Sunday, March 29, 2009

Open Message to Babycenter Admins

Re: your spam "warning" email

Dear Babycenter Admins;

My blog posts go up in my Babycenter journal, as most bloggers' members here do. My journal is just like everyone else's journal--public and available for anyone to see. Even though there is an option to send friends a link to my journal, I want it clearly understood that I DON'T automatically just send my journal entries to anyone, including my friends. I haven't even individually sent my friends a message about ANY journal posts I have made in longer than I can remember.

I have NEVER solicited anyone on Babycenter, ever.

But you know what, even if I had sent my friends a message saying, "hey, come read my journal", it shouldn't matter, because I DON'T sell anything in my posts. I DON'T try to recruit anyone to some business, either. I don't have some shady business I am trying to profit from, and I don't take advantage of my friends.

I am, though, a regular contributor here on Babycenter. In fact, I was a member before it even WAS Babycenter, back when it was Maya's Mom. I write a lot of posts that go up in my journal. These posts include reviews and giveaways. I write about products and services that others offer, and what I think of them.

I DON'T spam. Anyone. Ever. And yet I am getting these emails from Babycenter about spam.

Now, maybe you send them to everyone.

If you do, I have to say it's damned insulting.

But if not, and it's just me, I can't understand why I am being targeted in this way. I have friends here, and I don't know of any enemies I've made, so I don't see why anyone would just spitefully, speciously, report me for spam, when I haven't violated the guidelines.

But let's say someone might have falsely accused me--even then, I am extremely upset and angry to think that Babycenter would give any credence at all to any report without thoroughly checking it out.

And if someone didn't just make this up out of spite, I have to wonder why in the world Babycenter has targeted me, since I haven't. broken. the. guidelines.

I've seen a lot of changes in Babycenter recently, including some very intrusive ads on the main site that members have to block just to chat on the forums, and I'm not so happy with these changes, but I've stuck by Babycenter so far.

But I want an answer to why I have been unjustly targeted in this way. As someone who, again, HAS NOT BROKEN THE GUIDELINES, I think I deserve to know why I am getting messages warning me about posting spam. I will be following these problems with Babycenter and the resolution on my blog, and this entire rant of mine is going up on my blog as well, so, ironically, it's going to show up in my Babycenter journal, too.

I await your reply.

Sincerely,

Viv Bruss, Cool Moms Rule!

2 comments:

Rebecca, Senior Community Manager said...

Hi,

I will definitely look into this to see how I can help. Can you e-mail me at community@babycenter.com please?

Thanks

Viv said...

Hi, Rebecca,

I sent along another email to your address at your request (I've already filled out a ticket at Babycenter)

Cool Moms Rule! is in full compliance of the new FTC rules concerning Bloggers. I disclose on all posts where a product was received for free and/or if there was any kind of financial compensation involved.