***READ THIS FIRST*** Board Organization

mermaidca

Since we're starting to trickle in, we should talk about some basics.  This is our board so let's discuss and come to a consensus on how we want it run.

I stole this from previous BMBs.  Full of great info!

Some links that you may find helpful: 
What do all of those abbreviations mean? 
How to add a 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 you don't see it started yet
        -Check to see if a thread has already been started on your topic or question so we can avoid too many threads of the same topic
        -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: 
        -Ask the community if you are pregnant, it is against TOU 
        -Post pictures of your pregnancy test, this is also against TOU (there is a thread on the open 1st tri page for this)
        -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 may 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! Per this BMB's decision, anyone can start any thread on the day. 

** MONDAY 
Weekly Randoms
Monday Ticker Change 

**TUESDAY 
Ten Things Tuesday 
Tuesday Ticker Change 

**WEDNESDAY 
HDBD (Hump Day, Bump Day) 
PGAL Check-In 
Wednesday Ticker Change 

**THURSDAY 
TTGP Grad Check-In
Thursday Ticker Change 
Thankful Thursday

**FRIDAY 
Flame Free Friday Confession (FFFC)  
Friday Ticker Change 

**SATURDAY 
Weekend Randoms 
Saturday Ticker Change 

**SUNDAY 
Weekly Questions 
Weekly symptoms Thread 
Weekly appointments
Sunday Ticker Change 

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. 

mermaidca

I feel like I'm being a bossy pants posting so much but I'm just too freaking excited!!

BarefootContessa

I'm happy with this. I also noticed on March 19, though, that they're doing "week" check ins rather than the day of the week that you're due. I kind of like that. It makes you more closely associated with those who are due around you, as opposed to those due three weeks apart. On my last two BMBs, I was due at the end of the month and it felt like torture to check in with people who were 3-4 weeks ahead of me and experiencing something new.

mermaidca

Love it @BarefootContessa that makes much more sense to me too.

luckywife10

@BarefootContessa I was at the end of DS's BMB and I agree, it was torture!

I'm in favor of the week check-ins versus the day of the week check-ins. For those of you unfamiliar with what we're talking about, some BMB check-ins are the day of the week you're due. For example, everyone due on a Monday (April 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29) posts on the Monday Ticker Change thread. Other BMB like March 19 do check-ins by the week. For example, everyone due April 1st through 7th posts on the Week One weekly thread. What are everyone's thoughts? We could do a poll if need be.

kangstadt

Sounds good to me, @BarefootContessa and @luckywife10.  Also, no apologies needed, @mermaidca!  I almost spilled my guts to my sister AND my parents today, lol.  We need the outlet somewhere!

MRDCle

@barefootcontessa I love the idea of weekly changes vs. ticker changes. 

gollygeeitsamy

Agreed with everyone who posted above, I like the idea of weekly instead of ticker. 

MRDCle

When does a spreadsheet get started? I joined my last BMB late so this is a whole new world for me!

mermaidca

Anytime I think @MRDCle.  I just didn't want my old lady to show when I don't actually know how to set it up....

MRDCle

Lol @mermaidca it shouldn't be too hard - I can make one real quick.

MRDCle

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MLinTmNE_-SWl0sBEJXqsqk-oDcy-KODcm5H2DhuUGs/edit?usp=sharing

mermaidca

Thanks @MRDCle!!  Want to start a thread for it?

MRDCle

Oh! Sure thing! Just gonna steal it from March lol

luckywife10

@BumpAdmin can we get this stickied please?

