Great post. Regardless of whether one thinks the blog itself is funny or mean-spirited, it's more concerning that some feel so free to post childrens' pictures and details on Facebook, especially to such an extreme. Not only does public sharing make it easy for pedophiles and other do-bads to get ideas, Facebook **owns the content you post**. So sharing intimate details of your children on this medium is tantamount to telling Mark Zuckerberg, "Here! Use my kids! They're yours!"

I don't know, it all seems a bit mean spirited to me. I think that people without kids have no idea what it's like to be a parent and that it's pretty unfair for them to judge us. I mean, the first 3 months of a baby's life is spent just eating, pooping, and sleeping. If you're at home with them, that's all you got. That, and exhaustion, which may inhibit the parental filter. I wonder if the authors of these sites plan to have children one day? They will feel pretty stupid once they have a kid and they find themselves accidentally over-sharing.

Maybe I am weird, I do update about my children, and if people I have known don't want to read it, they know how to hide/delete me. I try not to over share, but everyone has at some point, Usually about themselves. Hmmm, maybe I should make a blog with all my friends who update about their pets like they are human. There probably is one already. I have several "child-free" friends, who do nothing but bitch about how children of other people are ruining their experiences....personally I find that a bit more disturbing-while I can certainly understand not wanting children, and trust me, I won't make you have any or ask you when you plan on doing so-I also think its a bit weird to constantly complain about children. Meh, to each their own I suppose.

"Duck-face" annoys me a lot more than updates about children.

Just going to put this out there - Social Media is my favorite narcissistic past-time - and I think it is for lots of folks. We love to put our lives out there for our "friends". I completely understand there are people who go JUST a bit too far ... about a LOT of things. From their kids, to their bosses, to their pets, to their just generally bad mood of the day.

My kids are "nearly grown" so they just absolutely do NOT like for me to post their photos, tag them in it, or refer to them by their pet names from baby-hood without first getting the all-clear from them that it is INDEED a good photo! Who can blame them?

As for the smaller kids? I'd be a bit circumspect about putting things out there for the world to see. Sharing with close friends and family through creating friends lists for those kinds of things is a great idea. But I'm just not keen on putting kids names, where they go to school, their age and letting the world know what their routine might be. As stated, it just invites predators.

Very interesting read but its a stretch for these folks to try and get their 10 mins of fame off someone's personal information or photo sharing.. I only share what I would not mind being on the front of a news headline - easy enough there.... everything else should stay in your personal files.. Gail there has to be defamation issue here.. If you know the site and blog and you have proven issue of this then why not submit it locally to the authorities?

It is a very cut and clear law and defined well..

Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, traducement, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)—is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation a negative or inferior image. This can be also any disparaging statement made by one person about another, which is communicated or published, whether true or false, depending on legal state. In Common Law it is usually a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed (the claimant).[1]

That may be the best site on the internet. I'm not sure it's as biting and sarcastic as the old usenet group alt.childfree, but it's still good for a laugh.

I guess I technically "overshare" but not in the sentimental milestone way per se. I do post things like a picture of them driving for the first time or whatever. But most of my posts are like funny conversations (and sometimes embarrassing) we have. I've seen people say things like, "I'm so glad that Facebook wasn't around for my parents to post things." I keep thinking, "Are you kidding? This is better than a baby book!" And my kids don't mind when I post things. In fact, they usually dig in and add their two cents! Not that it matters, but they're 6, 15, 16, 18 and 21.

Gail, I'm not accusing you at all just putting it out there so folks are scared to share things about there life celebrations or experiences. Its more about the site(s). That one is not the only place folks do these things and some are much worse. Sorry if you thought I was referring to you specifically.. I was just saying you can report and alert with no recoil and if there is case then you would be surprised how quickly others know not to do that..

I probably over share, and it's something I think about from time-to-time, but I never hear complaints about it. I actually get a lot of compliments, maybe because I always try to make my statuses or pictures of my daughter funny so that my friends get a laugh. And, most of my Facebook friends are parents who constantly share about their children as well.

