Humble Beginnings
The Outdoor Gazette started as a humble newspaper serving people in Vermont and New Hampshire. It has evolved into a complete digital platform. Newspapers have to fight to stay relevant, but relevance is not our motivation for turning the "Outdoor Gazette" into a platform for all people who love and celebrate the outdoors. The "Gazette" is a digital safe haven for those who understand the ecological necessity of hunting, fishing and trapping as well as for those who just want to celebrate their love of the outdoors in whichever way they feel best. In a global shouting factory monopolized by a few social media giants that choose who to silence and who to endorse based on biases and agendas, we are building a platform that is unapologetically against anti-hunter biases and unapologetically for honoring your right to free speech.
A common rebuttal that social media giants launch against criticisms of hunter-censorship is: "Whatever you post on our site is owned by us. Don't believe it? Go read the (legally-opaque) terms of service".
We understand that this policy makes governance over content easier and provides more opportunities for social media giants to monetize their users and user-generated content. However, we believe that social media apps are not just apps, but platforms. A platform does not exist merely to create content for users to consume, but to facilitate users to create, share, interact, and consume content with each other.
We felt that way today, censored, when after a final attempt to promote the Gazette on Facebook, after days of rejection without explanation, the ad was rejected one last time, finally with an explanation:
“Ad Can't Run: Create a new post
This ad isn't running because it doesn't follow our Advertising Policies. Your ad promotes the sale of ammunition, firearms, Paintball guns, BB guns, or other weapons, including knives, daggers, swords, bows, arrows, knuckle dusters, and nunchucks. Advertising the sale of weapons or leading to destinations where the business primarily focuses on the sale of weapons is not allowed.
Keep in mind that ads can promote advocacy or interest groups that help connect people who have interests related to these products, as long as it doesn’t lead to the sale of any weapons.”
The Gazette takes a strong stance on supporting the right to bear arms, bows, knives , slingshots and nunchucks! We are not in the business of selling weapons, we will, however, advertise the sale of weapons by other Outdoor Gazette Supporters and advertisers. So, the reason for rejection is accurate to a degree, but it demonstrates the ability of social media giants to shut down those of us in the outdoor community as well as numerous other communities. It is a common trope for hunting enthusiasts to face ridicule on social platforms for no other reason than our (ecologically beneficial) passion.
Those of us who happen to be entrepreneurs, podcasters, or video producers, are also used to demonetization if we host our content on a platform that finds us immoral, or other acts of corruption including de-platformization (suspending or deleting our account) or other punishments like muting our ability to post or send messages.
The Outdoor Gazette solves all these “Big Brother” issues.
The Outdoor Gazette is for:
The creative hunter who wants to start their own show and instantly release it to an audience who cares.
The podcaster who wants to host and distribute latest episodes directly to a community avid listeners.
The outdoors-entrepreneur looking to get the word out about their new business
It's also for:
The passionate hunter or angler who is sick of sifting through videos on other sites, and wants to find videos they'll love without any effort.
The people who appreciate supporting their fellow outdoors-people & their businesses, but who are tired of being forced to listen to irrelevant ads.
Anyone who'd prefer their videos, podcasts, and news, and social feed all in one place.
We look forward to helping the next amateur and professional vloggers & videographers, podcasters, entrepreneurs, and writers find the perfect platform.
We invite people who enjoy reading, watching, listening, sharing, and talking about all things outdoors to enjoy a single place to discover, save, and share this content.
We welcome you all to enjoy your corner of the online space for your outdoor life.