Signature Linking: PLEASE READ

[georgia]

Due to on-going moderation issues, MDC will no longer be hosting links in signatures with the exception of our Business Signature members and those with administrator approved non-profits. Members who run a legally recognized non-profit are encouraged to contact [e-mail] for approval to link to their personal charity.

During the first week of July, each member's signature will be removed via the forum software, so please be sure to SAVE your signature so you don't have to recreate it. To save your signature, please copy it from your User CP "Edit Signature" and post the formatted text to the Testing 1 2 3 forum here or alternatively, you can PM your signature to yourself.

We anticipate the mass signature removal to take place the first weekend of July, but this is subject to change. When placing your signature back after the removal, please make sure it does not contain any links or website addresses so it will be in compliance with our new guidelines (see copied below).

We will be offering the ability to share five photos via a complimentary photo album feature for all MDC members who have been registered more than 60 days and who have at least 50 posts. Members are free to share their websites/blogs in their "Homepage" via their User CP

Thanks so much for your cooperation and apologies for any inconvenience this might cause.

[georgia]

Revised Signature Rules:

MotheringDotCommunity Personal and Business Board Signatures

Board Signature Allowances

The board signature feature allows members to place an informational signature that will appear at the bottom of each post. Your signature can include text and smilies to convey personal information, favorite quote, etc. We are no longer hosting links in signatures. Signatures should not contain links, web addresses or references to personal promotion, advertising, commercial sites, blogs or other discussion communities, sales, contests, giveaways, fundraising, etc. Only members with current Business Signature packages may link and refer others to their commercial sites, blogs and services in their signature.

Those wishing to share a blog or other personal site may do so via their Homepage link located in the User CP under "Edit Your Details." Homepage links are not moderated for promotion. Members who have been registered at MDC who have at least 50 posts and sixty days will have access to the Album feature to share 5 photos. Members who have been with us for at least 6 months may share 10 photos. Those who wish to share more photos are encouraged to purchase a Supporting Membership subscription which can be purchased via their User CP here. Members who own informational-only websites may submit these for inclusion in the appropriate forum's Resource Thread by contacting the forum's moderator.

Please respect the diversity of this community and do not use the signature feature to make statements that are offensive, post text related to abortion or anything sexually suggestive. Please do not place commentary in your signature that reflects disagreements or issues within the board community or take issue with the staff or other members. Inappropriate signatures will be removed at the discretion of the administration and the member in violation may lose the signature feature privilege. Please remember that any information disclosed in your signature becomes public information so please use care when revealing personal information about yourself and/or family.


Non-Profit Signatures

Exceptions to the linking and advertising guidelines may be made for a member's legally registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and non-profit charity auctions. Please contact [e-mail] with verification of your 501(c)(3) status to request permission to place your personal non-profit link or charity auction in your signature. If you would like to advertise for a non-profit that is not yours, you may email for approval [e-mail] to host a link to the non-profit in your signature for one month.

To help protect the community, we would only approve signature fundraising for legally recognized non-profits but not for individuals. Fundraising in signatures must be done with administrator approval and funds must be directed through the 501(c)(3) non-profit rather than a third party.

To help protect the community, we would only approve signature fundraising for legally recognized non-profits but not for individuals. Fundraising in signatures must be done with administrator approval and funds must be directed through the official non-profit rather than a third party.

Formatting your Board Signature

You may format your signature with fonts and colors and place smilies within it but please do not enlarge the font size or exceed two post lines of single-spaced text. Moderators are permitted three lines for board announcements. New member smilie usage is restricted to one smilie for the first 50 posts and 60 days of membership. Members without a Supporting Membership package are limited to eight smilies in their signature. Supporting Members are allowed unlimited smilies within their two line signature. Smilie use does draw on bandwidth so please help us conserve.

You may place and edit your signature via your User CP which is located at the upper left-hand corner of the site. Click "Edit Signature" and type your signature in the text box. The language of the message board is in vBCode. If interested, you may click through the link here to familiarize yourself with how it differs from standard HTML code.

Business Signature Advertising

Business Signature Advertising entitles you to place your business name and information, hyperlinked to your website, blog or email address and brief information about your business or services as a part of your board signature. With the Business Signature Advertising package you are given access to The Daily Diaper or WAHM Connect where you may post a 'single-post-thread' for your business about your products and services, sales and other information to promote your business. You will also have access to place one thread in our WAHMarket forum where you may post to promote your site and/or services on a daily basis with specials, links, images, etc. during the duration of your Business Signature membership. Your Business Signature may also link to your dedicated thread in our WAHMarket. Users who have paid for signature advertising may place links to their own charity auctions in their signatures provided that they stay within the two line maximum limit. You also have the choice of combining a business avatar with your signature package at a discounted rate. Business avatars are to be non-animated, measuring 88x31 pixels, 8kb or less. Business Signature Advertising members are not allowed to promote themselves in the general discussion forums.

