse than Baghdad, Mogadishu, and Chernobyl) is extremely offensive and fantasy. Regarding snowstorms, we rarely have them. But then again, having such mild winters, we consider a "snow storm" to be 3 inches. The May 3rd tornado "devastated much of the city?" You clearly did no research, as a couple thousand people were displaced out of 1.3 million. And the weather is extremely predictable, and we know days in advance when tornadoes are possible. If you wanted a US city on your list, perhaps you should look at cities that have been or could be devasted by earthquakes, like Los Angeles and San Francisco, or the complete devastation that New Orleans still can't seem to escape (note that many of their people and their NBA team moved to Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina). And if you are so worried about blizzards, perhaps you should consider Buffalo. Or if its terrorism, Washington, DC and New York City certainly have us beat.

So that you know Oklahoma Citians are not the only ones who feel this way, AOL, to whom you provided this content, recently said that their "editorial team looked at the material and were unanimous in their agreement that inclusion of Oklahoma City in that kind of negative list was wholly unfair and poor quality journalism." While I certainly believe that a retraction and edit of your story is warranted, I am in no way demanding. You can print what you want. But please do so with the understanding that as long as you print fictitous drivel like this article, me and many of my fellow Oklahoma Citians will steer clear of your website.

Sincerely,
<name>
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[Karried]

That was a good letter.

I'm hoping they got the message!

[Midtowner]

I don't see the problem really.

It's just a list made for fun. It's hardly "journalism."

[brianinok]

I don't see the problem really.

It's just a list made for fun. It's hardly "journalism."

AOL seemed to agree with you that it was hardly journalism. But, since it was masquerading as journalism, they removed it.

[jbrown84]

I don't see the problem really.

It's just a list made for fun. It's hardly "journalism."

I disagree. The list showed 9 cities with serious problems that endanger citizens daily. It was very serious, and then they threw in OKC, which did not fit that criteria, and was simply an absurd, bizarre inclusion. We're talking a list of 9 places that any reason to go there is far outweighed by the reasons not to, and then they add OKC in there for whatever reason, as if a visitor to OKC could actually get killed in the Natural Disaster version of a roadside bomb.

[flintysooner]

Nothing really "just for fun" to me about Chernobyl.

[BabyBoomerSooner]

I don't see the problem really.

It's just a list made for fun. It's hardly "journalism."

I agree. The Oklahoma City inclusion is so out of place that its listing should create laughter. Look at it this way; at least they're talking about us.

[OUGrad05]

I agree. The Oklahoma City inclusion is so out of place that its listing should create laughter. Look at it this way; at least they're talking about us.

I'm pretty sure it was down to make the city look bad. You'd be surprised just how many people think indians still ride around on horses around here. It's pretty amazing just how nieve people are on the east/west coasts with what happens here in the middle the nation.

[metro]

brianinok, great letter!! keep us posted if you hear anything back.