I think the blog ST*U, parents is hilarious and I have 4 children. I just read through the first few pages of the blog and it really is dedicated to extreme cases of "over-sharing." I love to talk about my kids, since my world pretty much revolves around them, but I think it's important to remember who we were before kids. Before I had children I hardly even acknowledged them. The second website, the one that substitutes baby pics with bacon, is just cruel. My babies are way cuter than bacon! That was me mommmyjacking you. ;)

Too much of anything is never a good thing I guess and that might be the moral of the story! I don't get annoyed by much (except dishonesty), although it's not my style to talk about the gross specifics of my kids activities. And now after seeing these sites I might just think twice about anything I say online! :)
Another thing--I think people say things online and post pictures online that they wouldn't say or show in a crowded room but because they can't SEE all the people, they forget who is watching/reading/looking. And even re-sharing!

I enjoy the kid updates, but never have seen a poop post. I will say that I am often open-mouthed after reading some posts, especially complaints about in-laws, employers, neighbors, and kids. You just never know when and how that will come around to bite you. I'm ever mindful of my mix of FB friends which includes teenaged family members (what's too "adult" for them to read?), clients, neighbors, acquaintances, and close friends. Edit once and think twice before hitting "send."

I wasn't going to check out any of the sites, but clicked the blog ST*U, Parents, and had a great laugh. Not to be offensive or gross in comments, but you have to see the kid with poop on his head. I thought I was going to stop breathing I was laughing so hard. And there's no way on earth I would share that with the world if it was my kid. But it sure was funny since it was someone else's.

I'm still laughing about it ...

Thanks for giving us all a great read and much to think about! I have two words that came to mind "Free Speech". The opposite of "Free Speech" or rather what is subject to limitation and interpretation is "Hate Speech". Comedians over the last few decades have made a pretty lucrative living by poking fun at parenting (e.g. Louie C. K.) but some of the content of the links you provided do seem a bit mean spirited. I understand the tongue in cheek and satirical slant to the posts, but I wonder what these folks' blogs would look like if/when they do become parents?? I'm just sayin'!
:-)

No wonder employers want passwords to view this stuff ...

This is not a phenomena limited to parenting. People over share what they're eating, what they're doing for exercise, pictures of their pets, and that's just the tip of the iceberg! Whenever I see or hear someone complaining about seeing too much of something on a social networking site, I always wonder if that's not also a form of over sharing....I think, "just use your privacy controls and ST#U!". :D

Or, you could stay off Facebook and get a real life. Not being on Facebook gives you time to exercise, clean house, do laundry, mow the lawn or even, wait for it, do your job :-)

Right there with you Mike!

I agree with Mike 100%

I don't mind the baby stories so much. But if there was a site called "Unclownme.com" I would sign up. Bacon pics are waaaay better than clowns.

And here you are, Larry, yapping on the internet. LOL

I share what I want to share. If people don't want to read it, they are welcome to unfriend. If others share more than I want to read, I can hide them or unfriend them or just ignore those posts. Seems pretty easy to me!

Mike, What a great idea! and then women will start asking, "Does this post make my butt look fat?"

I'm just sayin'.

Kind of hard to fight genetics. Most people with big butts have over-active pie holes :-)

"When people are on Facebook, they are sitting on their butts, often eating M&Ms or cookies."
"98% of people who spend more than an hour each day on Facebook likely have large butts. "

Mike, I'm sure you are smarter than you sound.

Were you snacking while making 110+ posts on patch sites so far this month? Were you exercising or mowing your lawn or turning wrenches while posting? Or were you... wait for it... sitting on your butt??

Are you using the patch sites in moderation, or are you obsessed with them? Patch is a forum for communication, like facebook. But this is one that YOU are interested in, so that's OK.

6'4" 190lbs. No fat here. I spend 15 minutes a day on Patch. Moderation is the key to everything, especially Facebook. Now, go have yourselves some ice cream and check to see if anybody liked your latest pictures before you turn in :-)