How to use the message boards

To read a message click on its title where it appears on the board, in outline view or in folder outline.

If you have already read some messages within a thread you will automatically be taken to the newest post when you return to it. For this function to work you must be logged in with the same membername.

If you read a discussion which contains posts that are more than 30 days old you will automatically be taken to the first unread message posted within the past 30 days.

Sorting & displaying messages
For a list of message display options, use the pull-down menu on the box that says show me. You can choose to see all messages posted, only messages posted today, in the past two days, in the past seven days, any unread messages, messages you have recently viewed, posts which you formerly opted to ignore or only posts containing polls.

Folders
On each board you'll see the main page is divided into sections. We call these folders. Folders are a handy way to organise messages within a board. All boards start with a General Discussions folder so if you don't know where to post your message this is a good place to start.

Outline view, folder outline & view whole discussion
To see a list of all discussion titles and responses on a board click outline view (top right). A pop-up will appear. Click on the post you wish to read and it will appear on your main screen. This pop-up will show you the 500 most recent discussions on the board. Alternatively click folder outline for a pop up list of messages posted within that folder.

Once you open a message you can also gain a quick overview of who has taken part in the discussion by clicking view whole discussion. A new window will open containing an outline of that individual discussion. Clicking the link to a message in this window will open the message on your main screen.

Posting messages
To start a new discussion, click Post a message. Type in a title for your message. If you like, you can select an icon that best sums up the mood of your post from the drop-down box. Clicking choose icon next to the drop-down will open a new window which displays all the icons next to their meaning. Type your message in the text box.

Once you've written your message click the Spell check button before you preview your message.

When you have finished composing and spell-checking your message, click Preview your message.

The preview screen will show you how your message will be displayed. If you are happy with your message click, Post. You will be taken to a page confirming that your message will be posted shortly. You will be offered a link back to the discussion if you joined a current one and a link back to the board you posted on. You will also see links that will take you back to all the boards, the iVillage homepage and a small number of related features.

If you wish to change your message before you post it use the 'edit' button to return to the compose page. Using the back button may result in you losing what you had written so far. If you do this by accident click the forward button on your browser then copy your message from the preview screen, go back to the compose page and paste it into the compose box.

New messages will appear at the top of the board.

Replying to a message
Open the message you wish to reply to then click Reply to this message. You will be taken to a 'compose a message' page and the message you are replying to will appear in a scrollable box above the text box.

Follow the steps in Posting a message above.

When a new message has been posted within an existing discussion the whole discussion will move to the top of the board to help you keep track of active conversations.

Spell check
When you click the spell check option a pop up window will appear and will take a second or two to fully load. You'll see options at the top for spell checker, grammar and thesaurus, and a drop-down menu to select the language.

Any words which have been spelled incorrectly will be underlined and alternative spellings will be offered in the Change to: area at the bottom of the box. First click on the misspelled word. Next select the correct spelling from the list offered. Now confirm the change by clicking Change to link on the beige box on the left.

The options function allows you to ignore certain combinations such as all capitals or letters with numbers.

Icons & Abbreviations
Icons are the small pictures that you see on the front of the message board next to the message titles. They can also be seen on the messages in the discussions. They are used because it can be difficult to express emotions in plain text, so emotion icons - or 'emoticons' - are used to help others gauge the mood of your message. When you add or reply to a message, you can choose an emoticon for your own message (or leave it blank). You can see all the emoticons here.

Abbreviations and TLAs (three letter acronyms) are common on most websites. Our message boards have their own jargon, often unique to individual boards. This saves time when typing, but can be confusing for a newbie - a new member of the site. Take a look at our Board lingo page and the Fertility abbreviations. If you don't understand the abbreviation in someone's post don't be afraid to ask what it means.

Create a poll
As well as posting text messages you can create polls on the message boards. To create a poll click on the create a poll button. Put the question to your poll in the title area and choose an icon to sum it up.

You can now enter up to ten possible answers. It's a good idea to add 'Other, please post' as a final option in case voters do not agree with any of your options.

You can then select whether you wish to enable voters to be able to change their vote, whether you would like the results displayed in a horizontal or vertical bar graph and if you would like to set an expiry date to the poll.

If you have opted to receive email notifications you will only be notified if someone posts a reply to your poll. You will not receive notification that people have voted.

It is not possible to edit polls.

Polls only move to the top of the board when someone posts a reply to them. They do not automatically jump to the top when someone votes in them.