**Read First** Board Organization

offtoneverland

Welcome to the November 2018 BMB! If you're new to TB, we're excited to have you! Below you will find information on how the flow of BMBs work, guidelines and helpful links. 

Some links that you may find helpful:

• What do all of those abbreviations mean?
• How to add a signature
  
• I want a ticker on my signature!
• How to GIF
  

How-To Guides:
-How to quote: Hit the "quote" at the bottom of the post you want to quote. You will be taken to the reply box with the quote set up already.
-How to tag: Add an "@" in front of the username of the person you are talking to.
-How to change your username: log in to TheKnot, hover over My Knot, and click Account Settings. Be sure to log out and log back in after changing your username. If you are having issues doing it that way, you can email community@thebump.com and ask them to change your username. Give them a few suggestions just in case your top choice is taken. It may take up to 24 hours for the name to update.
-How to insert a spoiler box: click the drop down list arrow next to the paragraph symbol (sixth from the left, next to the emoji button) and choose spoiler. It will insert a grey box, and everything that you type in there will go into the spoiler.

For the sake of board organization, here are some simple guidelines for posting threads:

DO: 
-Introduce yourself in the "Introductions" thread 
-Add yourself to the spreadsheet
-Feel free to start one of the weekly posts listed below: if a post is "assigned" but hasn't been started by midday, feel free to start it!
-Post your own thread if you have a confirmed loss
-Post a thread that would apply to the entire community and doesn't fall into one of the categories for daily threads listed below (Ex: what to pack in your hospital bag, baby gear, etc)
-Comment, share advice and show support for your fellow bumpies; this is a two-way street, to get support, you must show it as well

DON'T:
-Start a thread asking about symptoms; please post this in the current weekly "symptoms thread" - this is helpful because it keeps the board from getting cluttered and makes it so we can all see the whole discussion in one thread, rather than having one thread about MS, one about food cravings, another about vivid dreams, etc.
-Ask the community if you are pregnant, it is against TOU
-Start a thread asking for relationship advice; a professional is better suited for this task
-Post pictures of your pregnancy test, this is also against TOU
-Post a thread that asks a question only applying to yourself unless you suspect you may be going through a MC
-Get bent out of shape if someone calls you out for not following these guidelines; if you expect to be part of a supportive board (which we are), you need to be able to take the time to learn the ins and outs of the board

Here are some weekly/monthly ideas that I thought would be good to start with. We can always add to best suit our boards needs! So please let me know if you have any other ideas!

**Please let me know in a comment below if you would like to take charge and post one of these threads each week, and I will add your name! If an assigned thread isn't posted by midday, anyone is free to post it! If a certain thread isn't assigned, but you want to post it, GO FOR IT! This is just to help make sure everything is organized and clean. **

MONDAY

• Weekly Randoms (@tessiesmom26)
• Monday Bitchfest 
• Product Spotlight: __________ (e.g., strollers, car seats, etc.) (@offtoneverland )
• Ask a STM (@PMForbie )
• Monday Ticker Change

TUESDAY

• Twatwaffle (TW) Tuesday or TMI Tuesday
• First Time Mom Check-In (@linz36 )
  
• GTKY 
• High Risk Pregnancy Check-In (@blovemama )
  
• Moms of Multiples Check-In 
• Ten Things Tuesday
• Tuesday Ticker Change

WEDNESDAY

• WTF Wednesday
• HDBD (Hump Day, Bump Day) 
• PGAL Check-In 
• Second Time Mom+ Check-In--every 2 weeks (@wannaflickone )
  
• Plus-size Mom Check-In (@Copperboom86 )
  
• Wednesday Ticker Change

THURSDAY

• Unpopular Opinion (UO) Thursday 
• TTGP Grad Check-In (@lurvleybunchococonuts )
• What My Pregnant Self is Eating 
• Thursday Ticker Change

FRIDAY

• Flame Free Friday Confession (FFFC) (@Copperboom86 )
  
• Why My SO is a ... 
• Why My Pregnant Self is Crying 
  
• Fit Mom Friday/Healthy Habits Check-In (@wannaflickone )
  
• Friday Ticker Change

SATURDAY

• Why my SO is Awesome
• Weekend Randoms
• Pregnant after IF (@linz36 )
• Saturday Ticker Change

SUNDAY

• Weekly Questions 
• AMA Check in
• HG Check in
• Symptoms Thread 
• Weekly Appointments (@middleschoolmommy ) 
• Sunday Ticker Change

MONTHLY

• CS/VBAC Support Thread (@KellyT22 )
• Home Birth/Birth Center Support Thread
• Financial Preparation

Once we all get farther along, we will also have pinned threads for things like ultrasounds, sex announcements and birth announcements.

