You must be a subscriber in order to post a message. If you are a subscriber, you can post to any of the newsletters using the posting forms on the BPN website. You'll fill out the form, and if it is sucessfully submitted (you will get an email confirmation), then your message will be automatically included in the next issue, subject to moderator review. 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?.

I didn't see my posting in the newsletter - did you receive it?

The posting process is automated. All postings that are made using the forms on the BPN website are automatically included in the next draft for that newsletter. Most of the newsletters are prepared and mailed once a week. To see when the draft was prepared for the newsletter you posted to, check the "post by" date on the posting form. Once the draft is prepared, it is automatically sent to the moderator for the newsletter, who reviews the draft and then mails it out within a day or two. Very rarely, moderators return postings that do not meet BPN policies. In this case, you will almost always get a notice about that. But all the other postings that came in during the week before, will appear in the next newsletter.

1. Did you post after the "post by" deadline? Deadlines are listed on each posting form. If you posted after the deadline then your message will appear in a future issue.

2. Did you receive an email confirmation after you posted? If you did, then your posting will be automatically included in the next draft. Check the date on your confirmation and the deadline on the posting form to see which newsletter draft your post was (or will be) included in.

3. If you did not get an email confirmation, then you need to post again because your posting did not go through.

4. Which newsletter did you post to? Sometimes people expect their posting to appear in the very next newsletter they receive, but there are 12 different newsletters, each moderated by a different volunteer. Note that Advice and Recommendations are split up among several different volunteers, and they are mailed at different times. See List of newsletters to identify which one you posted to.

5. Did you post to the correct newsletter? If you didn't, this will cause a delay. See Which newsletter should I post to?

6. Has the newsletter you posted to been mailed out yet? See the List of Recently Mailed Newsletters to see when your newsletter was actually mailed.

7. For Q&A newsletters like Recommendations: Do you see your question on the Topic List on the posting form? Check the list of topics on the posting form for the newsletter you posted to. If you don't see your topic, you either missed the deadline and you should wait until the next issue, or we never got your post and you need to post again.

8. Did you post a question that did not receive any responses? Not all questions receive responses, and it may give you the impression that your question never appeared. You can see a list of questions on the posting form that you posted to, and a list of questions that received responses on the Topic List. We're sorry if you didn't get any responses, but it does happen. There are some posting tips here.

9. Were you expecting to find your post on the BPN website? Not all newsletter postings are archived, and the ones that are, may be archived months or years later. See About the Website for details.

If you still are not sure what happened, you can 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 title of your post, and the date you posted, so we can try to find out what happened.

How can I find responses to my question?

What are all the different newsletters?

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

Can I post anonymously?

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. Your email or name will not be included unless you choose this opeion on the posting form. 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. However, be aware that the moderator for the newsletter will be able to see your email address. This is necessary so that we can handle postings that don't meet BPN policy (return them to you, or ask you to clarify, or etc.)

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?

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.

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What is the deadline for posting?

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.