As a representative of iVillage, it's very important that you understand
our policies. If you are not familiar with our Terms of Service (TOS),
please take some time to familiarize yourself with them. The Terms of
Service document is the legal version of the "Rules of Play." We strongly
recommend that you review this document, too.
-:-
Your Role As Community Leader -:-
- You're the
"host": Your primary role as leader is to keep the
conversation lively. Start discussions, welcome new members, ask and
answer questions or share tips and insights. If you enjoy conversation,
members will gravitate toward you.
- Board
requirements: If you lead a message board, you should start
new conversations several times a week. Of course, we realize that
emergencies occur from time to time, but please make sure to notify us
if you will not be able to meet your leadership responsibilities or if
you are planning a vacation. You should promptly answer emails from your
community moderators and from members.
- Dealing with
community issues: Please notify
pboards@mail.ivillage.com if you encounter a
situation where a member is harassing another member or you find an
inappropriate post or any similar situation. If a debate is getting out
of hand, we are here to help you as much as we can, but when a situation
might warrant posts being removed, the fastest response will be from
utilizing the report a violation option to the right of the post or
emailing
pboards@mail.ivillage.com.
- Dealing with
other CLs: We ask that you respect other community leaders.
Please do not post on a board where you are not a CL with your
cl-membername (your 'hat'), even if a CL gives you permission to do so.
If a community leader asks you to not post with your CL name on their
board, please do your best to comply. Failure to do so may result in the
loss of your CL status.
- Dealing with
staff members and policy issues: If you have a disagreement
with your community moderator or other iVillage staff members or you
disagree with an iVillage policy, we ask that you attempt to resolve the
problem via email. Please do NOT discuss these problems in public forums
such as message boards, chats, Member Websites or other Websites.
Failure to abide by this policy will result in loss of your CL status.
- Monthly
reports: All Pregnancy & Parenting community leaders must file one
report each month - on the last day of the month. We appreciate you
taking the time to send in your reports, and we read every single one.
You will be able to file your report from the
Community Café.
- Dismissal
policies: Failure to abide by expectations or violation of
our rules will result in dismissal. More information is provided in the
Community Leader Guidebook. The Community Leader Guidebook is also
linked from the Community Café.
-:-
What is NOT
expected of you as a volunteer community leader
-:-
- You don't
have to share personal information. You are not expected to
give out any personal information, such as your name, email address or
phone number, to members of the community. It is safest to keep this
information private.
- You are not
supposed to know everything and we don't expect you to take the role of
an expert. Stating your opinion is fine, but if you are
offering advice, it is helpful to begin by saying something like "In my
opinion ..." "I have read that ..." or "Here's what worked for me ..."
Members will turn to you for advice, but is important to make it clear
that you are speaking from your own experience. And, remember -- there
may be more than one 'right' answer, so avoid You should also ask other
members to join the conversation and share their opinions.
- You don't
have to be the tough guy. You are not expected to deal with
abusive members or to chastise members in your community. If trouble
arises, email us right away, then step out of the fray. We want our
members to see iVillage CLs as leaders, not dictators.
-:-
A Few More
Things -:-
- Your
CL-nickname: You should now be registered as a Community
Leader - if you aren't able to log on by tomorrow morning, please let us
know and we'll confirm that we've registered the right membername for
you. Once you're registered, you will have two iVillage identities: your
regular member name and your new Community Leader name.
-Use your CL name whenever you are posting on your board or hosting your
chat.
-Use your regular member name when you are visiting any board or chat that
you do not host. This is important --
please make sure to switch back to your regular screen name when you are
visiting boards or chats that are hosted by other CLs.
-You can also access the Community Café, a special "behind the scenes"
area of iVillage that is reserved for Community Leaders with your CL
Name. There's a message board just for CLs from our channel in the Café.
You can get to the Café at
http://www.ivillage.com/ccafe. The
message boards are listed on this page - be sure to post most of your
questions on the Pregnancy & Parenting Team Board.
- Who's Who
Websites: Who's Who websites are a great way to gather up
important information for your board and to get members involved in
helping you create a site for everyone to use to get to know one
another. Each board may have one Who's Who listing in the bulleted list
at the top of the board. Who's Who pages must be created using the
Member Website feature at iVillage.com. Pages created outside iVillage
will not be considered. Once you have completed your Who's Who site,
please email the link to
pclmail@mail.ivillage.com for
review. Once the site has been reviewed and approved, we will add it to
the top of your board in a timely manner.
- Proud to Be
an iVillage Pregnancy & Parenting CL: Feel free to use these
images on your iVillage member website or as your avatar for your cl-membername.
Simply right-click the image and choose "Save Picture As..." to save
the image to your computer.
- If You Need
To Step Down: If for some reason you find that you are unable
to continue to meet the leadership requirements described here, please
let us know as soon as possible (pclmail@mail.ivillage.com). We
welcome any suggestions you may have for a replacement CL. Please email
us before you announce to your community that you are "stepping down"
and please don't recruit a new leader yourself. We would like our CL
choices to be as fair as possible and would like all interested members
to have the opportunity to apply.
Additional links you
should visit:
Questions?
If you have any questions, now or anytime in the future, don't hesitate to
contact
pclmail@mail.ivillage.com. We will respond
to your message as quickly as possible. We also want you to feel free to
share any questions concerns, comments (both good and bad) and ideas with
us.
Again, we are delighted to welcome you to the Community Leader team. Our
leaders are the heart and soul of iVillage. Your participation makes a
difference!
Pregnancy & Parenting Community Staff
http://parenting.ivillage.com
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