MRDCle

Any thoughts to a randoms or spam thread, either daily or weekly? We did daily spam in F15 and it worked pretty well for just day to day convo and keeping up with each other.

berky84

@MRDCle

I prefer a daily randoms thread. My last BMB had one and it was great and the place people really bonded. 

lyse01

Thanks to everyone who started the weekly ticker threads. Thoughts on having the titles line up with weeks pregnant (ie this week’s “week 1” would actually be week 6)? Does that make sense? Or am I just not getting the current scheme?

luckywife10

@lyse01 right now the weekly ticker change indicates in which week of April is your EDD. For example, everyone with a EDD between April 1- April 7 posts on the Week 1 ticker change. In my opinion if the titles line up with weeks pregnant and look something like "Week 1, 6 Weeks along 8/6" that might get a little long/confusing. 

socks2819

Can I throw in there per @kangstadt a Friday Fit Momma thread?  I'd love to be held accountable to keeping up with my workouts and do things like sharing healthy recipes, etc.

dapoint23

@mermaidca can you possibly add a big READ FIRST BEFORE POSTING to the title of this thread? Lol

lyse01

@luckywife10 gotcha!

MRDCle

An idea - occasional random GTKY questions? I know we put them in like, STM and weekly checkins- but it might be nice to have board-wide GTKYs as well to include everyone

kangstadt

Sounds good to me, @MRDCle.  

justaplainbagel

I started a PGAL thread since its Weds. And we havent had one yet. Figured I'd get that goin 

MRDCle

@kangstadt now if only I could think of one

bbbbcccceeee

Hello! I was told I should post here for comments on the rules.  I just wanted to put in my thought on one thing - I noticed on a couple of posts there was a response that the post is "one off" and therefore was not appropriate to post and should have been in another long thread.  I wanted to flesh this out a bit more to make sure I understand the rules here and if everyone agrees.

Of course I get this is not only my board and that I could be in the minority here, which is totally fine and maybe not the right board for me then and I am absolutely fine with that! But maybe I am not the only one and we can find a happy medium! I totally get that some posts can be repetitive and we do not need 50 threads a day of introductions, or about a symptom, etc, or how we are feeling that week etc and those make sense to be in their own threads. 

However, for the most part, I enjoy hearing people's questions or concerns and being able to tell what they are talking about in the title, which will be lost a lot and buried in 10 page long threads.   I was on the bump boards in 2014 for my baby, and it was an amazing place, and I dont remember any kind of restriction like this. We had the weekly threads and people respected those, but we also had many lively threads that someone just posted because they were thinking about it that day, many in the day, and it made it for a great board to be on!  

I also do not want to feel that I will be scolded if I post something that someone here thinks should be in another thread (albeit not meaning to imply it was done inappropriately. I know the people are just trying to enforce what they see as the rule and being super nice about it) .  I feel like we will lose something as a board if we feel we are pigeonholed into certain threads only and we fear that someone will be annoyed and feel like it is a "one-off" post and we are breaking some sort of rule if we do post it.  And some things will never get addressed in a longer board or seen by people who are not looking to dive into a very long page thread and not realize that it covers so so many topics. I already feel like the board is less active since there are only main topic threads. What I enjoy are the topics created by each of us every day about whatever it is we are thinking or concerned about at the moment.

I am all for a VERY active and happy board and I would love to be able to see what other people are saying and choose the threads to open that I am most interested in or intrigued by. 

Just my thoughts! I think there is a happy medium and it so far has seemed really strict to me!

MRDCle

@bbbbcccceeee I agree that we should be able to find a happy medium between NO EXTRA THREADS EVER and 25 posts a day asking the same thing. I think since this boards is so young (maybe a week old at this point?) that it hasn’t had time to organically develop or even get past the growing pains of a new forum. I think as more members arrive and more topics pop up we’ll see more threads outside of the weeklies as well. I’m not sure if that helps at all but I would love for you to stick around and kind of help form the board into something you enjoy and are able to take something from if possible!

gollygeeitsamy

@bbbbcccceeee I agree with what @MRDCle said I think we have time to find out what works best for us, there should be a happy medium like you said of open threads that are specific to questions, symptoms, etc. as well as the ability to have one off posts. 

I think we are trying to stay away from one off posts from users who aren't going to try to engage in the group and only care if people answer their post and that it something super specific they may not apply to the majority of people here.  While they can still post, those discussions or questions can easily be held in our threads. I think we just need time to find our balance. Does that make sense?

