See the “about” page for an explanation of why this site began and what its goals are. Chances are if you’re here, you’ve had a negative experience with “Il Duce,” Ron Holmes, and he spared no effort to silence you and sully your reputation in every possible way. Well, you’re not the only one, and we’re not going to take it anymore. There are lots of people out there who know what this guy’s really like, so share your story and let people see for themselves what their subscription money is paying for.
Tactics like those used by Ron Holmes such as spamming chat rooms & forums, contacting team mates and coaches, and using his own web site to spread his propaganda and lies have caused many people to shy away from telling their stories. You can be assured that this blog will protect your privacy. Your identity will not be disclosed. You can post anonymously or under a pseudonym, but posts will be checked statistically for authenticity before being approved and made visible to the public. In the next few days, this blog will be opening up for individuals to send in entire posts of their own. For now, we’ll start by accepting comments to this post. May truth and justice reign supreme. Share your story now. Let your voice be heard and end his reign of terror.
Boycott The Scouting News 
I heard the Scouting News published an article about my son. I thought that I was entitled to know what was said about him without having to pay a fee. The representative I echanged emails with told me they couldn’t share the information without violating NCAAA rules. I was beside myself and still am. No one should be allowed to say negative, hurtful things about children who are not public figures. It’s not like they’re talking about Brad Pitt or Gordie Howe. These are children who get paid nothing and are just trying to have fun. I will never give these awful people a plug nickel.
Bravo for putting this blog up! Don’t advertise or subscribe or support these people until they get rid of that horribel man or until they comply with the demands. Way to go!
Comment by Cindy — July 9, 2007 @ 8:00 pm |
Let’s take a look at some facts:
Lack of journalistic integrity, as never a single name is associated with any article.
Kids who are as young as 10 are interviewed and provide the names of their top opponents, and for most part, their friends as the next best thing since sliced bread.
Considering that the vast concentration of talent is playing in MWEHL, very few kids who play in our league are “profiled”. Instead, a lot of AA California players are discussed.
As to the testimonials, kids make them. How reliable! Must be worth $99. Deception from start to finish.
Comment by IL Dad — July 11, 2007 @ 5:52 am |
Here’s my story. After buying a subscription to the Scouting News, I was disappointed with the product and I wrote an article about it on a blog that I write as a hobby- not for profit. The reason for my disappointment with the service is not particularly relevant, although Ron Holmes has tried to make it so since then. Essentially, I was impressed by the sheer breadth and scope of coverage they offerred. They seemed to know a lot about all of the players I was beginning to notice. Once I had paid for the subscription however, I realized that some (not all) of the detail behind the teasers was suspect. I think the real story here is that I should have the freedom of speech and the freedom of press to express my opinion which, for the most part, relatively few people actually care about. The next day, I noticed my site had over 700 visitors- more than three times the usual number. I was able to see that most of the visits were originating from an internet forum, and naturally I went to the forum to see why. I was surprised to see that someone had cut and pasted the text from my blog into the forum and he/she also provided a link to my blog. It wasn’t me, but that explained why I was getting so many hits. What I did not expect, however, was that my account with the Scouting News had been canceled, my cookies had been blocked (to prevent me from seeing what was published on the site), and threatening notes were being sent to me and my son’s coach- all without a single phone call or civil discussion of the matter. Although I’ve exchanged email with Holmes, it’s not clear whether he thought I was responsible for pasting my text into that forum or whether he did it himself. The truth is, however, that I did not. What followed swiftly, however, has been an ongoing campaign of lies and threats to discredit me, my son, and his team. I cannot honestly say if this was all because of my original post, or if it is because he thought I started posting on the forum, but neither justifies his persecution of my reputation or that of my son or his team. I still stand by what I wrote, believe it to be true, understand it is only my opinion (to which I am entitled), but it is not the reason I am joining this boycott. I am joining the boycott because of the persecution and lies. If Shell Oil constantly monitored your phone conversations and interrupted you every time you complained to someone about the price of gasoline, how would you feel? That’s exactly what Holmes is doing on the internet. If someone (not always me) asks a question or insinuates something that he even assumes might be about him or related to my blog, he spams the forum threatening my son’s prospects, and saying that I am motivated by a negative article he published (actually the article was about an entire team and contained factual inaccuracies). He has and continues to attempt to drive a wedge between me, team mates, coaches, and even my own son, but he is woefully mistaken. Now he’s taking over forums and spewing such venom that he’s getting entire internet forums deleted. Thankfully, everyone’s starting to get the real picture. His true colors are showing more vibrantly each day. A reputable company simply would never think of treating its customers (former, future or otherwise) in this way. To think that he actually has the credibility to influence anyone’s opinion is laughable. Everyone knows that his service is a rancid, poorly-spelled mixture of entertainment, truth, originality, plagiarism, and titillation. It’s not all bad, but it’s not what I thought I was paying for either. It’s also not why we should support this boycott. We should support the boycott because the guy is a bully.
