Playgroup

Kathy: I’m pretty strong in my convictions as well. Now let the games begin…

Tricia: No, it was Jan. I just didn’t know if you knew I hung out with her sometimes and I didn’t want you to worry I was selling you out. I agree that she is hippy dippy, and I tell her to her face, too. It’s all good. I always attract hippies and earth mothers. It’s funny. I used to be them before I got married. I like having those kind of people around me because they keep me in a whimsical, idealistic place. I miss that as I grow older and more cynical.

———–

I didn’t think any of that was too bad, did you? So I responded to Heather’s accusations:

While I’m not even sure how much good this email is going to do, based on the accusatory tone of the response we received from you Heather, I feel it is imperative for me to defend myself and my friends from your allegations. It seems that you have already been biased to the apparent plight of Wilmington Mommies management and have decided our fate without being diplomatic or democratic about it. This entire message might be a waste of time thusly, but I will still attempt to give you insight into how I personally feel regarding this entire situation.

First of all, none of us, that is to say not one of us, has ever harassed any member of Whatchamacalit Mommies. If you would take the time and advantage of the opportunity to visit each of our profiles and click the link to ‘Find all Posts’, you will not find a single malicious or uncivil post in our histories. All of us are friendly, supportive and caring to each and every individual on that board and I take great offense at your allegation towards our sole purpose of membership. The only post that I have ever had deleted was one regarding Homebirth where I said that I found ‘unassisted homebirths to be irresponsible’ and in that same post I said that if that comment was found ‘to be negative it could be edited or deleted as the moderator saw fit’. That was one message out of over six hundred, so my track record clearly shows that I am an asset to that board, as are all of us.

Second, I am very concerned at the methods you used to obtain our emails. They were private; not meant for the eyes of anyone at Whatchamacalit Mommies or The Mommies Network unless one of us granted access or permission. We didn’t, more specifically I didn’t. I find it extremely hypocritical that you can accuse us of abandoning the rules regarding privacy and etiquette when the methods to view our emails you as an organization used were just as wrongful, if not more so, than anything we ourselves might have done. In addition to saying that, I’d very much like for these ‘countless’ emails to be forwarded to me so that I would be able to overlook them and have opportunity to see what has already probably sealed my fate. I’m sure that since we are the supposed authors of them that it wouldn’t be a problem for you to provide them, as well as divulging exactly what things said were so awful. I would like for you to keep in mind though, that emails are easily edited and falsified and I admit to authoring anything until I have seen them.

Regarding what I know I have written and read: I was conversing with my friends in a private setting. Just as you Heather, I am positive, have vented to your friends about a person you didn’t like or a situation that bothered you involving a coworker, friend or relative: I did the same. I will not be made feel a bad person or anything to the similar for doing so.

Thirdly, it’s very disconcerting to see that you will overlook the fact that one of your appointed members of management threatened to physically harm one of the members of the board and take a host of supposedly ‘mean’ emails more seriously. To know that Betty Sue not only was not required to relinquish her status as a person of power on the boards, but that she wasn’t even reprimanded or given a warning over it is absolutely ridiculous on your part.

I thoroughly enjoy the interaction that I have both online and in person with the members of Whatchamacalit Mommies. I have developed wonderful friendships and a great support system with many of those women, as have my children with theirs. I do not feel that in order for me to want to remain a part of this board that I should have to be friends or think positively of every single member. The disdain that Betty Sue and Reeses have for some of us is obvious, but since it does not affect the tone of or our participation on the boards – it is gladly overlooked. Why it does not extend to those of us who don’t have administrative duties I do not know but am extremely curious.

I want to remain a part of Whatchamacalit Mommies for the sake of the members that have nothing to do with this but that I am fond of, and for the potential members that have yet to join and I would love to meet. Contrary to your false assumption, I have nothing but the best intentions with continuing my membership, just as I had in the very beginning when I requested it. That is not to say that our ‘email loop’ will disband. I am free to say what I want to whomever I chose on my own time, as long as it does not directly affect The Mommies Network, just as anyone else has that ability. The board will not impugn on my rights and privileges to be a person separate from ‘Maria0305′. I can still be a very active and resourceful member of the forums without having any direct or even indirect interaction with those women whom I do not like, as I have been doing already.

We are very interested in having a face to face, sit down meeting with Marcia, Betty Sue, Reeses, and whomever else is involved to discuss this, as warranted emotion and thought can be lost in the context of emails. No matter what the final outcome, I think we all deserve an opportunity to clear our names and conscious.

I appreciate you taking the time to read my email, and hope that you were able to take in the information that I presented to you with an open mind.

