BabyCenter

I was attacked on one of my posts because I drug test for probation and wanted to ask if pregnancy horomones can cause false-positives and a few ladies started agreeing with this other lady that I was concerned about that because I had done drugs (because apparently I am just a criminal in their eyes) and wanted to see if I could blame it on a false-positive. After every bully comment that came in I did say something pretty mean after one of the ladies mocked me but I immediately deleted the comment but some MAN who was using the site saw my comment and TOLD EVERYONE what it said. I had no way of taking it back then so they ALL started flooding me with you are this and that after they set me off. They will rile you up until you say something you do not mean then JUMP you for it. I am 8 weeks pregnant and my body is going through A LOT of changes right now. Them pushing pregnant women to their breaking point is unjustifiable and they need to be held accountable for their actions. They caused me a lot of emotional stress over the things they said and made me feel and say myself! I was bullied in middle school and that brought back A LOT of old feelings for me. They are vicious and cruel women who do NOT deserve the children they are blessed with. Forgive me God but they are evil women. I hope they come to God and open their eyes to their extreme bullying ways. I forgive the ladies who did what they did but I will never forget the stress they inflicted. SHUT DOWN BABYCENTER!

100% agree with 90% of the posters on here! Me and my husband are just getting started on our fertility journey since we have been ttc for 3 years with no success. I decided to join this site in hopes that I would get comfort and support from other moms who are ttc, pregnant, new moms, or just general advice. Boy did I go to the wrong site! I was warned not to post any questions on this site, but I thought how bad could it be? I mean this is supposed to be a site full of loving and caring moms! I was met with mean, rude, condescending posters who seem to spend their entire days just sitting around on there cpu's waiting to target and harass unsuspecting new members! It was disgusting! One poster cursed me out for waiting hours before I responded to any of their belittling comments. Like HELLO, who wants to respond to bullying AND i happen to have a life that doesn't revolve around this "teen drama show" website! I saw a few other people on here post that their accounts got closed. LUCKY YOU! After all the bullying I received from a post for about 2 days, I had had enough! I emailed baby center 4 TIMES and requested that my account be closed, and it is still up TODAY! It seems like they want you to continue to be harassed! I mean, what kind of site DOES NOT ALLOW you to delete a post after you make it, so the bullying will stop? You have to REQUEST that the "group owner" delete it! And most of the time that does not work because they are usually as awful as the group members! What kind of site DOES NOT have a "deactivate account" option right there on the page? Instead you have to REQUEST your page be deleted! And in my case, they still won't delete it! This site needs to be shut down permanently!

I used this app to help me read about what baby is up to and how the pregnancy is progressing.
I then joined the community and started posting in groups where I just ask for simple advice. They have baby groups, marriage /relationship groups, etc. well I just wanted to get suggestions about what kind of wedding band I should get for my future husband, and I got a few good suggestions but then the bullies came along and started questioning my relationship with my fiancé saying I didn't mention I had another kid with him only bc I mentioned I was pregnant with "our kid" seeing as the other baby is 2 years old and this is a new pregnancy I didn't feel the need to mention my first child in a post about a WEDDING BAND SUGGESTION.
Well I put her in her place and told her that the comment had nothing to do with what the post was about, and after I said that, all hell broke loose. I was nothing but berated and told that my post didn't belong in their group or follow their rules. Someone even said they were surprised my post was still up because it was and I quote "$#*!ing bizarre". I explained to them multiple times that I was sorry I didn't understand the rules and I was trying to remove my post myself so that it wouldn't bother anyone else. Then the admin comes in and tells everyone that *I* wasn't following the rules and completely turned their nose away to the fact that their posters were tearing me down completely.

Steer Clear from these groups if you're looking for GENUINE advice and help.

The other one star reviews are 100 percent right. This website is chock full of cyberbullies and trolls. A lot of the language and discussions are x-rated, beyond gross and not appropriate for a parenting site. A few years ago, I asked for advice on how to handle a delicate situation and was told I was a bad mother, a complete moron, and that I should commit suicide--and those were some of the tamer comments. I read all of this while I was pregnant and suffering from postpartum depression. Even after I left this particular group, the members followed me around the website and continued harassing me. I reported the offenders and Babycenter did absolutely nothing about it. I ended up deleting my account and haven't been back there since. Obviously, things haven't approved and sound like they may have gotten worse. It has some articles but most of them weren't very useful to me and a lot of them were very old and outdated. There are much better parenting websites out there, trust me. It's not worth the anguish to post on Babycenter. I pity these so-called adults who get off on attacking people for no reason and I feel especially sorry for the children of these people. If they treat a stranger horribly for asking a harmless question, imagine how they deal with their kids! I'm so relieved I'm not alone in having experienced this. I definitely feel for the other one star reviews and I'm very sorry you had to go through a similar experience.