When he posts an apology on his site and the Scouting News (whoever’s in charge) expresses its commitment to preventing this kind of behavior by its representatives in the future, I am all in favor of ending this boycott. Until then, let ’em rot.
Comment by Ron — July 11, 2007 @ 9:52 am |
This guy Benny that owns the site contacted me several times by email asking for my players’ (13 year olds) contact info. I refused and simply asked for his full name and his professional credentials.
He couldn’t give me any answers.
Best he could do was say “Does Time Magazine ever provide credentials?” or “Does the The Toronto Star have to provide you with credentials?”
I sent his email address out anyway and a couple players got in touch with him. A few weeks later their profiles and pictures were online and the article had a hook something like “The Scouting news sat down with ***** ******* of the ****** ********** the otherday. Here’s what he had to say about player prospects like ……. to read more you will need to subscribe…”
I asked my players what it was all about and they said they didn’t meet or speak to anyone, all they did was fill in a questionnaire the guy sent them and sent a picture. The questioonnaire mainly asked for other players contact info. The catch though, was that in order to read the full article on themslves, they had to buy a $150 subscription. My observation is that they’ll gladly do a story on any player out there, and then charge them to read it.
Further.. how can their lists be accurate when they have at least 20-30 revisions from the summer leading into Minor Midget until draft day?
Save your dough !
A few of my players played a joke on the Scouting News last year and they all pumped up the weakest player in the league, who just happened to be on our team. Low and behold the Scouting News had the kid ranked in their top 100.
Credible?
Come on now.
Comment by Witness — July 17, 2007 @ 10:59 pm |
Well if the Scouting News has in fact posted an article about your son without your permission you do have the legal right to ask them to take it down. If they do not comply you may want to serve them a legal action. Your child is most likely a minor and posting anything that you do not authorize might be classified as an invasion of privacy. Additionally, if they posted a picture which they most likely did they must have a media release document signed by legal guardian. Either way I suggest that you contact them and let them know, what laws they are breaking. Under the criminal code such and act would be classified as “Defamatory Libel”.
Comment by Canadian Hockey News — July 31, 2007 @ 9:00 pm |
Another forum has related comments, http://www.socal-hockey.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12297. The momentum is building!
Comment by anonymous — January 26, 2008 @ 9:15 am |
I wish I’d seen this site before I assisted my son with the questionnaire we randomly received via email. After working hard to thoughtfully answer every question, the article appeared on their site. We could only read a paragraph of it. It was riddled with “he said” “he thinks” etc. My son was never interviewed. It also had lots of quotes in there of things he’d never even said.
I sent an email asking for a copy of the article and this is the reply I received from them:
Hello:
It is against NCAA regulations for businesses to provide free product to players. Your son could lose any chance of getting a scholarship if we participated in schemes like this to give him free product.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I did not like the threatening tone of their email. They also misspelled 4 of the names my son listed as the top 5 players on the team. The first paragraph of their little article, the part they showed on their teaser page, was riddled with misspelled words and fragments.
It is also common courtesy to share information with the subject of an article, particularly of the subject, in this case my son, contributed with material for their article.
Scouting News is nothing but a SCAM, SCAM, SCAM.
Think about it for a second, if they do 200 articles a week, and 100 parents sign up for the minimum 100.00 membership to read the article about their own kid, that is 10,000 dollars right in their pockets. I believe 50% is conservative. Every parent wants to know what is being said about their son so that figure is probably 60-70%.
Comment by Hockey Dad — March 18, 2008 @ 6:42 pm |