Dear all,
I’ve noted a fair amount of concern recently about how this board should work. There’s no official right or wrong but this post should help you understand the intentions of the board.

Think carefully about your wording before posting. Remember issues may have affected some people directly. iVillage is read by people from all walks of life, and sweeping generalisations, which are easy to make, may be offensive or distressing to others.

This board is about an exchange of ideas, thoughts and opinions on current affairs. It encourages opinions and when you give one, it is likely that there will be someone who disagrees and questions the validity of that opinion, just as they would be free to do so in ‘real time’.

This isn’t strictly a debate board; it’s a board specifically set up for stating your views. Just because the board doesn’t have debate in the title however, doesn’t mean that debates won’t or can’t occur (this applies to many IV boards). Remember your views are quite likely to be questioned and disagreed with. If you feel happy to respond, then by all means defend your stance in a peaceful and polite manner. If you don’t believe you should have to defend it, then you can ignore questioning or dissection of your post if you wish. No one can force anyone to do anything on the boards; everyone is entirely responsible for their own actions.

We all have a right to an opinion. In turn, part of that is the right to agree with or criticise the opinions of, or correct the facts put forward by, others. A right to an opinion is NOT the same thing as the right to an un-contradicted opinion. Please do read carefully this part of our ToS:

"(d) You may not post to iVillage.co.uk or use iVillage.co.uk to publish, send or distribute any message or material that is unlawful, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene, profane, threatening, racially or sexually or otherwise discriminatory, offensive, inaccurate"
http://www.ivillage.co.uk/ivillageuk/network/articles/0,,165080_165192,00.html#your_use

If you feel you have been attacked, reread the message and see whether it really is an attack on you, or instead a questioning of an opinion.

I'd also like to remind everyone of the rules of play:
http://www.ivillage.co.uk/boards/articles/0,10569,165710,00.html

Personal comments about other board members are disrespectful, unnecessary, and unhelpful. Berating people is not what the board is about; it's about healthy discussion, sharing opinions and learning from other people. If you think someone has posted against the ToS, then report it. Don't respond with sarcasm or derogatory comments - it does nothing for the discussion.

Freedom of speech! Don’t forget - with rights come responsibilities. We all have a responsibility to be respectful towards each other.

If you wish to comment, please email me through my profile
Best wishes,
CE

Hi CE

Thanks for that helpful guide to posting on the board.

I wonder if you could also give some guidance on what is and isn't acceptable in terms of racism, sexism and so on?

I realise that this could be an impossible task - I have practically given up reading the relationships boards because of the (IMO) rampant anti-male sexism which reigns there. Not *all* men are bastards, I believe, but the phrase is pretty much de rigeur at times.

The LTAS board seems to breach guidleines on explicit and slacious details on a regular basis, but maybe it has to...?

Similarly, moral outrage about a board which is dedicated to those who are in affairs seems inevitable (and I sympathise with those who feel it), yet the board exists, so presumably guidleines are available as to what is and isn't acceptable?

Ditto with the lesbian life and bisexual/bicurious boards - no doubt they inspire much moral outrage (not shared by me), so presumably the 'acceptability' factor is laid down?

What about boards where 'racism', 'xenophobia', 'islamophobia' and other 'isms' and 'phobias' can be the unspoken core of disagreements. What guidance would you offer to boards where some can't understand *why* certain posts have been deleted, and certain posts *haven't* been deleted? I think the emootion holds true on both sides of the ideological divide - though the individual posts probably vary!

I know it's a tough one - Hercules probably had it easy in comparison - but any thoughts from you would be much appreciated.

Thank you!