For anyone even considering joining this site, please don't. Besides being a haven for trolls, the boards are full of bad and even dangerous advice. There's no use wasting your energy and health on this useless website. They definitely hurt me in a very vulnerable time in my life and I'd hate to see it happen to another person.

If I could give this app negative stars I would not hesitate to do so. This app appeared to be wonderful and informative. I enjoyed the reads and info and videos of how my body is changing and how baby is growing. But then this Sunday, everything changed when I began to miscarry my third set of twins. I immediately changed my profile to say that I miscarried and unsubscribed to all future emails. I was immediately brought to a page stating how sorry they are for my loss and that they will remove me from all email lists and would not send me any more notifications. Satisfied I deleted the apps. The next day, I recieved no less than 3 emails about cord blood registry, baby registry and baby this week. I unsubscribed to those emails. The next day, another 3 emails. Which I then replied to individually as well as all of the emails that have been sent in the last month, copying and pasting my words to each email. From that, I recieved one email of condolences and again promising that they will never send again. But to expect 24 hours for it to be worked out in their system. That was thursday morning. I recieved 4 emails yesterday which I disregarded hoping that they would finally after pleading with them for a solid week, honor my loss and respect the fact that it needed to stop. Would you believe that it is now over 48 hours since I was promised no more will be sent and I have now recieved 4 emails today, again reminding me of what I no longer have and what I am missing out on. Now I am a strong woman and will absolutely not let this destroy me or allow myself to self destruct, I've come a long way. However, what about those mamas who are understandably unable to to function and receive those emails and rent space in their hearts and their heads, making them bitter, making them more traumatized, angry, or suicidal? If this has happened even one time, it is one time too many and needs to be addressed before this company gets the wool pulled out from underneath them by families who have now lost their mothers or wives to depression, anxiety or suicide. I beg of you, if you care about us as much as you say you do, fix this problem and if you make promises, keep them I don't think you'd want a law suit on your hands

Here are my takeaway points after 12 months on this site:
- can't post anything even a tiny bit controversial or not part of Western or American parenting styles. They will eat you ALIVE if you do.
- there's always a group of regulars who are online posting constantly and they wait for the most controversial posts so they can really let loose their snark and criticisms. They love to stir the pot and act all innocent when ppl call them out on it.
- if you try to defend yourself even as benignly as possible they will eat you ALIVE again like "how dare you try to defend yourself! You just need to admit that you are sh*t mother."
- this same clique claims they just tell it like it is and BS like "welcome to the internet" and then their snarky pals will quickly come to defend them saying they're nothing but loving supportive ppl and how dare you not accept our snark!
- the group owners are even worse. You would think they would have to follow some sort of guidelines and try to be neutral but they join in with the Cliques in the bashing. I remember one of the main ones was a total sanctimommy and only commented on the controversial posts (GBQ. Something) and when someone posted that everyone could be a little nicer to each other she really let her have it saying that she was sick and tired of whiny little members sending her complaints on the posters who were being rude and tired of all the same stupid questions posted over and over again. Like hello? Is there a rule each question has to be unique? And isn't that the whole point of the forum?
- and the cliques know how to find the loopholes around the violations so they can continue bashing. They'll claim to be totally innocent and the actual victims. But i knew how to play their little game and turn their hypocritical BS back around to shut them up.
- if you try to NICELY defend the original poster when the bloodthirsty moms attack be prepared to have your own blood drawn too. Ruthless.
- someone needs to shut down these forums or actually hire moderators instead of volunteers. It totally goes against the rest of the website which is really good and useful.

The article are interesting sometimes, but not even that great. The community section is a mess. I've been a member for 4 years.

Bargain Hunters is the worst board on this site. There are so many people that will make fun of you, and like others have said, mob mentality is real with them. I've tried to report a few things, and when you do, if you report too many times, you get in trouble. Apparently you can, "harass the report button"? I've had a lot of run ins with people just saying inconsiderate and mean things about you. And replying to your comments as if you don't exist while bashing you? I have been in tears over comments made, and it's not worth it.

The few people that are nice are so hard to find. There are so many members there who just want to be mean, it's terrible.

