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About Posting to the Newsletters

Berkeley Parents Network > Help & Frequently Asked Questions > About Posting to the Newsletters


Questions about Posting to the Newsletters Problems posting to the newsletters Policies for Specific Newsletters

How do I post a message to the newsletter?

You must be a subscriber in order to post a message, with the exception of individual tutors who live locally.

If you are a subscriber, you can post a message to any of the newsletters using the posting forms on the BPN website. You'll fill out the form, and your message will be sent to the moderator for that newsletter for inclusion in the next issue. See How does it work? for details about how this works.

Every BPN newsletter has the web address of its posting form at the top. Or, you can go directly to this page. If you aren't sure which newsletter to post to, see Which newsletter should I post to?

If you aren't a subscriber, and you are eligible to subscribe, you can join the list. It's free. See Who can join the list?. Click here for the subscribe form. Once you have received the "Welcome" message, you will be able to post to the newsletters.

We can't accept postings from people who aren't eligible to subscribe (out of area, or not parents.) For more info see Who can join the list?.

Note: this information is about how to post to a BPN newsletter. If you are wondering how to post a review to the website, see How can I add a recommendation to the website?


How can I find out if you received my posting?

If you got an email confirmation after you posted, then we received your posting. We ask that subscribers please not to write in to ask about the status of their post, because with 21,413 subscribers on the list, the BPN volunteers just cannot handle the correspondence. Please instead wait for the newsletter you posted to, to see if your post has appeared. Also see the related question below: I sent you a message but I don't see it in the newsletter.

How do I reply to a posting in the newsletter?

Most people post anonymously, so the way to reply is by posting to the newsletter as explained above. This also lets other subscribers have the benefit of your advice, so we encourage replying this way. If the person who posted included their email address in their message, you can also reply directly to them.

What are all the different newsletters?

A list of the newsletters that are currently going out, and when they are usually mailed, is shown on This Page.

Here are links to the FAQ for each newsletter: ... Advice ... Announcements ... Childcare ... Household ... Marketplace ... Recommendations ... Schools ... Parents of Teens ... UC Families


Can I post anonymously?

Yes, unless you are posting a message where people will need to contact you, such as a "for sale" item.

For all the posting forms, we ask for your email address so we can check our subscriber list to make sure that the posting is coming from a subscriber. However, most of the posting forms ask you whether your email address should appear in the newsletter.

You can post an anonymous message to the Advice, Household, Recommendations, Schools, and Teens newsletters. We will only include your email or name if you ask us to. At the end of the posting form for those newsletters, you will have the opportunity to indicate how you want your message signed. If you don't want your email and/or name included, it won't be. You can sign as "anonymous" or "a mom" or however you'd like.

If you want to be anonymous, but you also want to include an email address so people can respond directly to you, you can open a temporary email account at www.yahoo.com or www.hotmail.com and sign your message with that. This is especially useful for sensitive topics where respondents want anonymity and don't want to respond publicly in the newsletter.

For the Announcements newsletter, we require a contact name and email for all postings.

For Marketplace and Childcare, we need either your name and email/phone#, or someone else's.

See also: Privacy Policy?


What is the difference between the Advice Line and Recommendations?

These two get confused sometimes, and it isn't always clear to us either, but here is a general guideline.

A recommendation is a review of a specific person, place, or thing. Examples include recommendations for vacation spots, dentists, therapists, breastpumps, carseats and strollers.

Advice is more a "how to" sort of message, usually about parenting. It is some other parent's opinion about how you might address a particular problem or event. For example, questions about your child's sleep, eating, health or play habits,how to get along with your children, spouse, neighbors, medical professionals, how to use a breastpump, how to de-stress the dinner hour.


I sent you a message but I don't see it in the newsletter.

If you did post to the correct newsletter before the deadline, and you did not find your question in the Topic List, then you can either post again, or write to the moderator for that newsletter (email address at the top of the newsletter). If you write, please include either your email confirmation or the exact titile of your post so we can try to find out what happened.


What is the deadline for posting?

The posting form for each newsletter has info about deadlines. This is also show on the List of the Newsletters.

In general, you should try to post your message at least two days before the mailing day if you want your message to appear in the next issue.

Please note! we make every attempt to send out the newsletters at regular times as listed on that page. However, we are all volunteers with kids and jobs - we go on vacation and things come up at work, so you can't really count on us to be always on time the way you can count on advertising you have to pay for.


Clicking on the Submit button doesn't work. Links don't seem to work either. Nothing happens.

When you click on a button, you should get a new page with either an error message or some other message. If nothing happens when you click, and you still see the same form, your browser has probably gotten into a "limbo" state where form elements don't work anymore, and clicking on links does nothing. I don't know why it happens but I've had the experience before too. The only thing to do is to exit from Netscape or IE ( File->Exit ) and then fire it up again. You might want to first copy-paste your message into Notepad or an email so you don't have to re-type everything.
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Last updated: Feb 23, 2008
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