I’m having a little trouble with the new submission guidelines, so I need your help. The thing is, last year when Speak Out With Your Geek Out spontaneously combusted into being, we had some negative criticism based on how things were worded. There was a vocal minority of folks who didn’t like the mission statement. So, I want to do two things: a) reword the current mission statement and b) offer up a theme.

I have a few challenges writing up the submission guidelines for the theme of gratitude. First, I don’t want this to turn into an opportunity for religious, political, or otherwise inflammatory debate because of socially-charged topics.

Secondly, I can’t accept any submissions that reveals specific addresses or full names — especially of kids. First name and last initial is perfectly okay; I’d prefer that this site covers my butt and a few of my own basic privacy concerns. Whether that be an “at risk” clause in the submission guidelines or not, there has to be some -ese in this. Ugh.

This week-long celebration was supposed to be akin to  Geek Pride Day and not a chance for people to be beaten over the head with deep, serious topics and rampant negativity or criticism for simply wanting to be happy. It was, also, a way to point out and avoid yellow journalism within the context of being nerd bait or inducing nerd rage. Is it hard being a geek? Yes, because it doesn’t matter if certain topics are mainstream or not. If it’s mainstream, some of these awesome things will likely fade over time, because it’s capitalizing on a trend. Not to mention, if geeks were that accepted? Then there wouldn’t be any bullies lurking about and we all know that’s not true.

What we’re talking about here, is passion for what we love. That passion can manifest in a very positive way. I need to figure out how to get that message across in the simplest way possible but still make it firmly rooted in this thing called “geek.”

I’m attaching the original statement. What needs to change?

Take a stance against baiting nerd rage and stereotypes of geeks.

Post about how much you love your geeky hobbies or vocation from [Date] to [Date] on your blog, website, social media account or in a forum somewhere. Then come here and tell us about it. We’ll have a kick-off post where you can stand and be counted.

Let’s show the world why we’re awesome and why there is nothing wrong with being a geek.

What do you think about the submission guidelines? Thoughts?

Originally Published at SpeakOutWithYourGeekOut.com.