AP News - May 21, 2007
By Jocelyn Noveck
Online Anonymity Lets Users Gets Nasty

The picture of Ms. Branum and her abode:
By Jocelyn Noveck
Online Anonymity Lets Users Gets Nasty
Who would have thought that people could be so nasty....When a California woman recently gave birth to a healthy baby just two days after learning she was pregnant, the sudden change to her life was challenging enough. What April Branum definitely didn't need was a deluge of nasty Internet comments.
Postings on message boards made cracks about Branum's weight (about 400 pounds - one reason she says didn't realize sooner she was pregnant). They also analyzed her housekeeping ability, based on a photo of her home. And they called her names. "A pig is a pig," one person wrote. Another suggested that she "go on the show 'The Biggest Loser.'"
"The thing that bothered me most was, people assumed because I am overweight, I'm going to be a bad mom," Branum says. "And that is not one little bit true."
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The picture of Ms. Branum and her abode: