Forum Guidelines and Disclaimer

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FORUM GUIDELINES

The Mental Health Forum's aim is to be "the friendliest place on the web to meet and discuss anything to do with mental health issues" .

Before commencing it is worth saying that we are a small number of volunteers who all have not only lives of their own but may have or had mental health issues of one kind or another (that is why we are here and trying to do what we do in the first place). In framing some rules we are attempting a difficult balance between freedom of speech and the Forum's aims.

These guidelines are intended to give everyone an indication of the rules which the Administrators and Moderators will try to apply when judging whether posts should be deleted or edited.

These are the categories of post which we will consider deleting...

1.) Advertising. Anything which involves commercial advertising including links to commercial websites, including the advertisement of the private practices of forum members.

2.) Spam. Hard to define but most people know it when they see it. This includes posters who arrive and make one irrelevant post which serves only to introduce a link to a website.

3.) Flaming. While arguing perspectives is healthy, personal insults, attacks and innuendo aimed at other members of the forum are not acceptable. This includes private messages. We may also edit sexist, racist, or otherwise offensive terms.

4.) Very offensive or harmful material. Obviously this is a judgment call but please re-read what has been said above. A part of the Mental Health Forum's reason for existence is to allow people to share their own stories which will in many, indeed possibly all, cases be upsetting. We would NOT want to discourage this. But there are instances where we have to make a judgement call. For example, explicit descriptions of self-harm methods, pro-anorexia posts and mention of specific suicide methods will be edited or deleted in line with commonly accepted guidelines.

We may also edit posts which convey the impression that the poster's views are a fact rather than an opinion. For example, we may preface the post by a statement such as "In my view, ...".

5.) Naming of individuals. We have to protect the Forum against accusations of libel. While it is perfectly acceptable to say that you had a terrible experience with a GP/psychiatrist/CPN etc. (as all too many of us have) we cannot allow the individuals to be named on this forum. We will also try to remove names and email addresses that can identify you for your own protection, unless you specifically ask us not to do so prior to posting. When writing about other people (friends, relatives, etc.), please do not use their real names.

6.) Irrelevance. If a post appears in a thread which has absolutely nothing to do with the general direction of the thread then it may be deleted; obviously this only applies to serious threads (it does not apply for instance to the Chill Out Cafe!). But it can be upsetting for people who are having a serious discussion to have the thread derailed by irrelevance.


If you come across a post which you feel falls into one of these categories and you want to alert the moderators then all you need do is to click the triangle button which can be found on the left-hand side of every post.

Members are permitted to post messages on the forum using only one user account.

If you want to seek clarification about anything here, or to clear something in advance, please contact a Moderator or Administrator.


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DISCLAIMER

The messages on this forum and any links to external websites posted within the forum express the views of the respective authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the administrators or moderators. Any advice posted here is for support purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for advice by a qualified professional.

You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless this forum, and www.mentalhealthforum.net.

You agree, through your use of this forum, that you will not post any material which is false, abusive, harassing, obscene, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of ANY law. You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or you have consent from the owner of the copyrighted material.

This site does not align itself to any one political, religious, medical or cultural system or bias. Given the evolving and differing natures of understandings, care and treatment of mental health issues and the wide-ranging benefits of different treatments in individuals, the non-professional nature of this site is such that individual perspectives are purely individual opinions. Medical advice is best sought from medical professionals and it is acknowledged that different people are helped by different practices. Orthodox medical treatment, although helpful to many is not the only or exclusive method of accessing help.

[Fedup]

Glad to see this

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Please note that the forum guidelines have been amended - the no-flaming rule of course also applies to private messages .