Community Guidelines - Everyone Please Read

[Becky_MacularSociety]

Welcome to the Macular Society Community for support of Macular Conditions.

We’re very glad you have chosen to be a part of our community. The Macular Society community - offered by the Macular Society and HealthUnlocked (HU) - supports individuals affected by macular conditions. Whether you are an individual who has been diagnosed, a carer, family member, or friend, we hope this community is a safe and supportive place for you to share your experiences and find information and support.

This community is moderated by the Macular Society and HealthUnlocked.

The Macular Society community is part of HealthUnlocked, a network of over 200 conditions and wellness communities from organisations you know and trust. By using HealthUnlocked (HU) you are accepting these posting guidelines and agree to HealthUnlocked’s Guidelines and Terms of Use. Members of the Macular Society should read HU’s Guidelines in conjunction with the Macular Society Community Guidelines outlined below.

HU Community Guidelines: support.healthunlocked.com/...

HU Terms of Use: healthunlocked.com/policies...

Below are the Macular Society Community Guidelines, which are aimed at creating and maintaining a safe and supportive community for all of our members. Many of HU’s guidelines are repeated here.

Professional Health Information:

The Macular Society community strives to provide useful, up-to-date information on matters of concern to individuals with macular conditions and other members of the Macular Society community. The information posted on this site should not be used as a means of diagnosis, determining treatment, nor replace the relationship between you, your doctors and other healthcare professionals. For diagnosis and treatment options, you are urged to consult your physician.

Community Atmosphere:

The Macular Society community is a safe, supportive, informative, and friendly community for people affected by macular conditions. Your participation in this community should be with respect, honesty and in the spirit of supporting and learning from fellow users.

Please note that while the Macular Society is an organisation based in the United Kingdom, members may be located worldwide. As such, details on approved medications, treatment protocols, healthcare, insurance, and other related topics may differ and should always be verified depending on your specific location.

Posting Content (Posts/Questions/Replies/Private Messages):

Content posted by individual members does not represent the views of the Macular Society or HealthUnlocked.

Posting content on this community is taken as your agreement to post information that is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, and is primarily drawn from personal experience. You are encouraged to post content about your own experience with a macular condition (or that of a loved one), ask questions, and offer support and advice.

Content should never be abusive, derogatory, sexually explicit or suggestive, or deliberately misleading. If you believe someone else’s content violates this rule, please report it via the “Report Abuse” option or via the “Feedback” button. Content that is felt to violate this policy will either be edited or removed. All feedback reports are read by moderators and it is their judgement on what action, if any, is taken.

Neither the Macular Society nor HealthUnlocked is responsible for any offence or injury that a member may draw from another member’s content.

Any content posted on this community can be read, used, reproduced, and cited by other users of the site. You have the option to delete content you posted.

When you post third-party information, such as information about new treatments, you are asked to provide references and links to sources wherever possible. Please ensure links are to a reputable site.

Moderating Content:

Content posted on this community is moderated by the Macular Society and HealthUnlocked. Moderation occurs only after content is posted.

Moderation helps maintain a safe, positive environment for all members of the community. Content may be edited or removed to ensure that the community remains supportive and responsive for all members. We also reserve the right to remove any content that does not relate directly to Macular Conditions or the Society.

The community is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Moderation occurs after posting and primarily between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM GMT Monday through Friday.

Solicitations:

Please note that Macular Society does not endorse or recommend any specific products, services, therapies, or activities mentioned by any third party (individual or company).

Online Safety:

In this community, there may be discussions of health-related issues and sharing of personal information.

Please note that the Macular Society community is an open site, meaning that any posts are searchable by internet search engines and can be shared via social media platforms. The default setting of posts allows them to be visible to individuals who are not members of the community. If you would rather your content was not searchable, you can change the visibility of your post by selecting "Only followers in my community" before clicking submit. This will result in only the post title and first line of text being visible to those who are not members of the community. However, doing this will limit the number of people who will find and benefit from the information you have shared. We suggest members leave posts open for everyone to find if they are comfortable doing so to ensure more people find communities and benefit from the wealth of information on HealthUnlocked.

For your own safety, you should not disclose personal information such as your full name, email address, home address, telephone number, or any other information which could directly or indirectly identify you.

For more information on general online safety guidelines please visit: ico.org.uk/for-the-public/o...

Thank You for Reading,

The Macular Society

[Hidden]

Thanks, may I suggest this post gets "pinned" (if it isn't already?) so will always be visible to newcomers.

[Becky_MacularSociety Partner in reply to Hidden]

Hi Eyesright,

Post is pinned and I will be putting a link to this post in the welcome message to new members

Becky

[Hidden in reply to Becky_MacularSociety]

Thanks, I just realised my default link from HU email notifications is "newsfeed" which doesn't show the right hand menu. If anyone else didn't realise either click on the 9 dots beside the house and select Macular Society to get the home page and the right hand menu with it's useful info.

Only taken me 5 years to spot that lol.

[Rachmaninoff]

Hi, I just found this site but have been having injections for about 4 years and on occasions I have needed to ask questions to hope reassure me . Looking forward to posting when I get time x

[TwasBrillig in reply to Rachmaninoff]

Love your name! My favourite composer is Rachmaninov- from when I first saw Brief Encounter and heard the soundtrack.

Looking forward to seeing you here.

[Rachmaninoff in reply to TwasBrillig]

Thanks TwasBrillig I was pleased that noone else had that name. Yes I will be posting and look forward to all the chats, it's so reassuring to feel one is not alone.

[bel9mex]

I'm not sure how to simplify all that appears on this site - I find it all a bit overwhelming, sorry. Eyesight doesn't help (obviously) but what would definitely help is getting rid of that horrid banner that constantly appears across the screen, with icons and a big Health Unlocked on it, that makes it difficult for me to see/read/write without having to constantly scroll up and down to read what is on the screen! Am I missing a trick (I need all the help I can get, by the way. I am desperately trying to act "normally".

[Hidden in reply to bel9mex]

Hi, sorry you're having trouble. I'm not techy but on my android tablet the HU title disappears when I scroll.

The icons you need to navigate. The house takes you to Newsfeed where new posts appear, the 9 circles click on Macular takes you to the (this) page that has pinned posts from mac soc and also has lots of topics on the right hand side - the headings have been set up by mac soc and anyone who posts can also add their post to a given topic if relevant so that it's easy to find useful info. Folk can also add info straight to an existing topic post. I have to have my tablet landscape to see the right hand side menu!

You can make a new post from either Newsfeed ( click " what's your question " ) or this page ( click "Write").

There is a Helpful Stuff topic here on tech - not sure if it includes using tv screen which would give a large area to view? I know it's possible to play a tablet through a tv but I dont know how sorry.

There are vision aid charities that might be able to help you sort it.

Basically though I think you will always have to scroll , either to see the next post down, or to see the next reply to a post - the amount of scrolling depends on size of your screen, font size you have set, and length of post/ reply. I dont think there's any way around it. Every webpage I've ever seen has been similar. Be interesting to see if any techy folk know different!

Personally I find the Newsfeed page easier to work with if not looking for something in particular .

Hope you get to grips with it all.

[bel9mex in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for your reply. As I write this on my laptop (which I tend to use in the evenings as screen is larger), the HU banner is still stuck in the middle of the screen (which means I have to scroll up or down in order to read or write)! However, the good news is that, having read your reply, I decided to use my iPad and the HU banner is at the top of the page - as it should be! So, obviously a technical problem related to use of my laptop. Will need to research that separately. Just thought I would mention this in case other users experience the same problem when viewing posts...