Welcome to our iVillage community. We have message boards that cover almost every topic, from childcare to hair care; from meeting the right partner to making ends meet. We encourage you to find the communities that speak to your life and interest, read along and add your stories and opinions.

Terms of Service
Be a Leader

What's in it for me?
We're very proud of our award-winning community. iVillage's message boards are a storehouse of wisdom, humor, support and information. If you have a question, you'll find answers. If you have a problem, you'll get good advice, and if you have a tip or a funny story to share, you'll find an appreciative audience.

Join to Post
If you're not yet a member of iVillage, you can read our boards but you can't post messages. Becoming a member is free and it just takes a few minutes to join iVillage. During the registration process, you will be asked to choose a member name. Your member name will appear on all the messages you post. If you've already joined but you have forgotten your member name or password, you can retrieve your member information.

Terms of Service
At iVillage, our goal is to provide a safe, friendly community where members can find the information and support they need. When you join, you agree to abide by our terms of service. The Terms of Service set standards for our website and our community. The Rules of Play provide additional rules and information for our community, so please take a moment to review these guidelines.

Finding the Right Board
iVillage has nearly 1,000 message boards. On Message Board Central, you'll find a selection of message boards. To see a complete list of boards for each of our channels, just click on the tabs to the left of the list of message boards. For example, if you want to learn about different parenting styles, you can see a list of diet boards by clicking on the tab that says Pregnancy & Parenting. If you can't find a board to suit your needs, just ask the iVillage Tour Guide.

If you're looking for information on specific topics, you can find messages by entering a word or words into the search box at the top of every message board page.

Board display
When you open a board, you will see a list of discussion topics. To read a message, just click on the title. To ask a question or start a discussion of your own, click on the Start a New Discussion button.The main message board page also lists the name of the person who started the discussion, the number of replies the message has received and the time of the most recent reply. The message list is organized by time of reply, so discussions with new messages appear at the top of the list.

Icons and Abbreviations
The small pictures (called emoticons) you see in front of the title of the messages symbolize the message's content or tone (for example, "question", "important", "happy" etc.) When you add a reply or start a discussion, you can choose an emoticon for your message.

People who post on message boards often use abbreviations to express themselves, such as LOL ("laugh out loud"). Here's a list of common abbreviations you may see on the boards.

Community Leaders
In the About this Community area, you will see the name(s) of the board's community leader(s). iVillage has several hundred volunteer community leaders. They have stepped forward to lead a board or chat because they have a strong interest in a subject and they enjoy talking about it with others. They welcome newcomers and keep the conversation lively. You can recognize a community leader because her member name begins with cl-. Please note that our community leaders are volunteers and are not meant to be experts, moderators or official representatives of iVillage. They cannot remove messages from their hosted board or affect another user's account.

Sorting and Displaying Messages
To read a message, just click on the title of the post. For a list of message display options, use the pull-down menu on the box that says Show Me All Discussions. For example, you can set the display to show messages from yesterday, messages from last week or messages that you've recently read.

To see a list of discussion titles and responses, click on Outline View in the shaded bar at the top of the page. Like the Outline View, Folder View opens separately in a small window. It's a handy way to keep your place as you move through the board reading messages.

Board Settings
Near the Welcome! greeting at the top of message board pages, you'll see a link to Board Settings. Board Settings allows you to set your time zone preference. It also allows you to choose to display only highly-rated messages on boards where message rating is available. Your Board Settings page is private -- you are the only one who can access your personal settings.

Favorite Boards
At the top of message board pages, you'll also see a link to Favorite Boards. Favorite Boards is a handy (and private) place to store a list of the boards you like to visit. To add a board to your Favorites list, click on the Add this Board to My Favorites button in the shaded area at the top of the board.

Favorite Boards also keeps track of message boards that you've recently visited, so you can use it to help you find your way back to interesting discussion.

Profiles
Creating a member profile gives you a chance to express yourself -- and helps other members get to know you better. To view someone's profile, just click on her member name.

To create a profile, click on the Profile link near the Welcome! message at the top of the message board page. Answer the questions you choose to answer, then save the page and go on the second and third pages. If you would rather not answer a question, just leave the field blank and it won't be displayed on your profile. You can choose a personal avatar (image) to display on messages that you post.

By clicking on Update Your Profile, you can see private lists of members that you've added to your Friends or Ignore lists. Your Friends will be able to view all three pages of your profile. When you add other members to your Ignore list, the messages that they've posted won't be displayed to you.

Editing messages
Messages can be edited after they have been posted. Open your message, then click on the Edit link at the bottom. This link only shows up if you are the person who posted the message. When a message is edited after it was posted, the date and time of the change are noted on the message.

Search
To search, enter a term into the search box at the top of the message board. You will be able to search for messages that have been posted within the past year.

Update your member information

Retrieve your password

Report a violation
If you read a message on our boards that you believe is a violation of iVillage's Terms of Service, click on the Report a Violation link on the page where you read the message. You can also email Spamfree@mail.ivillage.com

Please make sure to include a full copy of the message, including the name of the person who posted it, the date and time of the post and the name of the board where the message was posted.

Service Windows
Message board maintenance and upgrades take place on Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 5am - 7am ET. During this time, boards may be temporarily unavailable.

To Contact Us
For general comments or questions, email feedback@mail.ivillage.com

Technical Help
If you're experiencing an error or are having technical difficulties, please check our Tech Update for a listing of issues we're working on and the latest maintenance notices. Our Tech Help for Message Boards article offers general information to help you troubleshoot the problem. If you continue to experience difficulties, please visit our Customer Support area or contact us for more assistance.



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