How do I post a message?

Are postings edited? Are they ever rejected?

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

Please use these guidelines to find out what might have happened:

How it works:

All of the newsletters are prepared and mailed once a week according to a schedule that is posted on this page. 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. 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. Sometimes moderators return postings, but you will usually get a notice about that. For most postings, if you met the deadline, then your post was automatically included.

Troubleshoot:

1. When did you post your message? Check the date on the email confirmation you received when you posted. Did you submit it during the timeframe for the most recent newsletter? If not, it would have appeared in an earlier newsletter. Or, did you post after the "post by" deadline for the most recent newsletter? If so, your message will appear in a future issue. Deadlines are listed at the top of each newsletter, on the posting forms, and on this page.

2. Did you receive an email confirmation after you posted? If you did, then your posting was automatically included in the next newsletter draft, per the deadlines explained above. If you did not get an email confirmation, then you need to post again because we did not receive your posting.

3. 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.

4. Did you post to the wrong newsletter? If so, the moderator may have reposted it for you to a different newsletter that hasn't been mailed yet. See Which newsletter should I post to?

5. Did you post to the Childcare newsletter? You may have the the impression that your post didn't appear because you did not receive any responses. Please be aware that during the last few years of recession, BPN has been receiving 2-3 times more "childcare available" postings every week than "childcare wanted". So if you posted under 'Nanny Available' or 'Daycare with Openings' this might be why you didn't get responses. Read Hints about posting to the Childcare newsletter for suggestions about how to improve your postings.

6. Did you post to the Marketplace newsletter? You may have the the impression that your post didn't appear because you did not receive any responses. If you are selling, you might need to lower your price, or give more details about the item you're selling or giving away. Try posting again.

7. Did you post to one of the Q&A newsletters? (Advice, Recommendations, Schools & Pre-Schools, and Parents of Teens?) If so, you can track down your posting by looking at the list of questions on the posting form. See if your question (or the one you responded to) is there. You can find out if a question got any responses by looking at the Topic List for the newsletter. These are the questions that BPN got at least one response to - use your browser's "Find" or "Search" function to look through the list. It is possible that your question did not receive any responses, which might give you the impression that your posting never appeared. We're sorry if you didn't get any responses, but it does happen. There are some posting tips here.

8. 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 the newsletter you posted to, to see if they remember your post. Email addresses can be found at the top of each 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 ... Marketplace ... Recommendations ... Schools ... Parents of Teens

Can I post anonymously?

Which newsletters allow anonymous postings: Most of the newsletters allow anonymous postings. You can post an anonymous message to the Advice, Recommendations, Schools, and Teens newsletters. Your email or name will not be included unless you choose this option on the posting form. At the end of the posting form, 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. 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. Note that all posting forms require the email address you are subscribed under so that we can verify that postings are coming from BPN subscribers. But for most of the newsletters, this email doesn't have to be displayed with your post.

BPN moderators and anonymity: Please be aware that the moderator for the newsletter will be able to see the subscriber email address that posted the message. 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.) or to resolve any later questions about a message that was posted to BPN newsletters.

Using anonymous postings for dishonest reasons: BPN subscribers may not post a message anonymously for the purpose of deceiving other subscribers. For example, a business owner may not post a favorable review of her business that is written as though coming from a client. Subscribers may not pose as doctors or lawyers in order to lend more authority to their advice. When BPN receives a report that someone has done this, we do investigate. We contact the original poster as well as the people who reported the post, and we may review past posting history of the email address in question. If we decide that a post was probably made with the intent to mislead, we unsubscribe the poster, remove any reviews of their business on the BPN website, and we don't accept further reviews of the business after that. In some cases, we may also report the fraudulent use of the email account to the subscriber's Internet Service Provider, which can result in the account being suspended.
See also: Privacy Policy

This is actually very time-consuming for the moderators. We each receive hundreds of postings a week, so in order to provide an anonymous poster's email address, we must search through several weeks of individual postings, often without precise information about the topic heading, or the date when it was posted. Given the volume of mail and the number of BPN subscribers, we cannot provide this service for people except in very rare situations, and at the moderator's discretion.

If you want to reply directly to an anonymous poster, please post a response to the next newsletter, and include a way for them to contact you. If you want to be anonymous, sign your post with your own anonymous email address per the instructions below.

If you want to invite people to contact you directly but you want to be anonymous, sign your post with an email address that doesn't identify you, per the instructions below.

Posting anonymously to Advice, Recommendations, Schools, or Teens: For these newsletters, you must furnish the email address that you are subscribed under in order to post, but your email does not have to appear in the newsletter, because you can sign your message any way you like. If your subscriber email address is recognizable, or includes your name, then sign your post with a different email address that doesn't identify you. You may need to open a new email account at yahoo, hotmail, gmail, etc. for this purpose. If you like, use this more anonymous email address for your BPN subscription (use this form to change your subscriber address.)

Posting anonymously to Announcements, Marketplace, or Childcare: For Announcements, your subscriber email will appear with your post. If you don't want to post under that address, you'll need to subscribe under a different email and post under that. For Marketplace and Childcare, check the box "Contact someone else/some other person" and type in the name you want to use and the email you want to use. This is what will appear on your post.

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.