Welcome to JP Moms!

Below are the guidelines and helpful tips on how to use our group. Please read the guidelines and follow them. Failure to follow the guidelines can result in being placed on moderated status or having your membership revoked.

JP Moms Membership Guidelines

Mission
JP Moms is an online extension of a face-to-face community of parents in Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, Roxbury, Mission Hill, and Hyde Park. Created in 2003, this grassroots list was organized by JP mothers who wanted to stay in touch as their babies outgrew the Jamaica Plain New Moms’ Support Group. In 2014 a poll of members led to a change in the criteria for membership. However, JP Moms still aims to promote an open, accepting, and supportive space for parents to connect with the local parenting community. The online community of JP Moms is a resource where local parents and expectant parents ask and answer questions, share concerns, provide support, and exchange information related to parenting.

Goals & Values
:: Parenting: The primary purpose of JP Moms is for members to provide support, advice, and sharing around issues related to children, parenting, and families. The name JP Moms is a carryover from its founding days; all fathers and guardians are welcome. Off-topic posts are fine, but we are here because we are parents.
:: Connection to face-to-face community: JP Moms started as an online extension of the new moms support group in JP. When posting online, members treat each other in a similar way a group of parents would interact at a playground, school open house, or community picnic.
:: Security: This site is about our families and children. Maintaining the safety and security of our families is of paramount importance.
:: Respect: The times of our lives around fertility/infertility, pregnancy, preparing for a baby or child, giving birth, adopting, and parenting a young child are intense, vulnerable, and sensitive. All forum posts and JPMoms related emails must have a courteous tone. Posts must also show respect for the good intentions and ideas of others and for the diversity of experiences and opinions of all the members.
:: Non-commercialism: The Main Forum and most subgroups should be free of commercial activity. Signatures should not contain commercial information. See below for further guidelines.
:: Active membership: Active membership encourages connection and community; it also discourages lurking and compromises to member security. There are a variety of ways members can be active, including posting new threads or comments on the main forum, posting within a subgroup, or privately responding to posts.

Membership Area
Membership in JP Moms is limited to parents and expectant parents living and raising children in Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, Roxbury, Mission Hill, and Hyde Park, with consideration given to residents of Dorchester. Over the years the membership area has increased. Membership is renewed annually. A poll of members done in 2014 showed that a majority wished members to be allowed to remain members, even if they moved outside of the membership area and do not participate regularly.

General Membership Agreement
Members agree to be respectful of the many differences among group members, including race, class, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political beliefs, and parenting styles. Hostile, inflammatory, or attacking messages will not be tolerated and are subject to removal and the active moderation or removal of the member who made the post. Members agree to respect the privacy and confidentiality of other group members. Additionally:

All posts to the JP Moms forum must be signed. The signature must include the member’s first name, initials or names of all children under 18 (except any children not living in the household), and ages/approximate ages (e.g., toddler) of all children. Moderators reserve the right to remove unsigned posts. Business-related signature lines are not permitted in posts. These posts will be removed and the member will be placed on moderation status (see below) if business-related signature lines continue to appear in the member’s posts. Anonymous posts (see below) are an option for sensitive topics.

As membership to JP Moms is open to anyone who lives in the membership area and has a young child (applicants with children over the age of 12 will be considered on a case-by-case basis). Members are not allowed to share their accounts with their partners. Each adult family member must have her/his own account. Members sharing an account will be removed.
JP Moms members agree that all communication, including posts on JP Moms forums and JP Moms-related emails to members, is respectful and courteous in tone. Members should assume good intentions on the part of others. If members see disrespect, discourteous tone, or a lack of good intention in the language of another, members will participate in building respectful community by flagging it for moderation.

Information from the forum is NOT to be shared in any specific manner outside of the forum. Casual/vague summaries with no names--e.g., “I read about a great pool,” or ”we had another big vaccination discussion today”--are permitted. A member who shares information from the JPMoms forum outside JP Moms, including giving information to a journalist, a business, or for personal gain of the member, in a publication, electronic, written, or verbal form, will be removed.

Moderation
At times, moderators may decide to place a member on “moderation status.” This means that the JP Moms moderators will review all of the moderated member’s posts before they appear on the Main Forum.
Some examples of when moderation status might be used:
:: Members will have their forum posts moderated if there has been an issue with tone or respect.
:: The posts of members who are business owners, or who have a compelling role or interest in the community besides parenting (e.g., politicians, neighborhood officials) may be moderated.
:: If members repeatedly mis-classify their posts (e.g., placing classifieds on the Main Forum), they will be placed on moderated status.
Moderated members who are not in compliance with the JP Moms guidelines (e.g., they repeatedly mis-classify their posts or do not remove a business-related signature from their posts) after three reminders from the JP Moms moderators will be removed.

Business Member Agreement & Guidelines
The JP Moms Main Forum is for questions and discussions on parenting-related topics and is not for promoting services, advertising, soliciting, marketing, surveys, and other personal monetary gain or for-profit postings. Business owners, employees, and/or persons, who promote or provide a good or service, agree to list their business in the Marketplace section of JP Moms only and not on the Main Forum. The only exception is a comment in direct response to a current forum question. When responding in such a situation on the forum, members agree to disclose any affiliation when discussing their business or service. When responding to a forum question, business owners may provide their contact information in the body of their message, but may not include a business signature. Business signatures are not permitted in any post on JP Moms. When NOT responding directly to a relevant post, members who are business owners agree not to promote their business; this includes not having business information included in an automatic signature. Posts of members who are business owners will be moderated for the first six months of membership and may be moderated thereafter.

