Just looked at the Community Guidance, this caught my eye.
Contributions must not:
contain any material that is obscene, offensive, hateful, inflammatory or defamatory of any person;
promote any discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age;
infringe any copyright, database right, trade mark or any other right of any other person;
be threatening, abuse or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety;
be likely to harass, upset, embarrass alarm or annoy any other person;
So, it would appear that if one individual felt that I was upsetting or annoying that person, I could be banned! Although the 'be likely' does imply the reasonable man test so I'm hoping any complaint against me will balance my actions against whether the individuals offence is reasonable. But you know...
Also, the range of material which must not be posted, such as offensive, is poorly defined and subjective. It also goes further than the law ( where I live ) requires for criminal activity. Gross offensiveness being the test.
These guidelines are poorly drafted in my humble opinion.
Funnily, the Health Unlocked Guidelines say this
HealthUnlocked is not a forum to create negative impressions about identifiable individuals. Negative and damaging references to identifiable individuals may be edited or deleted either by HealthUnlocked or by a community administrator. We hope that users will respect the right of other members to present their individual health experiences, regardless of whether or not they are in agreement, and that all disagreements will be
Hi if a report does go in by someone then the admins look carefully at the whole situation and will make a decision based on the rules of the site and their own judgement.
Hopefully they will explain nicely if and why any action has to be taken, but they haven't got to do this. I think they should with mental health sites as it can be extra easy for us to take it personally because of the problems we have. Some of us can be very sentitive to criticism and this must be taken into account.
They look at the good of the site overall and the aim is to keep it a supportive safe place to be.
I doubt very much whether anyone would be banned over a first 'offense'. I would like to think a warning and explanation would be enough. If the 'offence' is repeated several times I think they would consider restriction for say a week or so. That seems to be what most mods do on the sites I have been on.
I hope you are ok. x
I've emailed them directly my concerns about the vague of the guidelines and how unspecific they are which could result in quite draconian measures for someone if an individual felt they were being abused when in fact they were simply having an argument with someone else over a different viewpoint.
Can you point me in the direction of the specific guidance which prevents underage posters. I can't seem to find in the terms and conditions or guidance for HU or Mental Health Support. Thanks.
They are in the Pinned posts under 'Underaged Users' and also in the pinned posts look under 'Community Guidelines', Depending on what device you are using these will either be to the right of your screen or at the bottom. You might need to refresh your page first.
I think the criteria is how the 'argument' was conducted. We can disagree politely and with respect which is fine. It's when naming and shaming or abuse happens it can be a problem. Like I said the mods will look at it and make their own decisions. I guess we have to trust to their common sense and experience.
Like I said it can be difficult on a mental health forum because people are upset or mentally in a bad place anyway otherwise they wouldn't be on here. I am sure (well hope anyway) the mods understand this and be more gentle with people.
Yes that may well explain your recent posts and responses.