Asthma community: How you can help maintain our community safety

[Lysistrata]

Dear Community Members,

Our Asthma community endeavours to provide a safe and supportive place to share your experience and hear from other people to support you with whatever question you have about your asthma. Administrators of this community, together with our community moderation team and HealthUnlocked Support staff, are doing our best to spot and block any harmful content and resolve privately any inappropriate replies from genuine members promptly, however occasionally some may slip through the cracks. This post explains how YOU can help keep our community safe.

As HealthUnlocked state: "The best way to ensure that both the HealthUnlocked and Community moderation teams are aware of any situation happening in your community, is to use the "Report" feature." support.healthunlocked.com/...

Any post, reply, or private message that does one of the following should be reported at the earliest opportunity.

- attempt to damage, insult, bully (or anything similar) any other member of HealthUnlocked

- promoting a user's business (or someone else's business) or encouraging people to visit their website

- individuals trying to take contact information from you

- potential scam

- endeavours to persuade members into doing something that could be damaging or harmful (including stopping their treatment without medical advice, not seeking medical advice, or trying a treatment that could harm them without medical advice)

- member at risk of self-harm

- member under 18 years old

In addition to the above, anyone giving harmful medical advice or asking for personal information under false pretenses (e.g. unapproved surveys) should be reported.

How to report Posts/replies, Private (Chat) messages and Profiles:

If you notice any content that you consider inappropriate, both on the forum or in private messages (Chat), use the "Report" option to report it to the admins and/or HealthUnlocked staff. (Reports on Posts/Replies go to both the community admins and to HealthUnlocked Support. Chat reports only go to HealthUnlocked Support). See: support.healthunlocked.com/...

The "Report" button is located below each post/reply between 'Like" and "More" and below Chat messages to the bottom right.

When you file a report, please choose which category best describes the content. Also please describe why you think the content is inappropriate. Your comments are very helpful and very much appreciated! Yes, it's an extra step but it gives the context of why you think the content is problematic to assist those investigating your report. It's also easy to accidentally select "Report" and your comments make it clear that the report wasn't accidental.

Some users have profiles with links to websites and you may notice such a link in your email notification from HealthUnlocked when a member on HealthUnlocked follows you. Please report any suspicious members or links in profiles directly to HealthUnlocked Support by clicking on the "Report" button in the bottom right of their profile page. Do not click on links within the profile page, as they may lead to malware or other inappropriate content.

How do I report private messages?

support.healthunlocked.com/...

If there are many separate messages, you need to report each one.

You can also mute a member if you don't want to receive private messages from them: support.healthunlocked.com/...

A while back, there were a number of male HealthUnlocked members contacting females with inappropriate messages where they are attempting to use HealthUnlocked as a dating site. Be very cautious about corresponding with anyone you don't know, as it could be a fake profile. If someone makes you uncomfortable, please report it to HealthUnlocked.

In summary, if something makes you feel unsafe and sounds suspicious, please use the report function to flag this so that action can be taken. For your safety, the person being reported is NOT notified when they are reported. The community admins or HealthUnlocked Support will contact them or restrict or ban them as appropriate and won't share who reported them.

It is better to report content rather than try to stand up to someone yourself, as it might happen that someone is trying to be provocative on purpose, to evoke an emotional response from other community members and draw them in to whatever they are trying to achieve via their trolling/abusive behaviour.

Words can hurt and can cause harm in so many ways and it is necessary to protect yourself. By reporting content you are also keeping others safe by flagging the concerning situation.

What happens when I report?

support.healthunlocked.com/...

Why is the post/ comment/ user I reported still on the site?

support.healthunlocked.com/...

Don't forget that you can improve your safety by changing your username to something not readily associated with you. Here's how to change your username:

support.healthunlocked.com/...

Should you wish to directly contact any of our community administrators and volunteers, they are listed on our community About page: healthunlocked.com/asthmalu...

There's more on how to maintain your online security in this post:

healthunlocked.com/aluk-ast...

Thank you!

Lysistrata, on behalf of the Asthma + Lung UK Asthma Community Forum

[djbctla]

Much Appreciated, thank you.