Parenting Discussion Boards

[Piglet]

Can anyone recommend a parenting discussion board for parents with school age children???

I know some were listed on here quite a while ago, but I couldn't get the search function to work.

Melinda

 

[RitaZ.]

Check out ParentSoup.com.

 

[DISNEYFANRI]

Check out ivillage.com - they have great discussion boards.

Paula

 

[StampMom]

iVillage -- the parent company (no pun intended) to ParentSoup and ParentsPlace.com -- used to have a ton of wonderful parenting boards. They recently underwent a major "upgrade" of their boards, and changed the format so drastically that most of the boards have become ghost-towns. The new format is totally UNconducive to the kind of "conversational"/"community" feeling they used to have.

Anyway, several of the displaced iVillage communities have moved to other board hosting sites instead. Several of them have moved to http://www.network54.com -- I think you can do a keyword search for the kind of board you're looking for. Some of the boards I frequent have moved to http://www.gilcon.net/forum/default.asp

So far, I've really liked those new boards, which I believe were specifically set up to accomodate "refugees" from iVillage, LOL! They are actually planning on doing an "upgrade" soon -- hopefully this weekend. Since an alleged "upgrade" is what drove most of us away from iVillage, I'm a bit wary, but it sounds like all of the new features they're planning will be welcome ones!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

I agree, Ivillage has become completely unreadable.

I'm still on a dial-up modem at home and it was taking over 2 minutes for each message to load. And their threads only showed 1 message at a time....it was an additional 2 minutes to view each reply.

It's a shame because they did have some great boards. I hope they can return to a good format.

 

[StampMom]

Toby'sFriend, which boards did you used to visit? You may want to check out one or both of the sites I posted above -- a LOT of the former iVillage communities have moved there. The problem is, if people post on the old board about where they've moved to, iVillage deletes those posts almost immediately!! If you can't find your groups on either of those sites, you may want to try emailing some people from your old boards to see if they've moved, or if they are interested in finding a new place.

One of the boards I used to post a lot on was the Maryland Moms board. We have actually set up a "temporary" home on eboards4all.com, but I think we may ask the gilcon.net webmaster to add a Maryland Moms board to that site, depending on how those boards look following the "upgrade."

 

[Rexfan]

Ivillage is not worth messing with at all. Our whole group from there has moved over to th EZboards.

 

[sha_lyn]

The 2 I post on are more "earthy" than the ones mentioned.
They areAmity Mammas

and
MotheringDotCom

 

[StampMom]

Thanks, sha_lyn -- I adore Mothering magazine, but I never knew they had bulletin boards. I'll have to check them out!

 

[sha_lyn]

StampMom ...you're welcome. If you like Mothering Mag you should like their boards and the amity boards too.

 

[DISNEYFANRI]

Wow..I didn't know there were other boards - I'll have to check them out.

Paula

 

[JESW]

Sigh. I used to love going to the parentsoup boards but they are horrible now! Pete has us spoiled with how the DIS boards are set up. Other communities could certainly learn from these.

Jill...who now spends less time on other boards..

 

[sha_lyn]

1 thing I love about the 2 places I mentioned is that they use the same format (software, server ?) as here on the DIS.

 

[StampMom]

Just FYI, for those of you looking for parenting boards, and especially displaced posters from ParentSoup or ParentsPlace. The gilcon.net forums I mentioned earlier have now upgraded and gotten their own domain name. Their boards are now a very similar format to the DISboards, and have lots of great features.

Check out:
http://www.theparentperspective.com

There are already quite a few great boards, and if you have a displaced ParentSoup or ParentsPlace board, there's a "board requests" board where you can ask them to set up a new "home" for your community! The site was set up by a former iVillager and her DH, so any former PP or PS'ers will probably see a lot of familiar faces!

Hope to see you there!

 

[mtemm]

Have any of you checked this out in response to ivillage/PP/PS changing formats?

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/reviews?q=&url=ivillage.com

My feb 02 group has jumped ship to another home...and glad they did. I miss the old ivillage, though. I used to be a part of several boards, and CL'd one for a while.

 

[taylor1293]

http://www.about.com/parenting/

www.delphiforums.com

Both have a lot of great parenting forums

Teresa

 

[StampMom]

Thanks for that link, mtemm! It's pretty interesting to see all of the uproar about iVillage's changes. Maybe if it hits them in the pocketbook, they'll make some changes for the better! I used to LOVE the ParentsPlace message boards -- I was a regular on several -- and I'm so sad to have lost them.

Even though some of my boards have moved, I don't have "one stop shopping" anymore. And for those boards that haven't moved, I either have to put up with the yucky format or do without.