Mumsnet Talk

Welcome to the Mumsnet discussion boards. This page gives you the basic knowledge that you need to use the forums effectively. If you experience any difficulties, do email us at contactus@mumsnet.com or post a message in Site Stuff (where other members may be able to help you out if we're not around).

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The Talk board Discussions | Signing up for Talk | Contributing to discussions | Top posting tips | Rules and "Netiquette" | Talk pointers | Links and "smileys" | Abbreviations | Customising | Searching 

How the Talk board is organised

Our Talk board is divided into sections and these sections are divided into Topics (click Show all to the right of Talk topics and you'll see all the Topics in each section). Inside each Topic, you will find lots of conversations (or threads) about that Topic. You can add messages to existing conversations and create new conversations.

Anyone with web access can read Talk discussions on Mumsnet. All you do is navigate to the discussion you're interested in by single clicking on the links from the list of sections, Topics and conversations. Or you could click through to any discussion in our list of Active Conversations.

Signing up for Talk

To post on the Talk board, you need to sign up to Mumsnet (it's free) and choose a nickname, which is the name that your messages will appear to come from. We use a nickname system, rather than your real name, to protect your privacy.

If you haven't joined yet, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and join now.

If you're already signed up to Mumsnet but have decided you would like to change your nickhame, click here and, after you've logged in, click on Registration Details.

Contributing to discussions

To post a message to an existing discussion, scroll down to the bottom of the first page and fill in the Add a Message box. You will need to fill in your Mumsnet nickname and password the first time you post a message.

If you want to see how your message will look before it goes on the board, click the Preview Message button (and then correct the message if you need to). To post your message rightaway (or after you have read the preview), click the Post Message button.

To start a discussion of your own, find yourself the right Topic, click yourself into it and then click on Start a New Thread (just under the Topic title). Fill in the Add a Message box (as above) and also fill in the Subject Line box, to give your thread a title (so people know what you want to talk about).

Mumsnetters' top 10 tips for newbie posters

• "Never, ever write a post USING ALL CAPITALS." MaryAnnSingleton
• "Don't sign your posts off with your posting name. lots of love rubyslippers xxx." rubyslippers
• "Use paragraphs if you want people to read your whole post. A big lump of text is not nice to wade through." Porpoise
• "Don't use text speak. You'll put a lot of people off." catweazle
• "When you write your first thread title, be more specific on the title than, 'Help needed please'... Not that I did that on my first post or anything." AttillaTheHan
• "Feel free to introduce yourself to us - it is always nice when people start a thread explaining who they are and how they found us." squonk
• "Swearing is fine, but not in thread titles. Some of us have children who can read!" JuliaB
• "If you have asked a question, and had replies, don't come back on and say 'Anyone else?' without saying thank you to the people who've replied first – even if they haven't completely answered your question." AMumInScotlandsAMumForAThat
• "Remember that anyone, anywhere can Google everything posted, so it's not advisable to post identifying info or email addresses." LeninGrad
• "Don't be frightened to ask how things are done. There are always posters who more than happy to point you in the right direction. We were all new once." squonk
   

Rules and "Netiquette"
When writing your messages, please use the same courtesy that you would show when speaking face-to-face with someone.

Our policy is to keep intervention to a minimum (we don't have formal moderators) and let the conversation flow. Having said that, we will remove postings that are obscene, contain personal attacks or break the law. 

If you see a post which you think breaches these rules, you can report it to MNHQ by clicking on the Report This Post link, above and to the right of the post in question. (This link is a red exclamation mark if you have Customised to Mumsnet Classic). We look at every Reported Post as soon as we possibly can.

It's not our policy to delete swearwords but we do draw the line at obscenity, so, if you're not sure which side of the line your swearword of choice may fall, it might be best not to use it.

You are free to change your nickname but please note that we don't allow nickname changes for malicious or misleading purposes. 

Seven need-to-know Talk pointers that'll stand you in great stead

• "If you start a thread that gets a lot of people interested, please come back and tell us what happened!" theresonlyme
• "Remember that this site is lightly moderated. Do report stuff but only if it's illegal/properly libellous. It's often best to wait and see what develops before jumping in to get a thread pulled." LeninGrad
• "Some topics have been done to death on here. If you are unlucky enough to inadvertantly make one the subject of your thread, please don't be put off if you're ignored or flamed. We're not bored with you (yet) but we are bored of the subject." snice
• "If you get into a ruck with someone, leave it at the thread door. It is more than possible to be falling out with a poster on one thread and their best mate on another thread." squonk
• "People will respect you if you change your mind, apologise or express regret for an earlier post, based on the contributions of others." StarlightMcKenzie
• "Do appreciate this site for what it is – a mine of information from people who can help." squonk

• "There is a long standing practical joke, which is to link unexpectedly to this." Podrick
   

Links and "Smileys"
The simplest way to post a link is to copy and paste the link itself into the Add a Message box, surrounded by [[ and ]]. So if you type [[www.mumsnet.com]], the link will display as http://www.mumsnet.com.

If you want your link to display text other than the web address itself, leave a space after the address then add the text before the ]]. So "Look at [[www.mumsnet.com this page]]", would display "Look at this page".

We have our own set of smiley or emoticons. And a set of shortcuts to allow you to bold, italicise or cross out (for comic effect) words. To find them - with instructions on how to put them into your posts – look to the right of the Add a Message box.

Abbreviations
So, who are these dh and ds? Some abbreviations have come into common use on the Mumsnet talk boards. You can find a list of commonly used acronyms here.

Customising Talk
You can change how you see threads by clicking on Customise on the Talk Home page. You can set how many threads you see in Active Conversations, and choose to exclude or hide certain threads or Topics.

Searching the board
You can search the Talk board in lots of different ways. 

• Active Conversations: A list of the threads that have been created/posted on most recently.
• Last 15 mins: A list of the threads that have been posted on during the last 15 minutes (find it in the list of Threads links underneath the Mumsnet Talk headline).
• Last hour: A list of the threads that have been posted on during the last hour (find it in the list of Threads links underneath the Mumsnet Talk headline).
• Last day: A list of the threads that have been posted on during the last day (find it in the list of Threads links underneath the Mumsnet Talk headline).
• Discussions of the Day: A list of threads (find it on the Home page) that we think you might particularly enjoy.
• Hot threads: A list (find it on the Home page) of the most popular threads at the moment.
• Editor's picks: A list of threads on particular Topics that we think you might find interesting/amusing/maddening. Find them in our Conception, Pregnancy, Babies, Toddlers and Books content areas.
• Threads I'm On: A list of the threads you have posted on (find it in the list of Threads links underneath the Mumsnet Talk headline). You can Customise this list to show anything up to 14 days' worth of threads.
• Threads I'm Watching: A list of threads you have selected to watch (find it in the list of Threads links underneath the Mumsnet Talk headline).
• Threads I Started: A list of the threads you have started (find it in the list of Threads links underneath the Mumsnet Talk headline).
• Unanswered Messages: A list of threads that only have an opening post (find it in the Talk links list underneath the Mumsnet Talk headline). Feel free to answer one if you can!
• Search Talk: A basic keyword search (find it at the top of the Talk Home page, to the right of the Mumsnet Talk headline).
• Advanced Search: A more bells-and-whistles search function, allowing you to search by keyword, date and/or nickname (find the link to Advanced Search under the basic Search box at the top of the Talk Home page, to the right of the Mumsnet Talk headline). You can also search by Topic or even exclude certain Topics or keywords. You do need to be logged in to use it.

"Don't forget about the search engine. Very useful for getting info and advice." notnowbernard