Maria Y.

And she sent me this:

Maria,
I am not an unfair person. I have read every single email that has been sent to me regarding this situation and have made my decisions based upon the sum of facts that I have received. In fact, I have spent the last two days working on this situation — I am doing everything I can to be fair and make decisions based on the information presented to me.

The “methods” that I used to gain your emails were not methods at all. A person who received the emails from you forwarded them to me. As they were emails directed to her and did not contain a notice to not forward them, she did not break any rules. She was concerned about the Whatchamacalit Mommies community and felt that the admins and the board of directors should know about your group.

There is a difference between venting among friends and discussing plans to cause problems on WM. I am currently reading through the information I have to determine who has just been venting and who has been doing more than that.

I would like an additional day to review my notes before I respond to you regarding my recommendations.

Thanks
Heather

———

So I wrote my blog. And that covered the basic details of what lead up to this. And since Heather had deleted my three friends for no reason other than they had not been as nice to her in their reply emails as I was, I had no intention of returning to WM.

Then, I received this:

Hi Maria,
I was looking forward to writing to you tonight and letting you know that your membership to Whatchamacalitmommies would be reinstated.

However, I have had the pleasure of reading your blog tonight and decided that perhaps you really didn’t want to be reinstated after all.

I will let Marcia know of my recommendation to ban your account.

Heather

And, as I said I would at the bottom of that entry, I responded with “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” I’m guessing Heather didn’t see the humor in that statement because she replied twice:

Yeah, except you left “The Mommies Network” in your blog… so you can’t really say that :)

and

“We were pissed. And we sent emails back. And we were replied to by the president of The Mommies Network, who was extremely bitchy and condescending towards us. And yesterday, she banned Jeanie, Kerry and Kathy permanently. She requested another day to ponder her notes before passing down judgment on Tricia, Andie, and I. Heh.”

Signed,
The President of the Mommies Network

————-

This literally made me laugh out loud. I mean I had tears in my eyes at the stupidity of this woman. And isn’t it obvious that she took offense to that particular statement – and that was why she’d decided to ban me? Initially I wasn’t going to respond, but I just had to! I mean I HAD to!!

Were you under the impression that I was actually denying it? *lol* No.
I left The Mommies Network in tact for a reason, just as the link to the ‘Google Search’ shows a big fat portal to Whatchamacalit Mommies @ the top.

Whatever would make you think that I would’ve accepted your invitation back? Seeing that you banned my friends who did no more or less than I [except Andie who did nothing at all] and that you would have reinstated me shows me that we were right along and you are biased and a bitch. You did not look @ this impartially. You looked @ the emails to you and if you felt disrespected – fuck the facts – you banned them. That shows an inability to be an effective leader or president of anything. You are no better than Betty Sue, who I would have loved to see actually make good on her threat to Tricia because that outcome would have been a sight to behold!

Don’t give me any crap about showing true characteristics or intentions in our correspondence with you either – you’re damn right we’re fake on WhatchamacalitMommies because as I said in one of those notorious emails while condemning Saya for being an overly opinionated bitch in the forums -

“I could easily show my true colors but I don’t because I know it’s not that type of board – it’s supposed to be welcoming and friendly, it’s not the place to debate or call people out. PMs if you feel that you have to. You can be opinionated somewhere else. That’s what Myspace groups and blogs are for – seriously.”

I know what battles are worth fighting. Which is probably why I’m done battling you and your network.

No one here was meritoriously prosecuted – your decisions were all based on feeling and ego. As were the decisions of Whatchamacalit Mommies Management – Marcia maybe not included but still just as much to blame as anyone else. I will thank you, and them, though, for the opportunity to meet an amazing group of women, have my girls interact with some truly great children, and for helping me make my move back to Wilmington so much more easy to bear.

On my MySpace page Heather, which I’m sure you’ve viewed in your internet based predatory efforts – my default picture is just for you. Well, maybe not just you because Abigail sure can shove it up her ass as well, but at this moment – you have it all to yourself.

Have a fabulous day!

Maria Y.

——————–

And that was the end of it. Hopefully it wasn’t too confusing to those of you who aren’t involved. Hopefully, even if you don’t get it or don’t agree with me – it was at least a good read. Long as hell, I know, but good at least.

Hopefully, Moral Mother, you’ve got a bit more information. If you stop being a pussy and post via your real name or maybe even email me – [maria0305@gmail.com] – I can provide you with hard copies of all of these emails. Shit, you can come over and we can log into my account together so you can read them straight for the source! You obviously care enough to post a dumbfucked statement.

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