Charles Pelkey, the Senior Online Editor at VeloNews.com, may have violated the website’s own online commenting policy when he apparently deleted comments that expressed an opinion with which he disagreed but were not otherwise objectionable.
Pelkey expressed his distaste for the opinions I expressed regarding the motivations of athletes that use performance-enhancing drugs shortly before my comments were deleted.
Rather than engage in an intelligent or informative discussion of the issue, the former Press Secretary for U.S. Senator Alan K Simpson discounted my comments as “pseudo-scientific social-sciences twaddle”. Furthermore, Pelkey, a newly licensed attorney with the firm of Corthell & King, made libelous statements falsely accusing me of “selling performance-enhancing drugs” in a feeble attempt to discredit me.
CPelkey wrote, in response to Millard Baker:
Couch it in as much pseudo-scientific social-sciences twaddle as you want, Millard, but it’s still fundamentally wrong on so many levels. Sport should be the one true test of natural abilities and hard work. One click on your profile and we see you’re in the business of actually promoting and selling performance-enhancing drugs. You’re not here for the beauty of sport. You’re here to shill dope. There’s nothing noble, sporting or decent in what you’re saying. You’re here for your bottom line
Link to comment: http://disq.us/t42pz
Note: CPelkey’s comment has since been removed.
Pelkey made the aforementioned libelous statement publicly for readers of VeloNews.com shortly before my comment(s) were deleted. The claim that I sell performance-enhancing drugs is completely and entirely false.
Pelkey, surprisingly for a journalist AND attorney, failed to perform adequate research before making such a irresponsible accusation; he admittedly only made “one click on [my] profile” before concluding that I sell performance-enhancing drugs. A person in such an influential position at a top cycling website can cause considerable harm when they show such a reckless disregard for the truth and publicly accuse someone of selling controlled substances on a highly trafficked cycling website.
This is highly disappointing behavior for a VeloNews.com Senior Online Editor much less a self-proclaimed journalist of 25 years experience, and former Senate staffer. There is probably good reason why Pelkey calls himself a “grumpy ol SOB” on Twitter and entitled his personal website “GrumpyScribe.com“.
I sincerely hope that VeloNews remains true to their online comments policy by avoiding the deletion of comments “that express an opinion with which they disagree.”
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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