We rely on all members to help keep these discussion forums a safe place for people to share and view information. To do this, we request that all members comply with the following principles when contributing to the discussion forums:

• Be courteous and respectful. Appreciate that others may have an opinion different from yours.
• Stay on topic. When creating a new discussion thread, give a clear topic title and put your post in the appropriate category. When contributing to an existing discussion, try to stay ‘on topic’. If something new comes up within a topic that you would like to discuss, start a new thread.
• Keep it safe. Remember that the forums are public places. Don’t post personal information that you would not be comfortable sharing with a stranger. We recommend you use only your first name or a pseudonym in your username and that you don’t post any information that may identify you or anyone else, such as your address, email address or phone number.
• Report abuse. A strong online community is self-governing. If you see abuse, please report it to the forum moderator.
• One account per person. Running multiple identities on our forums is not permitted. If you are unable to access your account, please get in touch with us rather than creating a new one.

We maintain the right to remove posts and threads

We need to make sure that material posted in the discussion forums is not potentially harmful. For this reason, we may edit or choose not to publish any post, avatar or display name that:

• contains disrespectful or derogatory remarks about any other member.
• contains advice or content that we believe is damaging, unhelpful or distressing to others
• contains swearing or offensive language is nonsensical and/or irrelevant
• promotes personal beliefs in a way that is disrespectful of the self-determination of others
• is racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually explicit or suggestive, abusive or otherwise discriminatory or objectionable
• advertises products, services, events or research not requested by other members in the discussion
• is seeking of personal medical advice
• describes or encourages violence or other activity which could endanger the safety or wellbeing of others
• contains references to suicide, self-harm or sexual abuse
• is a copy of another post or contains the same, or similar, message posted multiple times elsewhere.

Moderation

A designated moderator has been entrusted with the ability to intervene when these Community Rules have been breached. However, due to the dynamic nature and the sheer volume of posts, we can’t immediately read everything written – therefore much of the responsibility for maintaining our friendly environment lies with you. We take our duty of care in providing a safe environment for all forum members seriously. Do not hesitate to contact the moderator about any posting or user activity which concerns you.

Depending on the severity of the infraction, a different course of action may be taken, but the usual practice is as follows:

• First instance of rule breach: Post will be moderated as appropriate and the user notified of the breach
• Second instance of rule breach:  Post will be moderated as appropriate and the user notified of the breach and a warning of potential ban.
• Third instance of rule breach: Post will be moderated as appropriate and the user will receive a temporary ban, the length of which will depend on the severity of the incident.
• Any further incidents will result in a permanent ban and removal of the user from website forums.

We reserve the right to permanently deactivate the accounts of users who breach our community rules.