Babble

Is it just me, or has Strollerderby taken a turn for the nasty over the past few days?  Posts like "Unschooling: A Stupid Idea, Or Merely A Dumb One?," "Another Case For Breastfeeding, and So Much More," and "Babywise and Child Foolish" seem calculated to make readers angry.  Now, I'm not saying Strollerderby should be free of controversy; in fact, it's a great place to start intelligent debate between parents with different values.  I just question the language used by the writers.  It seems an odd choice for a Web site trying to gain an initial audience to go out of its way to alienate readers.

I think there's a difference between the main posts (a product of the Babble staff) and the responses.  There are some responses, like those in the "Moms Ink: MomsRising Takes Back Feminism" post, that seem extreme to me.  But those are from Babbles readers (customers, if you will), not the paid writers. 

Peter - I'll speak for myself; part of the appeal for me as a writer is that Strollerderby is a decidedly un-vanilla parenting site. The title of my post on "unschooling" was provocative, and I'll wager it got your attention (I hope that upon reading it, and the comments that followed, you found that my take on unschooling was a little less black-and-white than the admittedly satirical title would indicate).

Personally, I'm sick to death of blogs that pander to their readers. As a parent, a borderline non-traditional one at that, there are very few approaches that other parents take that I'll arbitrarily pass judgment on (in the case of unschooling, my point was that while it may be an excellent approach for some kids, there are far too many parents and kids who simply need to have more structure in regards to the child's schooling, and the potential for unschooling to do more harm than good is very real). We're all adults here, and hopefully we're drawing readers that appreciate writing that's a bit less black-and-white, and a bit more multi-hued. Frankly, and ultimately, I could give a shit if I alienate readers that find my approach "nasty". Let 'em spend their time at Blogging Baby.  

Peter, I think we do want to use Strollerderby as an opportunity to be provocative and engender discussion. Comments on the blogs are, as yet, sparse. Your participation there is welcome, and necessary, in order to foster dialogue. When you see something that rubs you the wrong way, or something that makes you sit up in your desk chair and say "Hell, yeah!", say so. The blogs, along with the community forums, are what makes Babble an interactive and constantly evolving force in modern parenting.

Fair enough.  But in Babble's first days, the Strollerderby posts were brief, witty, and seemed designed to create conversation.  Some of the ones I've cited above (not the unschooling one) are just angry, not clever; the writers also seem to be spending more and more time on their own personal issues.

Hey, Peter, I'm the author of the other two posts you cite above.  Angry?  I'm not sure where you're getting that.  Opinionated?  Absolutely!  So....maybe my opinions don't coincide with yours?  Isn't that okay?  Hey, I'm putting myself out there, this is who I am and where I come from, and I recognize that maybe I'm off in the fringes somewhere at times.  Isn't there room for everybody?  I'd love your commentary on the blog itself, so please weigh in anytime; that's what we're here for, to form a community with the resultant dialogue. It'd be awfully boring if everyone in the community was identical; there would be nothing to talk about.

Peter,

I think you raise some good points.  As we go along at Stroller Derby we'll find our collective voice, which I hope has room for personal, angry, AND witty and clever.

 

Since you're one of our 5 commenters at this point, your opinion obviously matters to  us.

 

-Rachael

 

CrankMama:

your opinion obviously matters to  us.

Well, there's a fine line between having an opinion that matters and being someone who spends too much time online: :)

I don't mean to offend any of the writers.  As a professional writer of dubious success, I know it's a hard gig, and I admire anyone who shares part of themselves online.  I guess it was the very sudden switch from the quick, "snarky" posts of Babble's first couple of weeks to the more serious, edgy ones of recent days that set me off.

But I do think ya'll are great, which is why I'm here.
 

Peter, you make good points. We want to be snarky and irrelevant, obviously, but also useful and informative. Sometimes, we succeed; sometimes, we don't. What we don't want to come off of is just plain angry, or dumping on other people's choices just for the sheer sport of it.

Thanks for keeping us on our toes, and getting us thinking.  

Jay Allen
Managing Editor, Strollerderby
 

thezeroboss:

Peter, you make good points. We want to be snarky and irrelevant,

I'm not saying this to be nitpicky, but your possible typos matter here. Did you mean to write irrelevant? I'm guessing you meant irreverent?

I am almost positive we're supposed to be irreverent. I am like, 90% sure. 82%, at least. I can commit to saying that I am fully about 68% certain that Jay meant irreverent.

My original job description said irreverent, anyway. I aim for both to be on the safe side. ;)
 

Hi Patti,

Thanks again for posting that lovely blog for Ellen's Acres.

http://www.babble.com/content/articles/reviews/entertainmentandtravel/kids/tv/02_09_07/

I hope the show will come back it's such a beautiful example of the importance of a child's imagination and creativity and there are so few quality programs for pre-school children now a days.

If anyone would like to watch the show you can go to this link:

http://www.ellensacres.com/watch.php