Message Board Guidelines

The Parenthood.com community is one of the oldest parenting communities on the web today. Our forums are designed to be comfortable, thought provoking, helpful, safe, and easy to use. Our guidelines are short and simple and we can summarize them in a single sentence. Post unto others as you would have them post unto you, keep your messages respectful and family-friendly (PG-13).

A quick guide to basic netiquette

1. DO NOT USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IN YOUR MESSAGE BOARD POSTINGS. IT IS THE ONLINE VERSION OF "SHOUTING", IS DIFFICULT TO READ, AND IS ANNOYING AS HECK.

2. Spamming the boards. There's already too much SPAM in the world and we don't need it here. Spamming is posting the same message more than once on a forum or on multiple threads.

3. Monopolizing a conversation. Flooding, the posting one message after another to the same forum is a form of disruption. A thread with 30 messages, 27 of which are posted by the you, is not a dialog. It is a monolog.

4. Off-Topic Posting. Our forums are organized in such a way that you can talk about just about anything - but you need to post your topic and thoughts to the appropriate forum. For example: if you've just remodeled your kitchen and are looking for design tips, our members will be happy to help. However posting your new kitchen photos and design tips to one of our Pregnancy discussions isn't a great way to make friends and influence people. If you can't find a home for your topic, send a private message to one of our hosts or moderators and they will lend a hand.

5. Quoting or Moving Messages Out of Context. Copying all are part of a message from one thread to another is usually a no-no. You can quote a message within a specific thread by clicking the 'Quote' button when you reply to a message. We would rather you NOT transfer issues or posts from one forum or thread. Hurt feeling can result when a post from one place is taken out of context and shared with others on a different forum or thread.

6. Instigating Needless Trouble. Please don't direct and link people to controversial or problematic threads just to generate additional controversy or to keep a brawl going.

7. "Flame Throwing" Flame wars are passionate discussions which have spiraled out of control. When they occur, our moderators and hosts will do what we can to restore decorum and order. If the discussion has degenerated past the point of recovery, we will lock and/or delete the discussion. Be a peace maker, not a trouble maker: if you hear about a controversial discussion on a board you don't normally frequent, don't go there just to join in the fray.