I think we can all appreciate this...even mentions a discussion we recently had here!!

[aliceinwonderland]

LOL--as heated as our discussions get sometimes, I couldn't help feeling a sense of pride in our (compared) civilty!!

(article from NY Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/21/fashion/21BABY.html

eri and the bean, due next month :)

[jojo2324]

My goodness, I had no idea a Bugaboo could be so divisive! :P

[aliceinwonderland]

...And the LAUNDRY!! goodness!!

[deborah_r]

Hmmmm...I wonder how many of us will go to that site to lurk after reading this?!?

[jojo2324]

Haha, was thinking of doing just that!! :D

[kfcboston]

WOW..........I can't think of anything else to write! :)

[MartiesMom2B]

Can't write anymore, I must seduce my doorman and spend more than $200 per outfit on my child. . .

;)

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

[MelissaTC]

SCARY SCARY SCARY...LOL. :)

[aliceinwonderland]

LOL...as you park your bugaboo and go downstairs for the unforgivable task of fetching your laundry!!

:)

[MartiesMom2B]

OK, maybe I'm in a dream world here. But if you do think you are middle class and you and/or husband have $300,000 bonuses, please don't tell me. I like to believe that everyone is poor like me and that's why we are on the Baby BARGAINS board. LOL.

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

[jojo2324]

Oh, you're definitely dreaming Sonia...:P

[jbowman]

I just checked out those boards. Yikes!

[khakismom]

After I read that article--which left me incredulous--I had to get on UB and poke around a bit. I checked out the NY locale and started to read thru the posts on the Toddler Parents section. Someone asked about other Web sites that people like and someone mentioned BBB! And paid us a nice compliment:

"I look at the Baby Bargains website sometimes. Those ladies actually are productive with their time online. They organize co-ops to buy diaper bags...It can be fun."

:)

[egoldber]

Thats kind of an interesting phenomenon we have in this country. When asked in surveys, MOST people say they are middle class, even though their incomes may vary from 20K to 500K per year. There is amazing social pressure to be considered middle class, whether you are or not. Only the super rich and the very poor tend to accurately label themselves.

[jojo2324]

LOL, that's too funny! Yes, it's very easy to be productive when we can go shopping, hee hee! :)

[joeshmo]

.

[Calmegja2]

? JoeSchmo?

[jojo2324]

Yeah...that pic IS recognizable...:)

Oh no, a war of the message boards! :)

[Calmegja2]

Why do I have the urge to hum "peace, Love, and Understanding" now? ;-)

[deborah_r]

I could be wrong, but when I was setting up my profile, if you look at the list of "available avatars", that pic was in there. I took it to be like those standard pictures that come with the operating system that you find under "my pictures". So I do not think the neew member who posted in this thread is necessarily the same person as the other regular poster who uses that avatar.


**Edit** Yes, I just went to the user menu and went into "edit profile" and then in the avatar section I clicked on the part that says "click here for available avatars" and there are 4 images there. They are all kind of hard to see what the image is.

Deborah
Sticking her nose in where it doesn't belong, but trying to be helpful!

[Calmegja2]

Good to know...I'll edit to protect the innocent! Thanks!

[Torey]

Well I took the bait - went over to UB to check it out. It is a PITA to read each message since you can't view the whole thread at once like BBB. Secondly, I recently reread "The Nanny Diaries" and this was just too much deja vu for me. Of course these are real people, which makes it even scarier! :)

[deborah_r]

I agree. I can't even figure out the format. It seems like the message field IS the whole message, which seems very odd to me. I click on a topic and nothing else comes up. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

And they don't even have screen names, from what I can tell, so every thread just says "anonymous". I know the article said that about being anonymous on the boards, but I was thinking it was more like ours, where you can be anonymous (as far as not telling everyone your name and where you live) but each of your posts is identified by your screen name. Some of those threads could be the same person arguing with themselves just to get people to jump into the "fight"! (I suppose you could do that here, but you'd have to set up different profiles)

[MartiesMom2B]

Its in a linerar format. Some of the message is longer but I think they usually have a short response back to the messages. As far as the anonymous thing, someone wrote a thread on their about responding to their own messages.

As far as board wars go, who cares. They have a thread about this subject under the Toddler boards. Subject #48. They would've had to expect type of thing after an article was posted about them in the NY Times.

Sonia, double wide livin', tobacky chewin', southerner. Yee Ha!
Proud Mommy to Martie, my homely child as you can see by the picture next to the box 4/6/03

[Rachels]

Sonia, your signature made me choke on my water! LOL! But then, I'm in Boston. I apparently wouldn't understand. (Roll eyes)

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[jojo2324]

Ha ha Sonia!!! Honestly, I could apply that sig to myself, only replace southerner with Bonacker - it's what the locals call themselves out here.

[momma_boo]

I have to admit that I daily check the UrbanBaby message board and it always amuses how different it is from these boards. I think one of the main reasons is that the UB board is totally anonymous. No usernames, no profiles, no sharing of family info (like baby names, birthdates, etc). The format is also a little different b/c people tend to stick to one-liners.

They do tend to get REALLY REALLY nasty sometimes. Forget the bugaboo wars, every few days someone starts a BFing vs FFing war.

[tina-t]

Help! I can't access the article. The link brings me to the sign in page. Do I have to register first to read the article? Thanks.

[BethS]

Yes, you have to register.

[kransden]

I had no idea what a Bugaboo even was before this. Oh my... I guess I must run out and purchase three! :)
Karin and Katie 10/24/02