I've copy/pasted this from previous boards, and it seems to be the way that they are all organized, but of course we should feel free to tweak for our needs! For example, some boards do weekly ticker changes while others do weekly due date check-ins (ex, DD 1st week of Nov.). 

If anyone has a suggestion for other threads, please feel free to comment a suggestion.

PLEASE keep in mind that there will eventually be a lot of us on this board, and an organized board will be much easier for everyone to use. If we can all keep the one-off posts to a minimum the board won't be too cluttered to navigate, and hopefully we won't end up answering the same question 2,000 times.

Let's have a great BMB ladies!

offtoneverland

@BumpAdmin Can we get a sticky, please? Thank you! 

therealfrizzle

@bumpadmin please sticky, and can we get the first one unstickied?

pelorunningmama

What do you guys think about rolling fit Mom Friday and healthy habits check in into one post? I know in my prior board, there wasn’t a whole lot of traction on it. Have both of those been really popular for other boards?

If more of these don’t fill up by end of next week, I’m happy to start more. You can mark me down for whatever we decide on the fit mom/healthy habits.

offtoneverland

@wannaflickone It makes sense to me to combine them. I believe another BMB did that too. I haven't participated for long on BMBs before so I'm not really sure what the difference is between the two threads. We can combine them for now and see if any other members later on would like to separate them. What day of the week do you think is best--Friday or Sunday? I'll sign you up for whatever day you'd like to do it. 
I thought we could wait a while to assign more of the threads, since we're still early in the month. I'd like to save some threads for people who are due late in November, that way no one feels left out! For now, if a thread's not assigned, whoever thinks of it first can start it.  

**Note for everyone:** I was curious about the product spotlight threads, so I looked on other BMBs and copied their spreadsheets and changed the dates. You can find our spreadsheet here. Let me know if the link doesn't work. If you have any suggestions for other topics you want to see, let me know! I thought we'd go ahead and start it this coming Monday, unless anyone thinks it's best to wait. 
ETA: clarifying that the product spotlight spreadsheet question was directed at everyone. 

pelorunningmama

I’m good with Friday. And good call! I’m totally forgetting how early it all is still. Testing spreadsheet now!

blovemama

I can post the Tuesday High Risk check in. 

pelorunningmama

I totally failed on my first job because I had it in my head it was Wednesday. I am realizing now it is Tuesday. Too early to claim #pregnancybrain?? Sorry guys! I'll make sure to get it up on the real Wednesday next week.

offtoneverland

@wannaflickone I totally failed too because I meant to start the product spotlight thread yesterday and got too tired. Trying to muster up the energy to do it now...

pelorunningmama

Should I get the spreadsheet up and running? I stole a template from another month board to work off of. What I have on it so far is EDD, username, first name, age, location, singleton/twins/multipes, team blue, pink, green, ftm or other children.

People can fill in as much as they feel comfortable with and what they know... obviously some of the topics will come later. Any other categories y'all would like added?

offtoneverland

What does everyone think of having a weekly appointment thread where people can post upcoming appointments and results? I know a few people had appointments already and I'm anxious to see how they went, but there's not really a good place to put it. Maybe on Sunday or Monday?

pelorunningmama

@offtoneverland  I think that’s a good idea. Either day is great!

pink_polkadots

Do you guys think we should have a new symptoms and questions thread every week or do you think one thread for each is enough? 

lifesabeach85

I think we will probably need both as the group gets bigger and people have more/varied questions.

pink_polkadots

@lifesabeach85 so a new one every week?

lifesabeach85

At least for questions I would say yes, but I hate making  decisions! 

pelorunningmama

Maybe a new one every week would be good. I think definitely for questions. 

pink_polkadots

I was just curious because new ones haven’t been posted in a bit, so I didn’t wanna post a new one if everyone was happy with just have a single post for each. I don’t mind either way!

offtoneverland

@pink_polkadots I hadn't started any new ones yet since we still don't have many members and the threads haven't been super active. I do think it'll be important to have new ones weekly (or maybe monthly?) depending on how active the board is. 

pink_polkadots

@offtoneverland sounds perfect!

