IMPORTANT: Revised Community Guidelines and Policies!

[Navy for Moms Admin]

Updated 10 July 2009
Message from Rear Admiral Robin Braun


N4M Members,

As I mentioned in my previous message, we have been conducting a very thorough review of the Community Guidelines to ensure we continue to provide our members the most rewarding experience possible while respecting the freedoms our Sailors serve to protect.

As you know, the purpose of NAVYForMoms.com is to bring together Navy parents and the parents of recruiting-age young men and women to discuss the multitude of leadership, training, and career opportunities our Navy offers and the great pride Navy parents have in their children. NAVYForMoms.com exists to allow families an open forum to discuss what life in the Navy is really like.

Today, I am pleased to announce the completion of this review and the adoption of new Community Guidelines for the NAVYForMoms.com website.

The goal of the new Guidelines is to facilitate open discussion without compromising the purpose of the website, namely the exchange of information relating to service in the Navy. As I noted in my previous message, your personal freedoms are extremely important to the Navy and my hope is that these updated Guidelines provide the best possible balance between the defense of those liberties and the integrity of the website.

I encourage everyone to review the revised Community Guidelines and to become familiar with acceptable use on the NAVYForMoms.com website. The new Community Guidelines may be reviewed here.

I would like to draw your attention to the discussion of off-topic posts and the need to keep discourse civil. These rules are intended to ensure that members get the quick and useful answers to their Navy-related questions in the friendly and collegial atmosphere that has come to define NAVYForMoms.com.

Please know that NAVYForMoms members’ suggestions played a critical part in the revision of the Guidelines, and we will continue to rely on your honest feedback as we strive to provide the best possible user experience.

As always, I would like to thank you for your continued support of the Navy family and our men and women who serve our great nation.

Rear Admiral Robin Braun, USN
Commander
Navy Recruiting Command

[diane {Shawns mom}]

Bravo! ♥

[TexasDocMom]

Kathleen, I'm sorry you were attacked, but I am not surprised. But as a Buddhist friend once told me when we were fighting a battle for appropriate accreditation at a children's hospital years ago...you are the elephant. The elephant walks through the streets, determined to go on, with the angry dogs snapping at his heels, and he just plods on, focused and determined to do the right thing.
I applaud you.

I would actually suggest that you add Rachel Maddow to your list, perhaps Keith Olbermann, those folks go after stories like this with a vengence.

[TexasDocMom]

This is navyformoms.com, while it is paid for with our tax dollars, it is not a classified .gov web site. It advertises that Navy moms can communicate, talk, share concerns...but then tells us exactly the topics we are allowed to communicate, talk, or share concerns about. Their IDEAS of 'good Navy moms" evidently do not have the brain function to discuss politics or religion...but crafting, cooking and laundry is okay on their list. No actual use of the brain, just the cutesy mommy stuff.

It's degrading and insulting to women in general, Navy moms in particular...besides all the reasons that Kathleen and others have pointed out relating to our RIGHTS as US citizens, rights defended and enforced by our US Military whereever they serve at the order of the CIC.

[diane {Shawns mom}]

I have read this thread...and their is one comment that I believe many moms will find offensive...
Crafting, cooking and doing laundry is okay on their list. No actual use of the brain...



I myself, have many friends that are "crafty" and are very intelligent women..
I cannot...cook well...do not sew...and do not knit. However, I find these qualities to be admirable in women and they do take "actual" use of a brain in order to perform..

[TexasDocMom]

Diane, I'm sorry you took that comment that way...I'm a caterer so I definitely cook, I have pretty much repainted, re-draped, and re done my home so I sew and craft, I garden and at one time, when my son's dad ran a make ready for apartment complexes, I did about 18 loads of laundry a day, including hanging it out to dry. My point was this, some one on this site has decided that those "topics" are okay for women, but not politics. I am an active Democrat in my town, I work in getting people to the polls, I blog, I work hard for my candidates, I truly believe in our political system and that if Americans had participated in our system instead of just watching from the sidelines in 2000, there would not be 4300 dead military members in Iraq today. That, to me, is much more important than anything else. The lives of our military who give EVERYTHING for our country and the leaders that we choose to lead them and the issues confronting all of us every single day in this country are not to be "not quite right for a military mom's web site." It's just plain wrong.

Now posts on this blog are missing, so alot is out of context as well.

But I'm sure it's okay with the PTB here, after all, we're just women, it's not like we understand what we're reading...we should go back to the kitchen, keep barefoot and pregnant, making those sailors to go to war and not have a damn thing to say about leaders and policies that lead us there.

[TexasDocMom]

Kathleen, the downside blogs is people can post their attacks and hide under "Anonymous" ,even if one does not want to register with blogspot, one could leave one's name or sign it differently....assuming one was not embarrassed by one's post. I notice all of us who carry the "blame" from others on this web site for ALL the problems here do not have a problem signing their comments on your blog. Interesting.

[diane {Shawns mom}]

Texas.....my brain may not be working properly...but what is PTB?
thanks..

[TexasDocMom]

"Powers That Be"...

[TexasDocMom]

This country was birthed because of debate, stifling debate will kill the soul of the USA, in any form.

oh, and Kathleen...my blog's hits has increased like crazy since your blog started up...and I only commented once!! thanks!! One blog is another woman's who writes and asks for blogs from women over 40...one is my house concert blog, the other is just me and my pals writing whatever we feel like...oh, my, what a concept...

[diane {Shawns mom}]

Kathleen, Yes, I agree...I too truly admire all of us here. And yes...we ALL worry about your family members being in harms way and only wish ALL of them a SAFE return, whether we agree on political issues or not.. That is one item that WE all are here to support . OUR SEVICE MEMBERS!
Thank you!
♥