I'm so tired of seeing this go all across Cafemom, with no one ACTUALLY asking what the truth is.
Considering that I'M the person who came across all the information, and got the person deleted from Cafemom, Photobucket and YouTube, and reported to the police, you'd think people would ask ME the truth, wouldn't you?
But they're not. They're spreading lies like wildfire, without considering for a second the facts.
So, here's what REALLY happened:
A woman we'll call 'M' came into a circumcision group. She discussed in great detail how much she enjoyed the act of giving head to her boyfriend, and states she found circumcised baby penises to be cute. The group freaked out, and I deleted the posts, along with PMing 'M' and letting her know that that kind of discussion was not particularly acceptable in our group, but there are other groups out there that would better suit her needs, but that no one discusses penises like that in our group about medical things, and it disturbed the members. She responds, telling me she knows "secrets" about the group that would "tear it apart." Uh HUH. She goes on to tell me that two of our admin are men (we'll call them 'H' and 'S'), and even the same person, and "for all she knows," I may be just "another account of that person." I told her I'd... look into it... but asked her also to remember to keep the sexual bits out of this particular group, to which she just essentially called us all prude. Then she shares copy+pasted PMs between herself and 'S' who seem, to know each other quite well, and both discuss circumcision sexually. (Yes, she was removed from the group, but then created a NEW profile which she got into the group with. That'll be relevant in a moment.)
So, obviously I know I'm not a man. I don't particularly need to research myself (but feel free to research me if you want!). But I did research our other admins. 'H' came up just fine, as I expected because she shares multiple groups with me, has a filled-out profile, etc. 'S'... not so lucky. Thousands of posts about circumcision, even to the point where she had to lie about age, location, etc. to join a board, JUST to talk about circumcision and refer people to our Cafemom group. She only used two e-mails, and two avatars pictures, so knowing it was the same person wasn't hard. One WAS a picture of her and I know it because of a discussion I found. I found that she'd joined LiveJournal, never posted, but instantly joined a "Genital Fetishist" group. I found Yahoo! Answers, with 177 answers about circumcision, 1 post about her husband loving to drink her breastmilk, and 1 where she had no problem with teenage opposite-gender siblings being naked near each other. I then found a page where there were photos taken of circumcisions being done in Africa, with the funds from the US. On a picture where the boy waiting had an erection, she had said, "he looks excited! heehee, snip snip!" Which I found disturbing, obviously. Then I found the YouTube account. Hundreds of videos of infant boys being circumcised. And then... the Photobucket. More pictures of infants being circumcised... but also some pictures of just naked circumcised infants... and worst of all, multiple videos of circumcised infant boys being bathed. None were the same baby - all stolen.
So, I got nauseous, and threw up a little.
I came back and immediately reported her to Cafemom with links to everything I'd found, talked to the other admins I trusted, and we created a private group to discuss it away from anyone else.
Cafemom deleted 'S' and I reported also her other accounts, which were also deleted. There were also reports made to police (don't be fooled - just because her Photobucket account is "deleted" doesn't mean Photobucket themselves can't show police exactly what was on it).
But suddenly, a post pops up in my group about how 'S' was a man, 'H' is a man, and how I didn't do GOOD enough. Sure enough, it's 'M' reincarnated, and she rejoined the group. I delete her from the group, and delete her stupid post, and then she starts harassing me through PMs about how I'm making a mistake in not deleting 'H' and how 'S' will be back, and how I'm probably just another account of (anyone's) now.
I tell her to back off, that I have it taken care of, and to leave me and my group alone, because we don't want her in there, especially considering she's friends with 'S.' So what does she do, but post anonymous journals about 'S' being a man, and apparently convinced other people to do the same, as well as promoting her lies on the Hot List.
Now, here's the thing... I asked 'M' repeatedly for proof of ANY of her accusations. She had none. Absolutely none. Everything I found about 'S', I found MYSELF. 'M' was not happy that I didn't go delete-happy and remove 'H' and even another admin, but somehow didn't understand why I didn't want HER in the group.
So now, we have very specific rules about membership in the group. We've been busting our asses for over a week, and deleted over a thousand members. We've cut our membership in half. No, not all of those people are going to have been "bad" people - in fact, statistically, almost none of them were. But we are requiring that people have fleshed-out profiles, more groups than just circumcision groups, and that they're an established member of Cafemom, as well as researching EVERY single applicant AND member on Google as well as in Cafemom's search bar. We even have an admin profile that people have to befriend if their profiles are private. It's tedious, it's awful, we HATE it... and we've received messages from pissed off members who choose to take this personally. We are busting our asses to make our group as safe as possible, and if you can't join some other groups, post about your family and kids, maybe write a journal, and have some basic information about yourself, why would we want you as part of our group anyway, if you would never contribute anything, and aren't willing to submit to a check that is designed to make our group SAFER for everyone?
Now, can people shut the hell up now and stop spreading 'M's lies around Cafemom? THIS is what really happened. THIS is the actual truth.
I hate to say it, but to owners of the anti-circumcision groups, please PM me because I want to let you know some names of people that we've removed with concerns. Whether you're pro-circ or anti-circ doesn't matter in this case - it's the general anatomy discussed that draws psychos, even if some people are more drawn to one side ot the other.
Most importantly, statistically, there HAS to be men and pedophiles on this website. Do NOT ever post videos of your child naked anywhere, unless it's your own password-protected Photobucket account that you only share with family, and even then, that might be better as prints in a picture box, and not on the internet. Do not post naked pictures of your babies, even if it's cute. You have NO IDEA who anyone is unless you know them in person. Women can be pedophiles too, and men can easily pose as women. Don't be stupid, don't post your child's nude body anywhere where anyone can see it, and don't trust that people online are safe, wholesome, or even who they say they are.
This has been added to the Hot List as well:
http://www.cafemom.com/hotlist/read.php?id=5936
*EDIT* I just deleted my first anti-circ post in over a HUNDRED replies. That is completely unnecessary and has nothing to do with this post. Keep it to yourself.
Tags: circumcision, boys, man, cafemom, pedophile, naked, pictures, safe, gross, creepy, truth, stop spreading lies
Well done, Christie! As the group's new owner I have nothing but complete faith in what you've been doing.
And you're right: this is a time for all the boards on the topic to unite. They're are fetishsts that get off on circumcision, but there are certainly fetishists that gett off talking about the wonders of foreskins. So this is a time to leave aside our different ideas and make our boards as safe as possible for the MOTHERS who want to discuss the medical, ethical and practical aspects of this parenting issue. There's no point in getting on a high horse and say this only happens to one side of the issue. I see foreskin fetishists in mothering forums all the time and the existence of people like this shouldn't in any way discredit one choice or the other.
Sharon
I'm kind of disturbed that people are voting this down. (Assuming, of course, that that's how the journal goes from the popular list to NOT on the popular list).
I am sorry you've had to deal with all of this, Christie, especially the hostility. And here you thought you were doing something good for a group that you believe in. That'll teach you. =) I hope things level out soon.
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3kids2many Jul. 18, 2008 at 1:30 PM