Did everyone see the sad news about mothering mag?

[Mrs Mungo]

http://mothering.com/peggyomara/qpeditorials/how-we-became-a-web-company

 

In the last few weeks it has become obvious that we must cease publication of the print magazine. The November–December issue was our last printed issue. January–February 2011 was a digital-only edition, and the March–April issue will be as well. And with the March–April edition, after 35 years, we will cease publishing Mothering magazine altogether. We are now a Web-only company.

[Country Mouse]

Oh no!

[5forMe]

I was just thinking the other day that I hadn't gotten the Jan/Feb issue yet and I am paid up until the end of 2011. Sad news. I enjoyed the magazine, and it's been around for a long time.

 

Their message boards drove me nuts though...so heavily moderated. I stopped visiting the Mothering message boards years ago.

[Sara in AZ]

Wow, this makes me very sad. I'm feeling good that I just gave away a huge stack of print copies to my sister rather than recycling them. Some of those comments were over the top, although I understand the frustrations from subscribers who lost money. I'm not even sure where I was in my own subscription,.

[Mrs Mungo]

I was just thinking the other day that I hadn't gotten the Jan/Feb issue yet and I am paid up until the end of 2011. Sad news. I enjoyed the magazine, and it's been around for a long time.

 

I haven't subscribed to Mothering for quite a while. But, I subscribed for years when my kids were little. My first LLLLeader gave me her old issues, that's how I learned about it.

 

Their message boards drove me nuts though...so heavily moderated. I stopped visiting the Mothering message boards years ago.

I haven't visited their boards in years either. BUT, I have pointed many people to the specific boards for help with breastfeeding, cloth diapering and so forth. I hope their website doesn't go away. It's an extremely valuable resource.

[LittleIzumi]

I was just thinking the other day that I hadn't gotten the Jan/Feb issue yet and I am paid up until the end of 2011. Sad news. I enjoyed the magazine, and it's been around for a long time.

 

"When a magazine ceases publication, it is customary that its subscriptions be fulfilled by another magazine. When I thought about which magazine is most compatible with Mothering, I remembered Rolf and Wendy, who have published Natural Life Magazine since 1976, the year Mothering was founded. Natural Life covers green living, natural parenting, and lifelong learning, and describes itself as “The original natural family living magazine. . . . Reader supported and trusted by thinking people around the world who want positive alternatives . . .†Natural Life will fulfill Mothering subscriptions beginning with their May/June 2011 issue. If, for example, two issues remain on your subscription to Mothering, you will receive the next two issues of Natural Life. I hope that you enjoy Rolf and Wendy’s magazine."

[Mom-ninja.]

What does "web-only company" mean?

[Julie in Austin]

Mothering was a lifeline when I had my first baby. I remember being borderline delirious with excitement when each new issue arrived and just pouring over it.

[Tangerine]

Ask an Intuitive??? :001_huh:

 

I haven't been to Mothering.com in quite awhile, I guess.

[5forMe]

"When a magazine ceases publication, it is customary that its subscriptions be fulfilled by another magazine. When I thought about which magazine is most compatible with Mothering, I remembered Rolf and Wendy, who have published Natural Life Magazine since 1976, the year Mothering was founded. Natural Life covers green living, natural parenting, and lifelong learning, and describes itself as “The original natural family living magazine. . . . Reader supported and trusted by thinking people around the world who want positive alternatives . . .†Natural Life will fulfill Mothering subscriptions beginning with their May/June 2011 issue. If, for example, two issues remain on your subscription to Mothering, you will receive the next two issues of Natural Life. I hope that you enjoy Rolf and Wendy’s magazine."

 

AWESOME, I have subscribed to this magazine in the past and really enjoyed it! I am looking forward to Natural Life Magazine. Still sad about Mothering though.

[LittleIzumi]

What does "web-only company" mean?

 

No magazine at all, just Website/message boards/social media.

[5forMe]

No magazine at all, just Website/message boards/social media.

 

 

Heavily moderated message boards...when I left, you couldn't say "boo" without getting a talking to by a moderator and locking down the thread. I was never controversial but I appreciated other points of view and I just thought that they treated grown adults like children with regards to what was allowed and not allowed. It was really ridiculous.

[Anne]

Oh, how sad. I haven't subscribed in years, but Mothering Magazine was where I first learned about homeschooling.... Seventeen challenging and terrific years of homeschooling soon followed...