Winoknittermom, trinaliz, REALLYcoolapotomous, jerkfacejen, Paranoid Libra, mommytotwingirls, megmul, wyldstyle2, OutmannedMama, EriuBC, MolitovRoosterteaz, DustRadio, are just some of the members that are ridiculously petty, and will eat you alive if you don't believe in everything everything they do to the letter.

Update: 3/30/18: Also, since writing this, winoknittermom is now fatgirllaughs. Don't know why she needed the name change, but that's frequent. They popular ones will take a break and then come back. Maybe to erase the past? Not sure. But the rudeness catches up with you eventually.

Also, what is up with all the boob pictures?!?! Such pervs! Who are you sending your chest to?!

The community forums on babycenter.com are the pits. They attract bullies and "snark" and have an awful gang mentality. I have been part of the forums for a few years but after receiving a "vio" (violation warning) and being banned from the Bargain Hunters forum for calling out one of the regulars for bullying I have had enough. I will not be back, it is not worth it. The place will drive you crazy.

I have seen it all on these forums, especially on the Bargain Hunters forum (aka: the $#*! of the internet). The regulars and even the GOs (group owners) whom are supposed to police the forums, will gang up on anyone they deem to be beneath them.
Don't you dare be a new user asking an innnocent question, don't ever call out anyone especially a regular for saying awful things to someone, in fact don't dare even try to be friendly on that board. They will eat you alive. They will taunt, bully, harass and even cyberstalk you unless you are one of the chosen $#*!y regulars in which case you can pretty much commit murder and you'll be given a bit fat pat on the back and will be nominated for a badge. Don't even hint that their behaviour is atrocious, they will act deeply offended and turn it all around on you to make you look weak and stupid.

It is obvious that most of these women spent their childhoods and maybe part of their adult lives being bullied. Some of them admit to having no real life friends. It is sad that they so easily turn into bullies themselves when they get together.

I have seen women saying they've received PANs (private messages) encouraging them to hurt and even kill themselves but nothing is ever done about it. I have seen women asking for support because they are in an extremely tough situation and they are told it's all their fault because of xyz.

I sent an email to the actual paid staff of Babycenter asking that they please take a hard look into the bullying that is constantly occurring on their community forums. I received no response because they simply do not care.

Please AVOID this atrocious site. They do have great info on pregnancy and parenting but I don't think they deserve your clicks and visits when they allow and even encourage such hideous bullying behaviour.

First of all, you cant delete your own post even if youre being bullied. You cant even delete your account without asking, and it takes days. Even then, it doesnt delete what youve posted.

I asked for advice on All in the Family and was bullied, stalked, and harassed. They twisted my story, they said I was lying, I was lazy, uneducated. I was shamed for having financial troubles due to medical bills. Was told it was our fault, and that my husband and I dug ourselves a hole. For needing surgery, which isnt anyones fault.
They constantly berated me, the comments wouldnt stop. I was crying my eyes out. So I edited my post (because you cant delete your post) to take out my story and just left a dot. Then someone copy and pasted my original post in the comments! They started stalking me and screen shotting my previous posts and comments and posting them! I was even privately messaged.
No one helped me or stood up for me, the mods didnt do anything until I asked for my post to be taken down multiple times. I contacted BC about the bullying and havent heard anything.

These women are insane and coldhearted. I cant believe they could treat anyone so horribly. Im honestly traumitized.

I was upset over an argument I had with my Husband and have since reconciled. In my hurt I slammed a door and yelled at my husband outside in our backyard. I went to marriage and relationships for advice on how to get over the argument and I admitted that my behavior in slamming the door and accidentally breaking the blind on the window over it was wrong. (It didn't actually break it just fell off the door come to find out). Mind you thus post was long but it only took 2 minutes for a reply from some user called ADIFFERENTPLAN. Not only did she basically scold me for slamming the door and damaging (my) property, she talked down to me about my "behavior ". Once I agreed with her my behavior was inappropriate she disappeared, offering no advice whatsoever as to how to move past the argument. That's okay though, apparently these women don't slam doors when upset, in fact I was told I was abusive for trying to intimidate my husband. I was then asked if I was afraid of him (no) and I was accused of ignoring red flags, I was accused of being unhinged, asked if I was taking drugs, and basically compared to a 13 year old. This thread was ultimately closed as no one came forward as how i was to proceed. I hate that everyone acted like they never slammed a door before. These women are all operating on the same mindset of "men are bad" and if you think your husband isn't then you're ignoring red flags, and youre being abused. They literally TWIST everything that you say so they can continue to berate you. Tbis is laughable! This was only my 2nd post to this site since joining in Feb 2018... I WISH I would have read the reviews before joining this sad group of lonely women. They all follow the leader and come down on any OP in such a way that if you disagree with them you're too afraid to post anything. This site needs to die and burn in the bowels of hell that these pathetic excuses for parents crawled out of... i can see now where all the future little SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAYS come from!

