Maximum Minti 9 - All About You

How Can The Site Help You?

Minti is THE parenting website for advice and friendship, with parents, and pending parents to share their support, advice, friendship and experiences.  The site literally is powered by parents for parents, and is only as great as each individual member.

If

you seek the maximum benefit from your experience on the site, it helps to understand the vision of the co-creators, and their expectations of the site members, (us). This can be achieved by familiarising yourself with the following information and advice that I have listed here.

There are many different forums in both the public and private arena designed for you to ask questions, share your view, comment, blog and post anything related to parenting, and life in general.  It can be confusing at first to know what is appropriate in each area, the site homepage links to it all.

You may have joined other parent's groups and online communities, however I still recommend taking the time to learn about this particular site. As with baking a cake for the first time; you get the best result if you follow the recipe.

How Do You Fit Into The Site?

• Very well – if you choose to... If you joined to ask a question, or add a comment to some advice or a blog – then that is a great way to start off. Otherwise, here are a few tips to get the ball rolling and meet some like-minded people.
• Add some details to your homepage, and a few photos – whatever you feel comfortable with. If you feel up to it, write your first personal blog on the site, it is a great way for us to get to know you.
• Join some public groups: Get To Know Me Better; Introduce Yourself Here; Foto Friday; Family Funnies. These are just a few good ones to get started, and meet other members of the site.
• When reading advice, questions or blogs, add helpful, supportive comments. If someone has added something you find interesting, take the time to check out their homepage, and personal blog, in time, people will do the same for you.

You Are Unique And Important

• There are many things that you are likely to agree with, or be able to add your knowledge to in the form of comments on the site. Even if you feel it has been said before, or isn't so different to what has been said – your support is always welcome.
• Your opinion is always valid, express yourself reasonably if you disagree with someone's opinion, comment, advice, etc. Keep your response based on the topic at hand; not the author in question, respect the opinion of other's and don't take their responses personally either.
• You are important to the community, and we want you to have your say.  Whenever possible, voice your opinions civilly, fairly, and factually as it is respectful, to the site, it's members, and yourself. 
• If you are unable to control yourself, join or create a private group to express yourself more freely, or refrain from typing until you can be less fractious.  It's only human to get fired up now and then, it is up to you to control your own behaviour, a calculated response is ususally wiser than a thoughtless reaction.

The Minti Site Is Unique and Important

• Most of the member's on Minti are Mum's. Mum's are very nuturing and forgiving people. Mum's are also fiercely protective of their babies... To most of us, Minti is just that, a living entity that lives and breaths in real time, responding to us as we care or are careless toward it.
• The site member's come from all manner of backgrounds, and have had varying pleasant, and unpleasant life experiences.  Your past, or present lifestyle, is no excuse for how you conduct yourself on the site.  If you need sympathy and empathy from other's, the best way to receive it, is by giving it out unconditionally yourself.
• Ulitmately, there is only one person responsible for your personal experience on the site – YOU. Everything you write on the site reflects back to you. Your participation, whether it is positive or negative will be the catalyst that determines how your experience on Minti will be.
• Think about what you would like to gain from being a member of this community, and the type of people you would like to meet.  I am sure that you will find you can create the community you want to be in, as your participation will be a true reflection of your experience.

It is great when people express their true opinion, it gives us all an opportunity to see through a different perspective; learn and grow as individuals.  The whole community can benefit and evolve with more new ideas and knowledge - however we must all impart that knowledge respectfully in the appropriate forums.