 

Anne

[dirty ethel rackham]

Oh, how sad! I loved Mothering Magazine. It was such a breath of fresh air after dealing with the daily dose of "all your problems will be solved if you just give the baby a bottle and lock him in his room" from my IRL world. It was so affirming to hear about people who embraced breastfeeding, holding one's children, family bed or whatever arrangement that worked, etc. I used to give it out to my childbirth class students.

[Smithie]

"Heavily moderated message boards...when I left, you couldn't say "boo" without getting a talking to by a moderator and locking down the thread."

 

LOL. I've had two "infractions issued" in the past three months, and that's with me TRYING to be nice. I let me husband use my account to talk about car seats once and was temporarily banned for his behavior :D

 

I am really sad about the magazine, though. Like PPs, I really looked forward to getting it when I had little baby and felt isolated IRL.

[Farrar]

Heavily moderated message boards...when I left, you couldn't say "boo" without getting a talking to by a moderator and locking down the thread. I was never controversial but I appreciated other points of view and I just thought that they treated grown adults like children with regards to what was allowed and not allowed. It was really ridiculous.

 

Sometimes I felt like the magazine was a bit this way with their opinions in general.:glare:

 

That said, I had a subscription when my kids were little and I got a good bit out of it. It's sad that their perspective won't be there on the newsstands for people to find - especially people who are being told to "stick a bottle in your baby and leave him to cry it out" by everyone they know.

 

Now I have a subscription to Brain, Child and I adore it. Though it's a totally different sort of publication.

[redsquirrel]

I was a mothering poster a loooong time ago. Well before it became what it is now. Part of the problem was they wanted to avoid ANY controversy due to fear it would hurt the magazine. I remember the First Great Shutdown. And, to be fair, boards etc were new for many people 10 years ago, and there wasn't a lot of experience to be had. But, man oh man, they really set the standard for heavy handed, didn't they? It was like once they got into their bunker they couldn't come out.

 

I will miss Mothering for what it was, but not for what it became these last few years.

 

And a 'web company'? Just boards with advertising I guess. Funny, because I think the boards took up a HUGE amount of time and energy from the mag people and now it's all they have left.

[Mrs Mungo]

And a 'web company'? Just boards with advertising I guess. Funny, because I think the boards took up a HUGE amount of time and energy from the mag people and now it's all they have left.

 

Never mind, nothing to see here, move along.

Edited February 16, 2011 by Mrs Mungo

[Rivka]

Mothering Magazine lost me a long time ago, when they put the vastly pregnant Christine Maggiore on their cover, with a glowing article saying that HIV-positive women shouldn't take anti-retroviral medicines, even when pregnant, and that they should go ahead and breastfeed at will.

 

Three years later, the baby Maggiore was pregnant with in the cover photo died of AIDS. A couple of years after that, Maggiore died too.

 

There's no way of telling how many HIV infections and deaths that article was responsible for. Mothering Magazine has supported the HIV/AIDS denialist movement for a long time, and its founder/editor (Peggy O'Mara) serves on the board of an organization which claims that HIV is harmless and that AIDS doesn't exist.

 

I've gotten my posts deleted from mothering.com for promoting accurate scientific information about HIV. For real.

 

So, although it was nice that Mothering supported breastfeeding, homeschooling, and gentle discipline, I have to say that I'll be delighted to dance on that magazine's grave.

[LittleIzumi]

They'll still have articles apparently, just on the Website. I haven't posted on the message boards in a year or so. My friends have gotten in plenty of trouble there :lol: but I haven't... yet....

[LibraryLover]

Peggy, as much as she meant to me way back when, still believes HIV doesn't cause AIDS. That makes me want to cry.

 

When that child died, I did cry. When the surviving sibling lost his mother, I was angry.

 

 

 

There's no way of telling how many HIV infections and deaths that article was responsible for. Mothering Magazine has supported the HIV/AIDS denialist movement for a long time, and its founder/editor (Peggy O'Mara) serves on the board of an organization which claims that HIV is harmless and that AIDS doesn't exist.

 

I've gotten my posts deleted from mothering.com for promoting accurate scientific information about HIV. For real.

 

So, although it was nice that Mothering supported breastfeeding, homeschooling, and gentle discipline, I have to say that I'll be delighted to dance on that magazine's grave.