I hope you stick around, I've enjoyed a lot of the discussions in our threads so far. 

luckywife10

@gollygeeitsamy I agree with everything you said especially about people posting only to get an answer and then disappearing again. That's what's considered a "drive by." 

Let's talk it out and find a happy medium! We're all going to be here a long time and go through a lot together

loveanddatadriven

While we're talking about guidelines/rules... What are people's feelings on posting about pregnancy loss from our own group? My feeling is that it should be totally fine for someone to create a new discussion about her miscarriage/stillbirth (only if she wants to) because I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to support a hurt mama, especially someone we've all gotten to know. I think even a drive-by should just be given support. I have not gone through pregnancy loss (or pregnancy for that matter), so I'm missing those important perspectives. Do you ladies think loss threads are too stressful for others? What has been done on previous BMBs?

Obviously, I hope that every single pregnancy announced on this board goes to term H&H, and that this isn't even an issue.

Also, I'm not going through loss, just trying to be pre-emptive about building a supportive culture for all.

kangstadt

@loveanddatadriven, I haven't had experience with what other BMBs do, but I agree we should show support to all pregnant mamas. 

On a separate note, what is everyone's thoughts on a "What I wish I had known," thread?  For STM+ moms giving info and advice to FTM, etc.  Saw it on the March board, but I don't want to clog up the board with too many posts if you think this is too similar to the weekly questions thread.

lilpotatomama

@kangstadt I would LOVE a thread like that! 

RainNFyre

These posts are so tough and we should support all the mamas. Post total should include *Trigger Warning* because there are women who don’t want to read those kinds of things for their own reasons. Want to give everyone appropriate space.

smoochie041719

Am I missing the ticker change posts or have they not been going up? I was really active on my first BMB April 2017 but I didn’t join until it was a bit more established, so I’m not sure how the early days went. It is seeming like there are a lot of on-off posts, and while I think everyone should get the support they need, it’s making it a little hard to keep track. We also had a random thread for daily chatter baby related and not. It even carried over tonour Facebook group, it worked really well! 

MRDCle

BabyBlake042017 said:

Am I missing the ticker change posts or have they not been going up? I was really active on my first BMB April 2017 but I didn’t join until it was a bit more established, so I’m not sure how the early days went. It is seeming like there are a lot of on-off posts, and while I think everyone should get the support they need, it’s making it a little hard to keep track. We also had a random thread for daily chatter baby related and not. It even carried over tonour Facebook group, it worked really well! 

Hey! Instead of ticker changes, we've been doing weeks - for example, I'm due 4/15 so I'm participating in the week 3 group, which covers 4/15-4/21. That way everyone is chatting more with people around their due date rather than everyone due on a Monday for example.

Right now we have  a weekly randoms post - we did daily "spam" with my first BMB, but right now I don't know if we would fill one up daily! 

smoochie041719

@MRDCle Thanks for explaining it to me, I was trying to figure out the week posts too since everyone has different weeks depending on due date, but I get it now! (I also changed my bump name just now, so sorry if it messes up the tags on this response)

lyse01

@mermaidca can you edit the list of weekly threads to reflect reality as we’ve discussed in this thread? Suggested edits, with ? denoting us not being consistent:

MONDAY 
Weekly Randoms
Week 1/2/3/4 Check Ins

**TUESDAY 
Ten Things Tuesday?
STM+ Check in?

**WEDNESDAY 
HDBD (Hump Day, Bump Day) 
PGAL/PAIF Check-In?

**THURSDAY 
TTGP Grad Check-In?
Thankful Thursday
Unpopular Opinions (UO)

**FRIDAY 
Flame Free Friday Confession (FFFC)  

**SATURDAY 
Weekend Randoms ?
Healthy Habits?

**SUNDAY 
Weekly Questions?
Weekly symptoms Thread 
Weekly appointments?

mermaidca

Hey @lyse01 it won't let me edit.  I wonder if it's because it was "stickied"

lyse01

@mermaidca boo. Oh, maybe it’s been too long since the original post?

MRDCle

Yeah I think you can only edit for a month.