I thoroughly enjoy Ms. Manheim on “Ghost Whisperer” and the “Practice”. I understand that she has come out with a line of clothing. Has she worn any of them in any episodes? Would like to know where I might buy them. Thank you. Judy Johnson at hisnibs@earthlink.net

Lauren, I think you make some very valid points. I too have visited some of the sites you mention, and you’re right, some of the comments are just despicable. CBB is, for the most part, a respectful gossip site, that’s part of why I continue to visit.

I don’t comment a whole lot, I guess I prefer to lurk, and I really enjoy reading the comments. Sometimes people will point things out that I may not have considered and I like the differing points of view. I just feel we can disagree in a way that is not preachy, disrespectful or judgmental. That, in my opinion, is what sets CBB apart from those “other” sites. And keeping a check on the comments will prevent it from becoming like so many of those nasty mean-spirited blogs.

Sarah, I completely understand and respect that your having a new job will mean you need to spend less time on CBB, and I know you probably have a lot of pressure on you since you say so many readers are complaining to you. I just find it very interesting that CBB is by far the kindest blog I’ve ever come across, yet I have never come across a blog where readers whine so much about other posters being judgmental. You want to see what a real rude post looks like? Go to TMZ, Perez Hilton, JustJared, or pretty much any other celeb gossip site on the net. CBB has been by far the best in terms of allowing people to disagree politely, and giving in to a bunch of people who are unable to grasp the concept that disagreeing with someone does not necessarily mean they are being rude is not the way to go. I was taught early on that not everyone is going to agree with my opinions, accept it, and move on. Obviously, many readers here missed the same lesson, and that is nobody else’s problem but their own.

I’m confused, I don’t understand why if somebody disagrees with the way someone is doing something that its disrespectful, of course we all have our own ways, nobody does everything the same, so if we think something is silly why can’t we just say so? I mean just because someone doesn’t agree on something, doesn’t make it wrong does it? doesn’t mean someone is being rude or mean (of course flat out just mean I am all for editing), someone might say an opinion is picky like gargoylegirl (just using it as an example) but to others its simply an opinion. I’m not trying to start a fight at all, I love CB.com and I will always visit, but it seems the new rules will mean nobody’s allowed to have an opinion, and all anyone will be able to say is things like “that baby is so cute ect ect” so isn’t not being able to have an opinion going against the original rules?

Moderate the comments as you feel they should be moderated. Personally I feel that if you are posting something that you wouldn’t personally say to someone’s face, then you have no business posting it anyway. When I saw the number of comments on this post, I automatically knew they would mostly be about her holding her son. I don’t see what the big deal with her holding her 6 year old is. Were you never held as children? I think we can use a little more love in our lives.

ITA with gargoylegirl! I too am extremely glad that there will be some changes to the CBB comments. One of the main reasons I actually read the comments on CBB is because they are moderated. Like gargoylegirl, all of the judgemental comments here on CBB lately have been getting to me.

I also agree with gargoylegirl that I don’t think the CBB staff are asking us to suddenly agree with everything we see/read in a post, or to suddenly start posting only comments like, “She’s soooo cute!”. I think that we just need to be more careful about the way we word our posts, and try to use “I” statements as gargoylegirl said.

All of that said, I would like to suggest to the CBB staff to, if at all possible, post some sort of announcement about the change in comment policy on the main page, since not everybody reads the comments on every single post, and therefore not everyone who reads CBB is neccesarily going to be aware of the change. If this isn’t possible because of time constraints or other reasons, I understand completely. Just a friednly suggestion.

This is all so silly. After finding the site, I only continued reading it upon seeing the comments made by others which I found interesting. People see celebs doing various things and they react. I find people’s different responses to parenting and children to be fascinating. It’s the only site I’ve found where discussion of celebs was at all cerebral (versus the straight rudeness and name-calling at such sites as Perez and x17).
If I wanted to hear people ooh and ahh over how cute babies are, I’d head over to a Mommy and Me class. Admiring babies is all well and good, but it does not make good conversation after a while and can be alienating to some. Also, observational comments about celebrities (“Here’s so-and-so at such-and-such event”) are a dime a dozen in the 25 celeb mags that are out every week.
I’m all for censoring the downright rude comments, but to take out any amount of opinion will make discussion here dry toast.

I’m pleased to hear there will be some changes to the CBB comments.
I’ve been enjoying this Web site for a couple of years now. Lately, the judgmental comments have really started to bug me.
I don’t think the change will make the comment threads boring. Unless I’m understanding it wrong, I don’t think CBB is saying we have to agree with everything in a particular article/photo, rather we just need to watch how we state our opinion. I think it might be better to keep it as a “we” or “I” when making a comment. That way it doesn’t come off so picky and judgmental towards the celeb. In my opinion, I think it’s okay to state your personal parenting preference, it’s just the difference between saying: “This is how I think it should be.” vs. “They shouldn’t be doing that.” Just my two cents…8)

Sarah’s note: “There is a major difference between politely voicing an opposing opinion and being rude/judgmental, yet many readers here don’t seem to realize that.”

That’s what I feel like we’ve been so unsuccessful about getting across in the last 6 months. We’ve managed to cut out the name-calling, but not the rest of it. I wish more readers were able to realize you (and Maya’s) points.

An additional reason we need to cut back on moderating comments is that I am pursuing a new job and I will no longer be working full-time on CBB. So there’s another thing to be aware of if comments/new posts are slow-going. If Danielle starts working on the site more day-to-day, or if some of our contributors begin working more hours, we’ll re-assess the situation if someone becomes available to moderate a debate/discussion.

Basically it’s a combination of reader complaints/lack of time/not liking the nit-picky direction the comments have taken on, etc, and we need to make a change for the time-being, at least.

This is really funny; I just finished watching a show that deals with the differences between men and women and this week’s episode was about linguistic/communicative differences. As we all know women communicate verbally better, but are not inclined to do so in public forums and the Internet is no exception. While men have no problems strongly voicing their opinions and disagreeing with each other, women still feel apologetic for having a different view or for even voicing an opinion that others might not agree with or take offence to. In my opinion this is exactly what is going on here. We all know this is a mostly female-oriented blog and I think CBB would be doing a great disservice to women by not allowing them to voice their opinions, even if they are critical of someone’s parenting style. I personally love Camryn Manheim, I think she’s a great role model and I think it’s sweet how she still carries/lifts her son, but I certainly do not take offence to others feeling different; it makes the “conversation” that much more interesting. We don’t all have to be “yes women”. Go into any male oriented blog and you’ll certainly see the differences.