Edited February 16, 2011 by LibraryLover

[Bird Girl]

I'm with you, Rivka. I also feel that while it's one thing to endorse and support homebirth, it's another thing entirely to offer unrestrained support for unassisted childbirth and no prenatal care. It seems like they no longer have any concern about science-based health care at all.

[Rivka]

Peggy, as much as she meant to me way back when, still believes HIV doesn't cause AIDS. That makes me want to cry.

 

When that child died, I did cry. When the surviving sibling lost his mother, I was angry.

 

I work in the HIV field. I knew a mother once who lied about taking HIV medicines during pregnancy - she took the prescriptions home and threw them away. I was in the clinic the day that her baby tested positive.[1]

 

Peggy O'Mara and the others like her have blood on their hands.

 

 

 

[1] Well, all babies of HIV+ mothers test positive at birth, but this was when he tested positive after the point at which his body should have cleared the antibodies.

[5forMe]

I remember that cover photo of the HIV Mom....being a registered nurse, I knew that it was an outlandish opinion and bad advice. Also, can't say that I agreed with the cover and article recommending smoking marijuana to prevent morning sickness. Yeah, yeah, I know its supposed to be safe, however, I wouldn't take my chances with my baby's health not to mention risk social services taking my kid away IF someone happened to check my urine or my baby's urine at delivery.

 

Being a long time subscriber, I ignored a lot of the crazy stuff because the info I wanted from Mothering was the breastfeeding and attachment parenting affirmations, etc.

 

The crackpot articles is why Mothering could never really make a serious name for itself in the eyes of the medical community. Mothering Mag could have reached so many more new and young moms who want to do what their heart tells them to do (not let a baby "cry it out") if it could have been found in Dr.'s office waiting rooms.

[Plucky]

Mothering Magazine lost me a long time ago, when they put the vastly pregnant Christine Maggiore on their cover, with a glowing article saying that HIV-positive women shouldn't take anti-retroviral medicines, even when pregnant, and that they should go ahead and breastfeed at will.

 

Three years later, the baby Maggiore was pregnant with in the cover photo died of AIDS. A couple of years after that, Maggiore died too.

 

There's no way of telling how many HIV infections and deaths that article was responsible for. Mothering Magazine has supported the HIV/AIDS denialist movement for a long time, and its founder/editor (Peggy O'Mara) serves on the board of an organization which claims that HIV is harmless and that AIDS doesn't exist.

 

I've gotten my posts deleted from mothering.com for promoting accurate scientific information about HIV. For real.

 

So, although it was nice that Mothering supported breastfeeding, homeschooling, and gentle discipline, I have to say that I'll be delighted to dance on that magazine's grave.

 

 

Oh my word. I had no idea they did that.

[mirth]

The crackpot articles is why Mothering could never really make a serious name for itself in the eyes of the medical community. Mothering Mag could have reached so many more new and young moms who want to do what their heart tells them to do (not let a baby "cry it out") if it could have been found in Dr.'s office waiting rooms.

 

I never knew any of this regarding the magazine's dismissal of a relationship between HIV+ and AIDS, and anti-virals agenda. This is really sad and yes, a little crackpot as 5forMe says. I doubt I will ever look at mothering.com again.

 

I never even knew there was Mothering Mag. While I was all about breastfeeding and attachment and all that, I couldn't find it particularly interesting or meaty reading. Breastfeed the baby. Hold the baby. You're awesome. Carry on. For me it'd be like cosmetic companies publishing a magazine on devising new words for "pink."

[Sun]

I'm with you, Rivka. I also feel that while it's one thing to endorse and support homebirth, it's another thing entirely to offer unrestrained support for unassisted childbirth and no prenatal care. It seems like they no longer have any concern about science-based health care at all.

 

:iagree:

[Mrs Mungo]

The crackpot articles is why Mothering could never really make a serious name for itself in the eyes of the medical community. Mothering Mag could have reached so many more new and young moms who want to do what their heart tells them to do (not let a baby "cry it out") if it could have been found in Dr.'s office waiting rooms.

 

Oh, I totally agree. I just ignored the crackpot articles.

[Jenny in Atl]

They did really start going over that edge... It's a delicate balance to offer advice on parenting vs. medical info. As a former LLLL, I always recommended Mothering with a caveat. I still long for a parenting mag that is not underwritten by formula/medical or other baby supply corps. Most of the mainstream parenting mags make me shudder.