I will start off by saying this app deserves zero stars. I have never in my life came across such horrible and childish behavior from adult women. The bullying is disgusting and it's everywhere. You see the same users leaving the same gross comments and typically it's those people that give the green light for others to behave poorly. If you dare express hurt on this app or claim someone was being rude or mean you'll have an army after you. They all defend their disgusting behavior by bringing up the "rules" of the message boards and since being "rude" is subjective and not a violation they will purposely wave that flag in your face while sticking their tongue out. I've seen people go out of their way to correct someone's grammar, people often criticize and shame a mother for wanting to name her child (blank), not to mention the incessant need to point out people's "problems" and how they absolutely need therapy or their life will be ruined. There could literally be a post about how a woman flicked a watermelon seed at her husband and about ten thousand ants come crawling in to tell them how abusive they are and that they need therapy. Honestly, I was so sick of seeing people get torn down and told that they need to seek mental help that I contacted BabyCenter and their response was laughable. Seeking therapy is personal and in many cases, very scary and embarrassing, so shaming someone to death and shoving the whole "YOU NEED THERAPY, YOU NEED HELP" really isn't helping anyone and most likely will scare that person away from the idea of professional help.

I just can't believe the childish behavior and this is coming from a 25 year old. BabyCenter really needs to change their rules and violations and absolutely needs to get rid of these so called "group owners" that are meant to monitor everything. The group owners are just as bad and more times than not are participants in the bullying act that is viciously present in the BabyCenter community. If anyone reading this agrees then I ask you to send BabyCenter an email and express how these message boards are negatively affecting you and hopefully we can make some change.

This app will give you the impression that they want the best for you and your baby, that they promote positivity and support but they couldn't care less. People need to be banned or it all needs to be shut down, people can lose their lives to harassment and bullying and yet they continue to defend their actions. Pathetic app, pathetic people.

I have sporadically participated in the BBC community for years. I knew what it was but I wanted to be an occasional voice of reason. I quickly learned to avoid the Birth Boards at all costs. I saw enough on most of the relationship boards that I mostly didn't comment, but would read along if I needed a drama fix, and very occupy comment that the OP didn't need to follow terrible advice just because it was being shouted at them. I would also very occasionally start a thread, or comment if it was not likely to blow up, for fun but I mostly knew how to avoid attracting the negative attention of the "GO's" and the bully pile-ons that happen way too often, especially in the bigger groups. It's true, the bullying was pretty blatant but I was mostly (not entirely) able to avoid being targeted by it. I did have several posters tell me I needed to leave my husband because he wouldn't agree to adopt a rescue animal that was in danger of being put down. I repeat they wanted me to choose a pet over my marriage!

I finally left when one of the clicks decided to attack anyone NOT participating in their "Revolution" or more accurately their decision to hijack one of the bigger groups over frustration with the fact that it wasn't their preferred flavor of echo chamber. They decided that anyone not actively participating in it didn't have any business participating anywhere else in the entire community either. They had already been following and attacking posters who had called them out on their double standards and harassed them until they eventually went silent. But apparently their blood-thirst wasn't fully sated yet so they took to attacking posters who were simply staying out of it. Since I do not ever participate in online debates of any kind, because it's pointless, I was avoiding the whole scene. They eventually came after me and several others when we inadvertently continued to comment on a different non related thread that they had deemed "a distraction from the real issue." I had no idea their "revolution" had reached that level of fury or that the thread I was participating in was being watched because I wasn't interested in watching a bunch of angry strangers argue past one another.

Anyway, I was summarily informed that failing to participate in the massive pile on bullying they were engaged in made me a racist. When I pointed out that refusing to participate in an online debate in a anonymous forum doesn't mean I'm not advocating for the issue of racism in my real life, and attacking me based on ASSUMPTIONS was hypocritical, I had something like 16 posters I'd never even seen before rush over to inform me how very racist I was for being part of the "deafening silence," oh and "anonymous Internet forums totally are the real life." So obviously I'm lying about advocating elsewhere anyway.