Unlike many other online communities, we do not wish to bombard our members with a pack of unreasonable rules which leave you feeling so stifled that you begin to wonder if you are back in kindergarten! Our guidelines are simple and all based on common sense, respect for others, and the basic grounds of civility. We honestly don't want to be required to serve as "police." We prefer to spend our time continually improving the site and your experience here at Pregnancy.org.

We've outlined 8 basic principles to govern our community. We expect that these guidelines will enable the community to remain focused on its original intent -- a place for support, enrichment, camaraderie, and of course fun!

1) The Golden Rule. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This statement, (and those similar), have been offered for thousands of years. It is oft mentioned in the tenants of various religions, by philosophers and common men alike. Considering its proven record we felt it should apply here. Let's be adults that can communicate without the personal attacks, bashing of one another, or harassment. You aren't required to agree 100% of the time, but if you disagree please do so in a civil manner. We can guarantee if you don't that others will certainly call you on it.

Private messages are meant to be just that. Please do not repost, share, or quote either in whole or in part. Doing so will risk the loss of this privilege and, at minimum, a temporary ban from the site. Due to privacy concerns and our inability to prove authenticity of off site messages, we also must prohibit reposting of emails, instant message conversations, and any other private communication on site.

Please do practice common sense. Within our community we cover a wide range of topics ranging from fertility methods, birthing/pregnancy matters, feeding, parenting, education, discipline, spirituality, political, lifestyle options, and more. If you visit a forum that is in opposition to your own point of view, you can expect to be *offended.* Our advice is to recognize this in advance and elect not to visit those areas. At all times, our support boards should be respected for the topic they represent. Those wishing to debate, may do so in our Debate Arenas.

If it turns out that you are indeed hurting another person on a board, comment area or in chat, then you must be prepared to also accept the consequences of your actions. Again, it is not our desire to baby-sit adults. Act responsibly, show respect for others, and treat others as you wish to be treated. In doing so, we all can enjoy our time here!

2) Trolling, Advertising, and Spam. It happens everywhere on the web and it is hard to avoid. We'd like to mention here that if you plan on using this site to further an MLM scheme, shamelessly advertise a product, site, or service (without permission) or just want to cause havoc and chaos that we will get rid of those postings or comments and disable your account. We simply won't tolerate such rude behavior. Also, be certain that you read our terms of use as well and be familiar with it. We do have the right to charge you for individually spamming our members without permission.

"Trolling" our community will not be tolerated in any circumstance. Trolling is defined as purposefully attempting to deceive members regarding your identity or submissions. This includes (but is not limited to), posting false, misleading information; provoking drama; passing yourself off as a "legitimate" member; stealing another person's identity, photos, etc.; misusing another member's account; and more. Due to the disruptive nature that trolling causes our groups and community at large, the consequences of this action are severe -- a permanent ban of any current and future accounts within our community.

As for posting web addresses to other sites, we don't mind if you do, if it helps someone with information or advice we don't have here. We do ask that you do it once or twice where appropriate (not multiple times all over the boards), use common sense and netiquette. We ask our members to refrain from posting on the boards specific events that are alternatives to the normal routine at Pregnancy.org. Some inappropriate examples would include telling members to go elsewhere to meet off-site to chat instead of using our software here on site or purposefully using our site to promote another community/group without permission. Because our community is so open (everyone can see and post everywhere) this behavior affects the site as a whole and can be extremely disruptive. We ask that you respect your community and the other members using it. If we find that a member is purposely attempting to move our members off-site, (whether publicly or privately), it will be dealt with accordingly, including disablement of the account.

3) Copyright infringement. Please don't plagiarize. If you have permission to reprint something - great! If not, please don't quote or post it without the proper consent. If you found research on the web, simply include a link to the article. We can get into trouble, not to mention it isn't a nice thing to do to the original author.