*READ FIRST* Board Organization

b_1029

Stolen from May BMB.  We can always modify or update as we see fit. 

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 
        -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 the Bump's Terms Of Use (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! 

MONDAY

• Weekly Randoms 
• Meal Plan Monday
• Man Crush Monday (MCM)
• PGAL Check-In 
• Due Date Week Groups:
     - Group 1: July 1-8
     - Group 2: July 9-16
     - Group 3: July 17-24
     - Group 4: July 25-31
  

TUESDAY

• TW Tuesday
• Plus-size Mom Check-In 
• Ten Things Tuesday 

WEDNESDAY

• HDBD (Hump Day, Bump Day) 
• WTF Wednesday 
• Woman Crush Wednesday (WCW)
• Wellness Wednesday 

THURSDAY

• TTGP Grad Check-In 
• Thankful Thursday
• Unpopular Opinion (UO) 

FRIDAY

• Flame Free Friday Confession (FFFC)
• Product Spotlight: __________ (e.g., strollers, car seats, etc.) Looks like previous BMBs made a spreadsheet for product spotlight schedule with an item for each week
• Fit Friday

SATURDAY

• Weekend Randoms

SUNDAY 

• Weekly Questions

MONTHLY

• Symptoms Thread
• Appointments Thread
• FTM Check-In
• STM+ Check-In
• AMA Check-In

OTHER THREADS

• GTKY Threads
• High Risk 
• Milestone Threads (specific appointments/weeks gestation, etc)
• Breastfeeding
• PGAIF (Pregnant After Infertility)
  
• Single Moms
• Moms of Multiples

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

Important board organization notes on spotting/bleeding/losses 

If you are spotting or bleeding & would like support, please post to the Spotting/Bleeding Support Thread (TW). This thread comes with a general trigger warning.

If you are a contributing member with a confirmed loss, please create a New Discussion titled something like “Confirmed Loss (TW)”. Threads like these come with a general trigger warning. Consider before posting: Will you feel like any replies/support during this time will help you get through what you are going through? Or will it feel like you are announcing your loss to a roomful of strangers? Most importantly, consider what’s best for YOU during this time, and proceed from there. Feel free to copy and paste the language below if it helps you during this difficult time to not have to write as much. 

This is a post indicting a confirmed loss, and therefore please do not provide direct questions or lengthy replies during this difficult time. Use the "Love It" button to show your support, a quick “sorry for your loss,” or something similarly short and sweet. Please try to avoid tagging me in replies to this thread or anywhere else on this board moving forward.

Here is my loss story:

Your story portion can be as brief or as long as you would like or can be omitted entirely. Know that the board organizers have provided the above for your benefit. We felt it was important for anyone going through one to know it's okay to post a New Discussion and also important for anyone in that situation to have something easy to turn to in case they had to announce something so difficult.

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 Mar.). 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.

*Edited to change dates!

coffeeandcookies84

Opps! I’ll change my thread to something else

b_1029

@coffeeandcookies84 lol we’re both on it! Want to do the US thread? 

coffeeandcookies84

Yep I’m on it!

blaf322

What about FWP Saturday? 

Also, this is just food for thought but I feel like there are SOOOOO many check ins and it's excessive. Do we really need that many check ins if we have weekly check ins plus a few that really do warrant extra talk (like PGAL) in addition to randoms and symptoms threads? At that point, it seems like you're going to be reading the same thing over and over again and it'll make it harder for folks to keep up. 

ETA- that reads harshly.... but it's NBD when it's all said and done. I'll participate where I feel like I have new info to add. Just wanted to put it out there that it seemed that we could condense quite a bit here.

b_1029

@blaf322 which check ins would you condense? Just curious. I’ve never done this before, open to anything!

blaf322

Okay... here are my (long winded) thoughts lol. And, again, please know that I'm totally fine just participating where I think makes sense for me.... Keep in mind, that if I would qualify for  
Keep:

• PGAL Check-In 
• Due Date Week Groups
  
• Symptoms Thread 
• AMA Check-In
  
• High Risk 
• Moms of Multiples
• Appointments Thread-  though, personally, I still think it's excessive and could be discussed during weekly check ins, I'm fairly certain I'm in the minority here.

Get rid of:

• Plus-size Mom Check-In - I'm definitely considered obese when looking at BMI and while I think being heavier changes some things about some pregnancies (weight gain, more aches and pains, etc.) those things fit perfectly with symptoms and weekly check ins.... and any extras can be discussed in randoms.
• TTGP Grad Check-In - I didn't participate in TTGP, but there's a whole TTGP Grad board. Is a check in needed too? (Genuinely asking b/c I don't see it but recognize I don't know all the ins and outs there) 
• FTM Check-In, STM+ Check-In - STM+ won't be reading FTM check in's as often and that's where the help is really needed for them. And I'm not sure what I would say in STM+ that I couldn't just put in randoms or my weekly check in.... like, I'm tired from chasing a toddler... totally appropriate for other threads.
• Single Moms -if there's a big audience for this, great. I'll be surprised if that's the case.
• Milestone Thread- if we have an appt thread, I don't think we also need a milestone thread for important milestone appts. One or the other.
  

• PGAIF (Pregnant After Infertility) - I'm on the fence with this one and maybe I'm wrong here. Maybe it's a good to have in the beginning? I'm an IVF mama but just not sure how long standing/necessary this would be. 

b_1029

Agree with all the ones you said to keep. My thoughts below, anyone else have any opinions? 

- plus size mom check in: I would leave that up to whatever the majority of the people want. I don’t personally qualify but I know I’ve seen it on a lot of other boards. 

