DC Urban Moms: From Advice to Gossip

     This week, Washington City Paper published an online article about Sidwell Friends’ football team.  It discussed our somewhat disappointing record and the possible causing factors.  However, what stood out to me most, aside from the incorrect facts and insertion of opinion in a news article, were the references made to the website DC Urban Moms.  On the site, a whole discussion board had been dedicated to the topic of Sidwell football, spanning a total of 33 pages.

     I had never heard of the website before this week’s article, and had no idea parents discussed high school sports in such depth online.  I looked at the site a bit more and its purpose was not so surprising anymore.  DC Urban Moms was initially created in 2001 as an advice forum for parents in D.C. on absolutely everything from finding toys for their children to help in the high school admissions process.  It is a community of over 5,000 members who can discuss and support each other on common issues of parenting in the D.C. area.

     But, there is a flipside to this type of online community.  Just as in any community, news can turn into gossip quickly, and with the added bonus of anonymous posts, it gets ugly fast.  Topics such as “What’s the Most Obnoxious Thing You’ve Heard a Parent Say at Your DC’s Private School?” and “Where Do Douchebags Send Their Children?” just beg for online drama.  I have yet to meet a parent who would post on this site in discussions such as these, but the fact that there are parents who do is a little troublesome.  There are plenty of websites where kids have these types of discussions, like Juicy Campus or Campus Dirt, but aren’t parents supposed to be a little more mature than their kids?

     There is no question the internet changed how most communities function.  It now provides new forms of communication, information and organization that were not available 10 years ago.  But, with this evolution of communities and the new cloak of anonymity, members need to keep in mind the purpose of that community.  Asking for and giving advice is a great way to create a strong community, but using it to discuss a high school football team’s off season or the reputations of certain schools causes that community to lose a certain credibility.  Parents, along with everyone else, are bound to gossip and talk about their kids at parties or on the sidelines, but bringing it to such a public platform as the internet may not be the most sensible idea in the world.