Sarah,

Thank you for your response, but I am not reconsidering. I have looked at several of the blogs out there about JB, and the ones that mention Sydney’s “nicknames” for many on the site truly upset me. The three pigs? That’s just horrible. Had this been the first time this was mentioned, I would have taken it with a grain of salt, but this has been alluded to in the past as well. I was told through a private email from someone whom you would consider an “insider” that the staff at JB “laughs” behind my back. That just hurts. I don’t think my “transgressions” rise to that level of entitlement.

Good luck to you, Sarah. It looks to me as if members are fleeing in great numbers. I hope that is cause for concern and that JB will rethink it’s approach. I’m not leaving because I was “reprimanded.” I’m leaving because JB refuses to take a public stand against those who are blatantly abusing the TOS.

Misty

Hi Misty,

Sarah forwarded your response to me. We of course are aware of all that’s been going on outside of Judy’s Book and it’s always disappointing to hear that we have let down some members. We are however responding by more strictly enforcing our TOU—you were unfortunately on the receiving end of that and while we do feel you have been an especially strong contributor to Judy’s Book, we need to be objective in our enforcement of the rules. We are working very hard to be more consistent and diligent in this area of customer service.

As for the comments regarding Sydney and Sarah–they simply are not true. We do not feel that it is a constructive use of our time to continue to respond to rumors or false allegations but rather are focusing our efforts on making improvements to the site and on responding to our valued members. I have worked with both Sydney & Sarah for over a year and it’s disheartening especially for them to read this information. They have worked tirelessly in their respective areas of Judy’s Book to respond to members and manage the City Editor program and the Judy’s Book staff has nothing but respect for all of their efforts—especially during a period of evolution for Judy’s Book.

I hope you can understand how we are approaching this situation and while it sounds like you will no longer be with us, we thank you for your contributions and if there’s anything else you’d like to chat about, feel free to get in touch with me directly.

Thanks,

Erin Friedman, Director of Marketing

By the way, who do you refer to in the last sentance of your post? “I feel that someone I had the deepest respect for
and had really looked up to for advice ext
has put a blade in my heart here.” I would be interested to know the identity of this person.

I think that many of the links that have been posted are not “personal attacks” but rather criticism about a site which supposedly prides itself on having quality reviews. To quote Chris DeVore directly, “It is not about how much money can we spend on Super Bowl advertisements so people hear the words Judy’s Book,’ he said. ‘It is how good is our content, how trustworthy is our content and how much are we solving the consumer’s problem.’” Do you honestly think that reviews about pumpkin seeds, divorce rates/longevity/etc. (which in some cases were just cut and pasted articles from other sites) and religious tirades fit within the definition of quality, trustworthy content? Many of the links posted here have actually been removed after they were received public attention and it seems that JB is now keeping an eye out for situations like these that will lead to bad press for them. By the way, you posted about how you have been let down by many of your friends at JB but continue to look at Bridget as a friend. If you knew much about her, you would know that she is far from innocent or trustworthy.

You also addressed the so-called personal attack on Kristen. The thread you are referring to did not start out as an attack at all. A member asked a legitimate question about whether Kristen was employed by JB. I think it is a question many had wondered about but that few were willing to come out and actually ask. Kristen ended up answering the question herself on the JB site by stating that she was not employed by JB, but that they provide many of the prizes for the contests that she sponsors. It appears obvious that Kristen has a link with the management at JB as she essentially unveiled their new requirements for reviews for November (having a website) in her contest before the new requirements were announced by JB. Many people posted frustrations about the volume of messages that they receive from Kristen. That has been an ongoing frustrations posted about many members by many members for several months now.