-TTGP check in: sorry, no, this isn’t one I would say we can get rid of (unless there’s like no one from TTGP besides me and @coffeeandcookies84 on here). I assume the grad board you’re talking about is the TTGP grad monthly check in thread for any graduates of TTGP, regardless of BMB. This would provide a space from anyone who formed relationships over in TTGP to keep interacting throughout their July pregnancies 

- FTM/STM check in- I see what you mean about the FTM thread. I know I’ve seen on other BMBs some sort of “ask a STM anything” that FTMs ask questions. Or I might just be thinking of the “questions” thread? I think STM+ thread would be good for ladies to discuss how they’re going to handle the transition from 1 to 2, 2 to 3 etc but that’s just my opinion. 

-single moms- I agree with your opinion. As more people join the board we can just see it that would apply to anyone. I can see it being really helpful to have 

-milestone - I agree. I think the main appt thread is fine. 

- PAIF- I think this is good to keep. Some people who went through infertility / treatments may struggle with participating in the weekly check in threads with those with surprise pregnancies or those who had easy conceptions. I know I’m not 100% sure at this point if I’ll participate in the weekly check ins for that reason. Not sure how others feel though. 

Edited for clarification 

blaf322

b_1029 said:

Agree with all the ones you said to keep. My thoughts below, anyone else have any opinions? 

- plus size mom check in: I would leave that up to whatever the majority of the people want. I don’t personally qualify but I know I’ve seen it on a lot of other boards. 

-TTGP check in: sorry, no, this isn’t one I would say we can get rid of (unless there’s like no one from TTGP on here). I assume the grad board you’re talking about is the TTGP grad monthly check in thread for any graduates of TTGP, regardless of BMB. This would provide a space from anyone who formed relationships over in TTGP to keep interacting. Again, not involved in TTGP so my opinion isn't as strong (and probably shouldn't carry much weight) as others who were! :-)

- FTM/STM check in- I see what you mean about the FTM thread. I know I’ve seen on other BMBs some sort of “ask a STM anything” that FTMs ask questions. Or I might just be thinking of the “questions” thread? I think STM+ thread would be good for ladies to discuss how they’re going to handle the transition from 1 to 2, 2 to 3 etc but that’s just my opinion. post away with the STM+ thread if that's what folks prefer. That said, I think it's okay to have those types of discussions in randoms. If there's a specific thread for virtually every possible thought anyone would care to read, what's the point of the randoms at that point?

-single moms- I agree with your opinion. As more people join the board we can just see it that would apply to anyone. I can see it being really helpful to have 

-milestone - I agree. I think the main appt thread is fine. 

- PAIF- I think this is good to keep. Some people who went through infertility / treatments may struggle with participating in the weekly check in threads with those with surprise pregnancies or those who had easy conceptions. I know I’m not 100% sure at this point if I’ll participate in the weekly check ins for that reason. Not sure how others feel though.  That's a fair point... especially in the beginning.

See above :-) in a nutshell.. all totally fine. Whatever the group decides is okay with me.

blaf322

@BumpAdmin sticky please

coffeeandcookies84

Just wanted to add my two cents...

I agree with all the KEEP threads @blaf322, and would maybe add a monthly or overall Questions thread.

I do feel like there could be some check-ins that could be condensed, but I also think we need a month or so to feel it out, and determine with ones are quite active, and which ones we can eliminate.

For example - if we from the get go eliminate the TTGP check in, but then we end up having a bunch of ladies join us from TTGP, they'll feel left out. (I only participated in this group for 1 month, but I know how much these ladies have grown to love each other and would like to stay close)

Also - might be a good idea to have a FTM ask STM+ Question board. Although there might also be some STM+ specific questions that would only pertain to them (ie: what are you doing to get toddler ready for baby, etc)

Hope that makes sense! I really only hope for a board that is organized and provides support and builds relationships. I've lurked the BMBs enough over the years, and can see how some months get totally out of control

b_1029

@blaf322 I just think questions like that would get lost in the randoms thread depending on how many posts there are in it a week. I think other boards have just had a giant “questions” thread that could definitely cover this vs a separate thread for FTM questions. 

I will say I’m not sure how much we need a “weekend randoms” thread vs just the normal weekly randoms but that’s about the only opinion I have on the other threads. 

blaf322

Your call on that one! We did daily randoms with DD's BMB (and still do with our FB group) so I don't have as much of an opinion there. But that was 3yrs ago and it seems like there were more that participated back then...so maybe that's why things didn't get lost as easily and specialty threads weren't necessary? 

b_1029

@blaf322 oh I don’t want to dictate this board haha! Whatever the majority thinks is fine with me. As more people join maybe more will weigh in. 

brookert615

*lurking from February BMB

Just giving my two cents? Honestly we have/had a lot of the same threads. Sometimes it's nice to refer back to these to get some conversations going at first. I know for me especially it was nice to connect with some of the girls on the boards if the usual threads didn't have us crossing paths. We all have our journeys and some of these threads really help connect some of us going through similar things. We started with a lot of those threads and as we noticed some that weren't getting much traction we just stopped creating those threads in the future. 

blaf322

@b_1029 - why don't we just go with your plan and, like @brookert615 suggested, we'll plan to stop threads as we see fit

Hormones have taken away all my tact so I'm putting too much energy into trying to not come off as a total B  so that might be best for all!

shamrocandroll

**Lurking from May**

I only start the threads that apply to me that I want to participate in if someone hasn't already started one for the week.  For example, I don't start the FTM thread, but if there is a FTM who wants to start it and use it, then great.  Some weeks, we miss threads all together.  The way I operate is if you don't see it for the week and you have something applicable you want to talk about, then go right ahead and start it.  That way, if no one is interested in a Plus Size thread, then one just doesn't get started.