"The Bump community boards are a place for women and men to share their hopes, dreams, opinions and concerns. It's also a place to find support and advice from others who are on this incredible journey of building a family. We are grateful for the community members who have joined for the right reasons, and we publicly thank all of our members who genuinely and sincerely connect with other parents-to-be and new parents through our community. It saddens us that some people in the community have recently been exhibiting behavior that goes against our Terms of Use, such as posting pornography, using malicious profanity, and sending harassing posts. There's no room for this type of behavior on a site board that celebrates babies, the joys of parenthood and everything in between. Those in the community who were making it a negative and antagonistic environment for others , and broke the Terms of Use, are in the process of being replaced to ensure our community remains true to the tenants of its foundation.
We are aware that a few "bad apples" that were removed from the community are trying to send negative messages about our brand. In their attempts they only demonstrate why they were removed in the first place. We know that our valued members, audience, clients, partners and advertisers will recognize their misinformed and misguided behavior as meaningless. The Bump remains vigilant in maintaining the integrity of its values, and its mission to provide the best pregnancy and parenting content, tools, services and community.
We built The Bump for you. We put you first, and that means doing everything we can to ensure a supportive and welcoming community."
@BumpAdmin @BumpMay @BumpWhoeverThis will fall on deaf ears, and thusly I will make it short as to avoid wasting my own time. Up until this offensive post I have mostly joked about this entire shit show of a debacle. I'm sure by now any powers that be at XO and TB are embarrassed, or maybe they aren't, but they certainly should be.
I haven't been active in the bump community in a few months because of issues in my personal life but I joined in 2006. Nearly nine years ago. Nine years. NINE YEARS of my life has been spent being a part of this community.
In that time I struggled with 11 cycles TTC my first child.
The death of my father in law.
My first pregnancy and birth
My 2nd BFP which (surprise) came when my son was 5 months old.
My 2nd pregnancy
Two under two (13 months apart to be exact)
A catastrophic car accident when my children were 7 months and 20 months old that nearly took my life. 17 surgeries, 10 months out of work, one metal leg later...
The end of my marriage.
Life as a single Mom.
Hardships. Bad times. Good times.
I've met more than 10 girls from TB IRL.
I've met 4 of my best friends in the world who I talk to daily.
You can say and do whatever it is that you say and do as shitty PR reps to attempt to uphold whatever reputation it is that you may think this community has but obviously you do not know the community that I know. You don't know the girls who raise money for each other. Who support each other. Who send cards and notes and gifts to each other. You don't know the FB pages set up for the children who have cancer. You don't know the WOMEN you're calling "bad apples". Because if you did, you would know the WOMEN that I know aren't REPLACEABLE USERS. They are irreplaceable and amazing people. Not dollar signs. Not revenue. Not users. A community of people.
Sorry bump. You're wrong. Ya done fucked this one up big time.
Re: in response to "in response to feedback surrounding the recent changes"
So many hugs and so much love coming your way. We may not be super "close" per se, but I want you to know that you are such a beautiful person. You've offered so much insight, advice, and love to me when it very much needed. And for that, I thank you.
Hope to "see" you in the new gathering spot. How sad that the community we've created here has been tarnished like this. Its a damn shame.
"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness." - Eleanor Roosevelt
This is where, I feel, XO had no idea of what they really had. Look, I love my country and am all for capitalistic motivations and anyone's right to explore business ventures to make money. I'm an entrepreneur myself. But in order to make informed decisions you need to really understand your product. XO saw below par reviews from users who are often uninformed, uneducated, or unwilling to spend time learning about a community before making judgements. I understand how bad reviews affect their bottom line... You'd just think opening up a dialogue about that within TB community and it's stakeholders (I.e. Us!!!) could have resolved the problem?
What I'm saying is... Had they even attempted to encourage us to review the app as an attempt to fix reviews and preserve our community don't you think we would have? We didn't know XO was hurting so badly from the reviews that THIS was deemed an acceptable solution. Had I known that my flippant disregard of reviewing apps would affect me in this way, I absolutely would have taken the time to share my thoughts on the beautiful community of love and loss and learning that I've come to know.
@BumpAdmin
This was a beautiful, well written post. I bow to you, @MillionDollarStroller.
@BumpAdmin and @BumpMay, do you see what you've done? You have literally torn a very beautiful, supportive community into shreds. I'm disappointed in your actions!
@bumpadmin
@bumpcaitlin
@bumptara
We've moved on from TB. So will others. This is what you are losing. This is the consequence of your actions.