Vocal Triggers (NOT Approved)

I do not know if this article will get approved by Vocal; but, what the heck, I’m still writing it.

I have witnessed many, who have openly been ‘Vocal’ about certain aspects of Vocal that are ‘problematic’ to them.

Getting approved on Vocal is a challenge on it’s own, which is what I have recently discovered and faced (never mind the topic of the articles or the stories or the word count or the reads for that matter).

Recently I have submitted a story, which has been unapproved and I am still working on getting it approved (hence, why I’m writing this article).

When we wait for our stories to be published; we, almost all the time do not think it will be flagged up as ‘NOT Approved’ - “why would it, as all of my stories have been approved quite rapidly, so far.”

Nonetheless, what happens when it is ‘not approved, when that email pops-up in your inbox - it’s supposed to say ‘congratulations your story has been published’ and not ‘your story is ‘NOT approved’ - like what the heck, back to the ‘drawing board’ we go, and dearest Vocal team - why does ‘NOT’ have to be written in cap-locks (that’s another matter, for another day).

Back to my article and my story that is waiting to be approved. I literally cannot take it, the time and effort taken to write a piece; which, solely is from my heart, therefore it is bound to be presented as clear and bold as I can be, and then to have it ‘not approved’ and to think and worry about re-writes, it’s a stress I do not need, thank you very much.

Honestly, I’m just not the kind to ‘sugar quote’ my emotions, my thoughts, my opinions and my beliefs (and I understand that not everyone will agree with MY views in my articles, hence why I emphasis on it being MINE).

So what’s this article; that I’m waiting for to be approved, it is a spiritual (religious) playlist for the Zen Playlist challenge.

I received an email stating the above. ‘NOT been Approved’.

Is it due to religious content or only due to a ‘specific religion’? I honestly do not know.

A kind request to the Vocal team, please kindly in your emails inform us of what is actually problematic or an issue, inform us what kind of change needs to be made so we can make them swiftly and still be truthful in our writings, and just do not state a one line which has no context, please and thank you.

I do not know if saying the name of a particular faith, is a trigger for Vocal, (but then again it can’t be that, as I have read a few articles that have contained words such as; ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslim’ in them).

In terms of faith; there are so many ‘ions’ and ‘isms’ in our world, there are so many ways in which people can connect with their spirituality, so many stories I have, heard and read of people’s search for peace and tranquillity, and how they have reconnected with their spirituality through a certain ‘ion’ or ‘ism’ (I’m playing it safe the words).

For me faith is a sentimental and crucial part of my personality and it is definitely, something I will not and never will ‘sugar quote’, like I said my views are mine (freedom of speech, my dears).

So yes, I had a fallback, I was stopped and told to reconsider what I wrote, I read and re-read (even though I still believe the first piece had no issues, as I say again; I wrote in first person), underlying it clearly that, I was speaking solely about myself.

Hence, I made the first changes thinking about how others, who do not have the same views and beliefs as me will read this piece and might raise their eyebrows, I removed certain words and re-phrased certain points and then resubmitted (fingers-crossed, surely Vocal will not have an issue now).

I waited and waited, and the tension was building; all the while, my first piece for the Zen playlist which had about 50+ music of all genres, era and languages was approved;

https://shopping-feedback.today/beat/my-all-time-favourites-in-one-playlist-is-my-escape-from-reality-of-covid%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cstyle data-emotion-css="14azzlx-P">.css-14azzlx-P{font-family:Droid Serif,Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;font-size:1.1875rem;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.01em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.01em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.01em;letter-spacing:0.01em;line-height:1.6;color:#1A1A1A;margin-top:32px;}

(Added the link above, do check it out 😊)

I was going back and forth between Vocal and my emails, and then finally an email came through; “NOT approved” for the second time. Wow! I’m kinda p’d off now.

I read the whole article, again, I literally saw nothing wrong with it. At the back of my mind, I thought it would be best to leave it and to not publish this article, cause how am I supposed to know what to change to get it approved.

Twice, an email, to inform me the article is not approved only says ‘story contains religious content’, is it a sign to not write it, not publish it and give it up.

I looked at the story and somehow instantly knew what needed to be removed (or I thought), the word ‘contains’ & ‘content’ instantly answered my question to what was Vocal’s issues (my assumptions). The first content of my playlist was a recitation of the Quran and for some reason I knew, in the back of my mind that this was the issue (not 100% sure, though).

I rearranged the story to make it very personal to me, emotionally being vocal about how my religious playlist has helped me throughout COVID. I removed the YouTube video I attached of the Quranic recitation, replaced it with an image of the Quran from unsplash and below wrote how listening to the recitation is a form of meditation. (I submitted the story and have been waiting for it to be approved all day).

Again as I was waiting, I saw a new story made top story and it was about a zen playlist. I went on it and checked the story out (it was a great story and the writer, wrote beautifully) but, low and behold it was about Buddhism (a religion), and the playlist included prayers and religious chants and I found more stories with such or similar ‘religious contents’.

I now am confused, what actually was the problem in my article? was it; the Playlist or was it something I wrote. I guess I will never know.

I just found out now, my spiritual and religious zen playlist has been published, finally, thank God! Hallelujah!

(Link below, do check it out, thanks 😊)

https://shopping-feedback.today/longevity/feeding-the-soul-and-enlightening-the-spirit-in-times-of-covid%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cstyle data-emotion-css="14azzlx-P">.css-14azzlx-P{font-family:Droid Serif,Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;font-size:1.1875rem;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.01em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.01em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.01em;letter-spacing:0.01em;line-height:1.6;color:#1A1A1A;margin-top:32px;}

Also, understand that you do not have to, have the same faith as mine to listen to my playlist.

Thanks for reading, do give a ❤️ and support by shares, tips and reads.

https://shopping-feedback.today/authors/writing-of-the-heart-tm%3C/em%3E%3C/a%3E%3Cem class="css-ak7tmt-Italic">

You can interact with me through my socials.

Till next time. 😉