I received an abusive guestbook entry, what should I do?

First thing you will want to do is log in to your Member Account at and password protect your baby's web page. This ensures that only the friends and family you want to see your baby's web page are able to.

Next, go to the Guestbook Management section to either delete or hide the entries you don't want to appear on your baby's web page. Be sure to save a copy of this entry if you choose to take action against the individual harassing you.

Unfortunately there isn't anything that Babies Online can do as far as taking action against the person who created these entries because we have no way of knowing who it is. However, you can use their IP address to locate the ISP and send a complaint to the company that is providing internet access to this individual. Any reputable company should, at the very least, contact their member and request that they stop harassing you. If their behavior continues, the ISP should suspend them after a warning has been issued.

You can find out who the ISP is by directing your browser to http://www.arin.net/whois and copy & paste the IP Address associated with this entry into the form found there. The resulting page will tell you who their ISP is and how to contact them. Then send them an email with all of your information (complaint, users IP Address, and date/time of the entry - make sure to indicate the time is Mountain Time).

If you find that it is an AOL member posting these entries, please log in to your AOL account and go to keyword: notify - that is where you can report violations to American Online. Be sure to copy the ENTIRE guestbook entry, as well as your baby's URL, in the comments section. Also remember to indicate that the time of this entry is Mountain Time.

For your convenience, feel free to copy the following verbiage into your report to any ISP - be sure to include the guestbook entry too!:

To Whom It May Concern, One of your members signed my *baby's* guestbook with the following remarks. I find this to be very offensive and I would like action to be taken against your member for violating your terms of service. For your information, following is the guestbook entry that your member made, and the IP address so that you can locate the member. Please note the time stamp as well is in Mountain Time. (Insert Entire Guestbook Entry Here Including IP Address & Date) Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. If you need further information from me please let me know.

If the ISP does not cooperate with you I'm afraid your only other option is to contact an attorney and get a court order demanding that they turn over their member's contact information so that you can sue them civilly.