TheSouffleGirl

I like this system!  Thank you for posting, @offtoneverland. My old group didn't have this and things got crazy.  

@pink_polkadots: I would vote for a weekly questions thread AND a weekly symptoms thread.  There will probably be some repetition, but my old group also tried to keep one thread going for a reaaaallly long time, and I always felt bad when someone (usually a one-timer or newbie who found the board just to ask) was feeling emotional and scared about something and got yelled at for not reading all 78 pages from the last five months to make sure no one else had the same question before seeking comfort.  

pink_polkadots

@TheSouffleGirl yea that makes a lot of sense! 

linz36

@offtoneverland Once the board gets busier I could do the First Time Mom Check-in!

offtoneverland

@linz36 Signed you up for it!  

KristoKekerooni

Who is going to do the TTGP check in? I am 100% not volunteering, I can't be held accountable. but I keep looking for it and I want it!

lurvleybunchococonuts

@KristoKekerooni Ha! I want one too but I also feel like I'd space on it and forget  

ETA: @offtoneverland I suppose you can put me down for the TTGP check in... but I aint making any promises that I'll remember 

KristoKekerooni

@lurvleybunchococonuts , I'm sure you can put it up for adoption after more people get here.

The check-in, I mean. Obviously. 

offtoneverland

@lurvleybunchococonuts Done! Nbd if you forget; someone else can stop up to post it! 

Everyone: I updated the thread to do ticker changes instead of the weekly due date check in, based on the poll results. We'll need someone to start tomorrow's thread! I'd do it, but my week doesn't roll over until Wednesday. I can post it anyways if no one else wants to though.

linz36

@offtoneverland can we get an IF grad check-in? I wasn’t super active in TTGP but I was active in IF and I’m rooting for some more of us to join this month and I think it could be fun!

offtoneverland

@linz36 There is a Pregnant after IF check in on Thursdays. Does that work? It wasn't started yesterday, so you can go ahead and start it if you want! I can rename it if you'd like. 

linz36

Ok cool! I’ll do that and new mom check in on tuesdays. I’ll put a reminder in my phone!

linz36

I’ll start it next Thursday

offtoneverland

@linz36 Great! I'll sign you up for it. It would probably be fine if you wanted to start it today if you want; there seem to be lots of ladies here who went through IF treatments and would probably appreciate a place to talk about it. 

linz36

@offtoneverland I went ahead and started it today. Is it okay if we do it every saturday? It's much easier for me than thursdays!

offtoneverland

@linz36 Sure! I don't see a problem with switching it to Saturday.

pelorunningmama

I was thinking of only doing the second time Mom check in every two weeks (I skipped last week) since we have so many check ins. Think that is ok?

@offtoneverland should I start a new symptoms thread? We decided weekly, right?

offtoneverland

@wannaflickone I think doing the STM check in every two weeks is fine. Sure, if you want to start a new symptoms thread that'd be great! I think we're still working off the first one I started when the board first opened. 

linz36

@wannaflickone yes to the new symptoms thread! I was going to post in the old one but if you start a new one I’ll wait!

middleschoolmommy

@offtoneverland I'll claim the weekly appointment updates!

KellyT22

Did anyone claim Wednesday Ticker change? I could do that one. Otherwise any thoughts on expanding the CS thread to include VBAC support? 

offtoneverland

@middleschoolmommy Done!
@KellyT22 I thought it would be a good idea to leave the ticker changes un-claimed so that anyone has a chance to start them. But it's not all up to me, so if others want to assign the ticker changes, that's fine! I think it would be fine to include VBAC in the CS thread. Or do you think they should be separate threads for those seeking different kinds of support? Any thoughts?