First and foremost, thank you for joining us here at Parentingforums.org. We're happy to have you, and always looking to expand our community, and meet new people with new experiences and opinions to share. Now that you're here, please take a moment to consider our forum guidelines. Thank you!
1. No Advertising/Spamming:
No posting or PMing to advertise products, services, blogs, other websites, affiliate or referral links. Small, appropriate advertisements are now being allowed in signatures. Moderators have the right to decide if a signature ad is not appropriate, and will notify you via PM if yours needs to be changed or removed. You can also put a url in the Home Page field of your profile. Work at home parents have the option of advertising home-based businesses and the like in the "WAHP links" section.
2. Do not post inappropriate content:
No nude or sexually explicit images or videos. Adult conversations and graphic descriptions of sex acts have their place on another forum, but not here. No images of graphic violence. Also, please keep foul language toned down. We are all adults, we can handle a few well placed curse words here and there, but let's not get trashy.
3. No trolling, and no personal attacks:
A troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. This is not allowed and will not be tolerated.
"I disagree with you and/or what you do. I would do..." = NOT a Personal Attack.
"You're a terrible awful really bad person for...!" = Personal Attack
Speak to people the way you would want to be spoken to. Just because you can hide behind your computer and no one can see your face or hear your voice behind your text, does not mean you can say anything you want to people. We can all have a civil disagreement like the reasonable adults we are, without directing any negative personal comments at each other, hurting feelings, or coming off as condescending. Let's all be friends.
4. No crossposting:
Please do not post the same thing in more than one subforum. One post in any given subforum can be seen automatically by all of the users, and is not necessary to be repeated anywhere else. Duplicates of any thread will be deleted.
5. Do not bump dead threads:
Please try not to reply to threads that are over 30 days from the last post (refer to the top left hand corner of the last post in the thread for the date). It pushes out current threads where people are looking for your advice and support right now, in favor of a thread that was concluded and forgotten some time ago. If you are interested in discussing an old topic, you are more than welcome to create your own new thread reguarding the subject.
6. Cite your information:
If you are posting something you have not personally written or created, link us to where you got it if possible. Also, if you are presenting something as fact, please cite your information, or it will probably be taken as an opinion. This can be as simple as naming a study or a book, but links are preferred (within advertising guidelines).
7. Give and Take:
It is difficult to have respect for a person who shows up just to ask a question and never post again, or to ask for advice with no intentions to contribute to the community. Likewise, this isn't your blog. Don't post just to tell everybody else what they need to do. A forum is a community. Conversations are better when they're not one sided, and when they leave room for other opinions and experiences. If you come off as believing that you're answers are the only right answers, you will most likely just offend people.
Along these lines, the Introductions Forum is where your first post is required to go. It is only one post, and then you are free to post in the forum. Please use this first post to actually introduce yourself. Who are you, do you have kids, what are you like? Everyone knows how to introduce themselves. Please do not use this first post to ignore introductions, and ask for advice in an inappropriate place. You wont get many responses this way, and it isn't generally appreciated.
8. Use the report and ignore buttons:
Is there someone causing a problem? Offending you or others? Spamming, thread bumping, or trolling? Let the mods know by using the report button. All of us will see it as soon as we are signed on, and we appreciate it because we would rather be made aware than have something go unnoticed. The person you report won't know about it, and if we don't think action needs to be taken, we won't take it. Someone isn't breaking any rules but is driving you so crazy you can't hold your tongue? Stick them on your ignore list before you're the one in trouble. We also have a reputation system that you are welcome to use, giving you the opportunity to leave "negative" or "positive" rep along with an appropriate comment for a user you have good or bad feelings about. Feel free to use it.
9. Respect your mods:
Please do not insult or antagonize the moderation team. They volunteer their time to keep this place friendly and enjoyable. If you disagree with a moderation decision, you may send a respectful private message or email to one or all of the moderators expressing your concerns. Please do not write to the mods saying "Well YOU should do X so that I don't have to read and follow the rules! Your infraction hurts my feelings!" You're a grown up, you can follow the rules, and we aren't that strict around here so it really isn't hard. If you are warned or receive an infaction of some sort, please just accept it and move on, hopefully with intentions to do better in the future.
10. Stay on topic:
This is a parenting forum. Stay relevant. If you're not interested in talking about parenting, there are lots of other forums out there for you to pick from. The owners of this forum have a variety of forums to compliment ParentingForums.org. Those forums have their own set of guidelines and some of them allow a far greater latitude in what is considered acceptable than what is permitted here. If you feel a need at times to express yourself in ways outside of this forum's guidelines, check out one of Crowdgather's other forums.
http://www.crowdgather.com/site/[/URL]
Failure to follow the guidelines may result in a warning, deleted posts, or an infraction on your profile. We don't like to ban people, and that is always a last resort, but if we must then we will.
