Babble

Love something you've read? Think something needs improvement? This as your virtual suggestion box, let us know what you think about Babble!

Headlining with that excellent article on breastfeeding was a brilliant move.  As a result, in my mind Babble = thoughtful, intelligent, balanced, humorous, and worth my time.

I'm also very excited to see some of my favorite bloggers here.

 Strong entrance!

So far I like what I see, (although the Compose and Preview tabs are a little klunky. I already lost my first post). The articles, tone, and ideas look very promising. This could really fill a void.

Interesting. I'm not sure the forum topics you've chosen are broad enough. They will sparke debate but what about a general topic? Can I add a forum topic myself? I wanted to see if there are any other cloth diaperers out there, but didn't feel it fit into the categories already given.

The site itself looks great, though I'm still sorting out the UI. 

Didn't realise that to be a cool urban parent you have to curse and say the f word so much - in a quick 2 minute browse I saw it at least 3 times by different people around in the blogs.  It's all fine if used occasionally and for effect (can't say I don't say it myself), but at the rate it's going now it will get tiring...oh, wait...already has.

Seriously, it somewhat put me off. (enough to sign up and let you know - maybe that's what you are after?)  It seems like you are trying too hard for an image... be yourselves and let it happen.  Your bloggers are great. I am familiar with some of them - there is definitely talent here.  You should not need to worry. 

Or maybe I don't get it and to hook in the dads we need a lot of sailor talk?  My DH does not curse so much and IMHO you would be hard up to find a guy more fitting of the image of the people you are wanting to attract.  Just my 2c. 

so far, looks really nice. would love to see some unique content about twins.

I was tickled pink to hear about Babble because I think it fills a great need and so I'm really hoping it winds up doing it well.  So far, it's off to a good start, though I do see some weakness. 

 
I love most of your bloggers (in fact, I've been reading many of them for a year or more already), but I'm really turned off by the amount of extraneous, irrelevant profanity.  Let me be clear: I can shoot my mouth off with the best of them. But it seems really unwarranted and out of place a lot of the time (in the posts I've read so far.) Your writers are all talented -- and as such, should use their ability with their craft to do better with what they're publishing.  Urban does not mean trashy.

You are welcome to add new forum under the "getting started," as new topics come up, we'll add new forums.

 

Um, I never thought I would be posting on a parenting forum - so well done! One thing though, I do hope that the suburbs hate is not going to be a permanent fixture. Just because I moved to the burbs, doesn't mean that I've become a materialistic conformist overnight, you know? We lived in NYC for 10 years, but thinking about starting a family, I just didn't want to do the whole laundromat, walk-up, skeevy neighbor thing any more. I'm pretty sure there are others like my husband and me - people who have chosen career paths for passion rather than paycheck and can't afford to raise a family in the city - hungry for non-pastel content about family and children.

 Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
 

Nice but VERY VERY  VERY Commercialized!

 

As well as the "F" word is everywhere......Is swearing and cussing so involved  with parenting?

 

Curt

Stayathomedads.us

Discussion and Support forum for Stay at Home Dads

 

I like what I see so far, but I think the forums can use a little more organization.  Right now it seems as if every thread is in its own category.  How about some categories:

• Newborns
• Infants
• Toddlers
• Feeding
• Diapering/Toilet Training
• Sleeping

et cetera.

So far I love it! The blogs are all great and the Strollerderby gets me rollin in the morning.

 Right now, reading comments, I cannot believe how upset people are getting in response to your bloggers and writers using curse words. I can understand not wanting to hear them for whatever reason, but they are just words, usually used to "color" up a point or post. I guess with this being 2006 and not 1956, my mind is a little more evolved to the occational "fuck" or "shit" in a post I am reading.

All in all, I will keep reading and exploring the site. I say keep up the excellent format and know that there are those of us out here that dont mind the cursing!

Miss, perhaps you "missed" the point of what I (and maybe the OPs) were trying to say.  We are fine with the occasional swearing.   The frequency of the word FUCK on this board at the onset is almost comical.  I feel as though the boss of this site sent an interoffice memo around saying "hey, we are the anti- pastel coloured mom site, so let's try to work the f word into our posts as much as humanly possible, just for effect and to prove we are not like the others".  I think it is a shame to the talented writers out there, because frankly the word fuck is so overused and common these days I would hope that these talented writers could use more interesting imagery to express themselves than this.  IMO it is low class and I thought they were aiming more for upper more middle class, professional, intellectually curious types....maybe this isn't the place for those like this... I guess I expected more than just silly clichés...

Hey folks -- quick note from Rufus, Babble co-publisher. We agree that the early blog posts went a little overboard with profanity. Sometimes there is not substitute for the right curse at the right time -- and indeed the big print magazines seem to recognize this because most now publish curse words periodically. However, there is a point at which its gratuitous and that is off-putting.

So we agree with you and appreciate the feedback ... Babble will continue to be a magazine more forthright and honest than the others, if we do our job, but honesty is not measured in volume of profanity (i can already here myself telling my 2 year old this in 12 years ;).

Thanks for the feedback and keep it coming ... we love this two day old magazine and community on which we have been working for 9 months now, but we know that it can always be better.

 On that note if you have thoughts about how we can improve the boards, let us know. We just made changes to make it easier for visitors to see all the threads and post new ones which we think helps the process a bit.

-- Rufus
 

 

OK, I know it's early and you're just getting started, but I was a bit dismayed to find no mention of adoption anywhere on the site. Did I just miss it somehow? Even the initial registration assumes one has or will be pregnant. Not everyone has or wants that option. Other than that, this looks like a terrific magazine. I know you can't think of everything, but please consider a section/blog/column on adoption, or at least a forum topic or two.