Main Forum Post Guidelines
The JP Moms Main Forum is where members post questions and discussion topics related to parenting. Topics not related to parenting or children are labeled with “OT” for “Off Topic.” Other than questions and discussion topics, the following types of posts are appropriate for the Main Forum:
:: Information about free, occasional community events that are both (1) open to anyone and (2) not a gateway to membership or profit for the sponsoring or hosting business or institution. For example, Wake up the Earth or Touch a Truck day are fine on the Main Forum, as are community events and certain informational discussions hosted at local businesses.
:: Back-to-school play dates and parent meet-ups that happen one time before the start of the school year are also permitted on the Main Forum.
:: Events that are gateways to membership or future participation in the hosting business or institution may not be posted on the Main Forum, even if these events are free and open to all; rather, they should be posted in the Events section or Marketplace section. See below, “Events Calendar” for more information about events postings.
:: Last minute cancellations or changes to any event are ok to post on the main forum.
If you are responding to a recent thread on the Main Forum, you can provide relevant and appropriate information about a business or service, provided that you disclose any affiliation you may have with that business or service. Members may not search for and resurrect old threads in order to promote businesses or services.

Before starting a forum topic, please ask yourself, "Am I trying to open a discussion on a topic or issue, or is this a one-way announcement? Do I (or the organization I'm posting about) gain free publicity, marketing, and/or personal benefit by posting this to the forum?" One-way announcements and advertisements belong in other areas of the site, such as the Marketplace and Resources. While there are gray areas and not everything may have a perfect place to go, members are asked to abide by membership guidelines and use the Main Forum for exchanging information and not for promoting businesses or services. Posts that do not belong on the main forum will be removed by the moderators without notice. If this occurs, you are welcome to email the moderators with questions, but we ask that you be respectful in the tone of your email.

Members are encouraged to flag posts or comments they feel are erroneous or solicitous. Forum moderators welcome help from members in monitoring posts since it can be a challenge to read every post and every comment in a timely manner.

Marketplace Section Guidelines
The following posts are appropriate for the Marketplace:
● Items for sale or to give away;
● Requests for borrowing items (select “Wish to Borrow” in the “Type” field);
● Specific requests for services or situations, e.g., housing, pet sitter;
● Information about available services, businesses, or situations, e.g., housing for rent;
● Information about Groupons or other discount codes;
● Class listings, events that are not free, and recurring events. (Events, while permissible in the Marketplace, belong better in the Events section.)

In November 2015, the Childcare Subgroup was created. Posts about recommendations and reviews of childcare providers, as well as the logistics of dealing with childcare services belong in this subgroup. Childcare posts related to parenting concerns are appropriate for the Main Forum. A detailed list with examples of the kinds of posts that belong in the Childcare Subgroup, not in the Main Forum, Events, or Classifieds can be found in the Important Files section of our Tinyhood forum. Situations not outlined here will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Resource Section Guidelines
Members should use the Resource section for more permanent business listings that they want to review (either positively or negatively). The Resource section is similar in concept to Angie's list and contains feedback and information on local businesses and services such as acupuncturists, babysitters, contractors, etc.

Event Guidelines

There are three different places that event announcements may be posted on JP Moms. Please read the guidelines carefully to ensure that your post goes in the area in which it belongs. The examples included below do not include every possible community event, and the moderation team may remove any post that they feel do not qualify under these guidelines. Please contact them if you have any questions about where an event belongs.

The Events section of Tinyhood is where almost all event postings are allowed. These include community gatherings (ex. Wake up the Earth, Lantern Parade), library activities, school open houses and visiting days, school and community group fundraising events, events affiliated with houses of worship, holiday events, craft fairs, parent and child playgroups and activities, music classes, exercise classes, and gatherings to promote social action. Events can be set up as recurring if they repeat on a regular basis, but please remember to update these events if they change or end.

The JP Moms Events subhood is the primary location for posts about the JP Moms Yard Sale. Other non-commercial events can also be posted here, especially those that might promote discussion. Any call for volunteers for an event also belong here.

After posting to the the Events section, an event announcement may be posted on the main forum under the following guidelines.

· Events must be free and open to all that want to attend. Events that have a suggested donation are also allowed. Any event that charges an entrance fee, or classes that require a fee are not allowed.

· No spamming. Each event can be posted once and cannot be bumped up. Recurring events are not allowed on the main forum.

· Events may not be a gateway to membership or future participation (ex. free intro exercise class).

· Last minute class or event cancellation announcements are allowed to be posted once on the main forum.

· Posts by business owners promoting their business are not allowed. Please see “Business Member Agreement and Guidelines” for more information.

· Posts for yard sales are not allowed on the main forum.

Posts that do not belong on the main forum will be removed by the moderators without notice.

Anonymous Posts
Moderators use the following guidelines when approving or denying posts:
:: An anonymous post should relate to an issue that is highly sensitive to the poster’s own life. For example, the poster is discussing their health, their child's health, finances, or safety. Since "highly sensitive" can be subjective, posters are asked to include a line or two about why they are posting anonymously. Anonymous posts related to BPS or moving in or out of state are not “highly sensitive” and will not be approved.
:: The anonymous option should not be used for a hot button issue: if you want to be anonymous because you're afraid that the topic is too controversial, reconsider whether you should post at all, or reframe the post in a more neutral tone.
:: Posts should not include enough information for the poster or other parties to be identified.
:: Anonymous posts may not criticize a business or an identifiable party.

Questions, Clarifications, and Concerns
If you aren’t sure where a particular post goes, why a post was removed, etc., feel free to contact the JP Moms moderators, who are a group of longstanding members of the forum who volunteer their time to keep the group going. Contact: jpmoms.moderators@gmail.com.

Questions about memberships should be directed to: jpmoms.memberships@gmail.com.

The guidelines may be updated periodically and circulated to all members. It is the responsibility of each member to read and adhere to these guidelines.