Happy posting, and thank you for your time!
1. No Advertising/Spamming:
No posting or PMing to advertise products, services, blogs, other websites, affiliate or referral links. Small, appropriate advertisements are now being allowed in signatures. Moderators have the right to decide if a signature ad is not appropriate, and will notify you via PM if yours needs to be changed or removed. You can also put a url in the Home Page field of your profile. Work at home parents have the option of advertising home-based businesses and the like in the "WAHP links" section.
2. Do not post inappropriate content:
No nude or sexually explicit images or videos. Adult conversations and graphic descriptions of sex acts have their place on another forum, but not here. No images of graphic violence. Also, please keep foul language toned down. We are all adults, we can handle a few well placed curse words here and there, but let's not get trashy.
3. No trolling, and no personal attacks:
A troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. This is not allowed and will not be tolerated.
"I disagree with you and/or what you do. I would do..." = NOT a Personal Attack.
"You're a terrible awful really bad person for...!" = Personal Attack
Speak to people the way you would want to be spoken to. Just because you can hide behind your computer and no one can see your face or hear your voice behind your text, does not mean you can say anything you want to people. We can all have a civil disagreement like the reasonable adults we are, without directing any negative personal comments at each other, hurting feelings, or coming off as condescending. Let's all be friends.
4. No crossposting:
Please do not post the same thing in more than one subforum. One post in any given subforum can be seen automatically by all of the users, and is not necessary to be repeated anywhere else. Duplicates of any thread will be deleted.
5. Do not bump dead threads:
Please try not to reply to threads that are over 30 days from the last post (refer to the top left hand corner of the last post in the thread for the date). It pushes out current threads where people are looking for your advice and support right now, in favor of a thread that was concluded and forgotten some time ago. If you are interested in discussing an old topic, you are more than welcome to create your own new thread reguarding the subject.
6. Cite your information:
If you are posting something you have not personally written or created, link us to where you got it if possible. Also, if you are presenting something as fact, please cite your information, or it will probably be taken as an opinion. This can be as simple as naming a study or a book, but links are preferred (within advertising guidelines).
7. Give and Take:
It is difficult to have respect for a person who shows up just to ask a question and never post again, or to ask for advice with no intentions to contribute to the community. Likewise, this isn't your blog. Don't post just to tell everybody else what they need to do. A forum is a community. Conversations are better when they're not one sided, and when they leave room for other opinions and experiences. If you come off as believing that you're answers are the only right answers, you will most likely just offend people.
Along these lines, the Introductions Forum is where your first post is required to go. It is only one post, and then you are free to post in the forum. Please use this first post to actually introduce yourself. Who are you, do you have kids, what are you like? Everyone knows how to introduce themselves. Please do not use this first post to ignore introductions, and ask for advice in an inappropriate place. You wont get many responses this way, and it isn't generally appreciated.
8. Use the report and ignore buttons:
Is there someone causing a problem? Offending you or others? Spamming, thread bumping, or trolling? Let the mods know by using the report button. All of us will see it as soon as we are signed on, and we appreciate it because we would rather be made aware than have something go unnoticed. The person you report won't know about it, and if we don't think action needs to be taken, we won't take it. Someone isn't breaking any rules but is driving you so crazy you can't hold your tongue? Stick them on your ignore list before you're the one in trouble. We also have a reputation system that you are welcome to use, giving you the opportunity to leave "negative" or "positive" rep along with an appropriate comment for a user you have good or bad feelings about. Feel free to use it.
9. Respect your mods:
Please do not insult or antagonize the moderation team. They volunteer their time to keep this place friendly and enjoyable. If you disagree with a moderation decision, you may send a respectful private message or email to one or all of the moderators expressing your concerns. Please do not write to the mods saying "Well YOU should do X so that I don't have to read and follow the rules! Your infraction hurts my feelings!" You're a grown up, you can follow the rules, and we aren't that strict around here so it really isn't hard. If you are warned or receive an infaction of some sort, please just accept it and move on, hopefully with intentions to do better in the future.
10. Stay on topic:
This is a parenting forum. Stay relevant. If you're not interested in talking about parenting, there are lots of other forums out there for you to pick from. The owners of this forum have a variety of forums to compliment ParentingForums.org. Those forums have their own set of guidelines and some of them allow a far greater latitude in what is considered acceptable than what is permitted here. If you feel a need at times to express yourself in ways outside of this forum's guidelines, check out one of Crowdgather's other forums.
http://www.crowdgather.com/site/[/URL]
Failure to follow the guidelines may result in a warning, deleted posts, or an infraction on your profile. We don't like to ban people, and that is always a last resort, but if we must then we will.
Happy posting, and thank you for your time!
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