Business - 88x31 pixel avatar

Avatar pricing is as below and all avatars are subject to approval by the board administrators. MDC retains the right to refuse any avatar. Please consider MDC's Web Statement of Purpose before submitting an avatar to ensure your image is aligned with our community's purpose.

To Place a Signature Package with or without an Avatar please select and make payment through your User CP Paid Subscriptions section here

Signature Requirements

Your signature text must keep within a two line limit, which means two lines including your personal information and business advertising information (if you have a Signature Advertising package). Be aware that a hard return (keying the 'enter' button) for spacing makes a new line. Lines are counted in single spacing.

You may format your signature with the use of colors, fonts and smilies but please keep the font size at no larger than the default board text, size 2.

Please direct any questions to [e-mail]

[georgia]

Hi, I have removed the commentary. We do not host posts that are accusatory or insulting to the community or the moderation/administration. I will do my best to address the questions that were respectfully posted. The purpose of this thread was to answer questions not to host bashing. I will post again to answer previously posted questions. Thanks for your patience.

ETA: Sorry for the delay. I'm still going through the thread for missed questions and responding to your PMs I just wanted to point out, because I've gotten quite a few PMs, that the signature rules aren't really changing other than we're no longer going to be hosting links in signatures. Our current signature rules (that have been in place for years) state that one's signature is supposed to only contain non-commercial, personal website links. The signature guideline revision was done for the most part to clarify our existing administration policies rather than change them (other than the removal of the linking ability). Still, please know that we are very sorry for the inconvenience of not having one-click access to member's fertility charts at other sites, blogs, MDC forums, memorials and photos, etc.. We know this is a great loss to many and this was not a decision reached lightly.

[georgia]

First, I want to address the removal of the posts from this thread. Typically, we remove only attacking posts from the discussion so the thread can continue. We will host critical commentary about policies and decisions, but we do not wish to host defamatory or inflammatory accusations about our community, our staff or our policies. When a thread of several pages receives multiple insulting posts, most times, we will remove the entire thread rather than spend the time it would require to remove posts individually. All of the administrators have read the original thread in its entirety.

I wanted to reassure everyone that these changes are not financially motivated in any way, and it's not a bandwidth issue. It's simply a moderation issue with signatures that have morphed beyond what we are capable of fairly maintaining. For those who so graciously volunteered to help moderate, please PM me if you are still interested

Signatures are being removed temporarily, and once the software has removed the signatures, everyone will have access to again place an informational signature with smilies and text, just minus the linking ability. The ability to have a signature is not being removed, only links in signatures. Even if you have already altered your signature to comply with our new no-linking policy, please realize that all the signatures will still be removed via the software in July, so please make sure to save your signature so you don't have to start from scratch.

We have plans in the works to host the ability to have icons under usernames for those who use Facebook and twitter to directly link to their accounts. Members who are currently sharing pictures in their signatures would be welcome to place the photos in the free photo Album feature.

For those of us who blog, we are looking at placing a "blog" smilie in our smilie stash so if you wish to share your blog in your homepage this smilie can let others know to check out it out. We realize that it's not the same as having the link in your signature, but I hope that as a community, an extra click will be something we can live with. To access a member's Homepage, click on their username and View My Homepage. Two clicks

The software does not make exceptions to allow signature links for certain forums nor can we make exceptions for certain popular commercial site linking, despite popularity in a forum. Linking to fertility sites to share charts, for example, will need to be done in a post rather than in a signature. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience, and we understand that it does take more effort this way. It is not going to be okay to place website addresses in signatures--this is what we are moving away from.

As far as censorship, MDC is a privately-owned discussion board of Mothering Magazine. We have standards as to the nature of discussion and commentary we wish to host.

We know that there is a great sense of loss for many, and please know that we deeply care about meeting our members' needs and listening to your thoughts and suggestions. Our staff works very hard to be helpful and responsive to the community. I hope that everyone will bear with us and extend your patience while we make the adjustments that are necessary at this time.

Please PM me if you still have unanswered questions so I will know what still needs to be addressed. Thank you so much

[georgia]

Bumping and please see this tutorial for information about the photo feature

Please make sure that when you place your signature it does not contain website addresses or links. Thank you so much for your cooperation and understanding.

[georgia]

Bumping