Depression Support Group
Depression is a real and debilitating condition that is often misunderstood by family and friends. Its meaning can range from a prolonged period of sadness to an actual mental illness with specific symptoms. Find and share experiences with others who are going through the same struggles.
Ok, I'm gonna just get this started. Not meant as a complete picture, but an outline. Can you add your thoughts?
Generally speaking, any topic is OK on DS unless:
1) COMMERCIAL MESSAGES: Users are posting messages promoting products from which they materially benefit.
2) INTERFERING WITH THE FLOW OF CONVERSATION: We had a problem a few weeks ago when a member posted hundreds of topics within a few minutes. It destroyed the flow of the community. Not OK.
3) PERSONAL INFORMATION: DS strongly advises against the posting of personal information (email addresses, phone numbers, addresses) and may delete that if posted. This is done only for your safety.
4) RELIGION: DS is non-denominational and while we think religion is an important part of healing, imposing your religious beliefs on others is not ok. As an example, we do not permit religious folks from entering our Gay and Lesbian forums with the intention of "curing" or otherwise fixing the members there.
5) PERSONAL ATTACKS: Now this is where most folks get tripped up, so let's see if we can come up with something useful. A threat of violence against another member is unacceptable. Example: "I'm going to kill you" or "you should die". Debate about all kinds of subjects is fine, but attacking an individual is not. As an example, if you and I disagree about abortion, we can attack each other's position and claims, but it is NOT acceptable for me to say "You're an idiot! You deserve to die!"
6) ATTACKING A GROUP: Obviously, attacking or insulting a group (race, religion, etc) is also unacceptable.
7) WHAT'S OK WHERE: Forums are public places and require the strictest interpretation of our rules. Journals are more oriented towards personal communication. Journal comments, hugs and private messages are the place where we often see personal attacks, and that's obviously not OK.
8) OBSCENITY / PROFANITY: Generally speaking, we're not sticklers for curse words, though we ask folks to remember that anyone 14 and older may be on the site. Where folks have gotten in to trouble is when they post an obscene word in their avatar (which can be seen by anyone across the entire site) or post the F-word in all caps in the middle of a discussion. Obscenity in the course of a valuable discussion is one thing...just saying it for the shock value isn't really helping anyone. Thoughts? Unfortunately, nudity is generally not allowed on the site because, well, frankly many other members complain about it when they see it. We can get more technical about what consistutes actual nudity, but I thought I'd just get this started.
9) COPYRIGHTED CONTENT: We can get in big trouble if we don't take down copyrighted content, when notified by the copyright holder. I think you all get that.
Ok, that's just a start. Thoughts?
doug
Generally speaking, any topic is OK on DS unless:
1) COMMERCIAL MESSAGES: Users are posting messages promoting products from which they materially benefit.
2) INTERFERING WITH THE FLOW OF CONVERSATION: We had a problem a few weeks ago when a member posted hundreds of topics within a few minutes. It destroyed the flow of the community. Not OK.
3) PERSONAL INFORMATION: DS strongly advises against the posting of personal information (email addresses, phone numbers, addresses) and may delete that if posted. This is done only for your safety.
4) RELIGION: DS is non-denominational and while we think religion is an important part of healing, imposing your religious beliefs on others is not ok. As an example, we do not permit religious folks from entering our Gay and Lesbian forums with the intention of "curing" or otherwise fixing the members there.
5) PERSONAL ATTACKS: Now this is where most folks get tripped up, so let's see if we can come up with something useful. A threat of violence against another member is unacceptable. Example: "I'm going to kill you" or "you should die". Debate about all kinds of subjects is fine, but attacking an individual is not. As an example, if you and I disagree about abortion, we can attack each other's position and claims, but it is NOT acceptable for me to say "You're an idiot! You deserve to die!"
6) ATTACKING A GROUP: Obviously, attacking or insulting a group (race, religion, etc) is also unacceptable.
7) WHAT'S OK WHERE: Forums are public places and require the strictest interpretation of our rules. Journals are more oriented towards personal communication. Journal comments, hugs and private messages are the place where we often see personal attacks, and that's obviously not OK.
8) OBSCENITY / PROFANITY: Generally speaking, we're not sticklers for curse words, though we ask folks to remember that anyone 14 and older may be on the site. Where folks have gotten in to trouble is when they post an obscene word in their avatar (which can be seen by anyone across the entire site) or post the F-word in all caps in the middle of a discussion. Obscenity in the course of a valuable discussion is one thing...just saying it for the shock value isn't really helping anyone. Thoughts? Unfortunately, nudity is generally not allowed on the site because, well, frankly many other members complain about it when they see it. We can get more technical about what consistutes actual nudity, but I thought I'd just get this started.
9) COPYRIGHTED CONTENT: We can get in big trouble if we don't take down copyrighted content, when notified by the copyright holder. I think you all get that.
Ok, that's just a start. Thoughts?
doug
Izzie
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU VIOLATE THOSE RULES
We believe in warnings, and for most "casual" violations, we will warn you at least 2x prior to taking action against your account. We may choose to delete the specific content at that time. There are times when a member is being SO inappropriate that we need to take action - example, a spammer who's sending 100's of messages around the site - that we'll remove the account first and ask later.
Another policy - we currently believe in not sharing the details of your account with others. This is for your privacy. We don't want to humiliate or violate anyone's trust by posting a message to the community saying "User XXX called user YYY an idiot". All members should remember that oftentimes, violations happen within U2U messages or hugs, so just because posts look OK on the board doesn't mean the member has followed all the rules.
As I've previously mentioned, we're going to work on a better warning system so folks can understand the offending content. More to come on that.
and while i'm at it..i have personally seen several posts declaring this entire community is "entertaining"..ie, watching others in pain and hurting is fun..would that be grounds for banning someone from this forum, as i think it should..no one's pain should be entertainment for others.
my two cents..for the moment at least..
You are having a bad day. You post a note complaining about your job. I reply "Oh, get over it, you lazy loser. What's your problem?"
Is that OK? It's definitely NOT helping you. On the other hand, it's not obscene. Typically, our reaction would be to leave it alone, but if it kept happening, we'd need to step in.
Anyone?
Let's play it out. You post a comment about your pain. I say "HA HA - look at her everyone!" What should DS do? Delete the post? When do we ban - how many violations?
one more time..and i'm not going to mention anyone in particular, so don't worry..
there is a certain member who looks for posts where he/she sees someone is in pain/crisis/etc..this member will post on a thread asking for help that he/she finds this whole thing very entertaining and we should all stay sick because he/she comes here to laugh at what we are going through...
to me, that is no different than a pedophile stalking children in a playground..
someone who is very sick is preying on people in a place they are supposed to feel safe and are vulnerable...
you do with it what you will..if it were me, that's one of the no warning..just done situations..
I think you are doing an outstanding job in maintaining the integrity of DS.
I love it here. The people are great. The purpose is help and daily strength. That must be remembered at all times.
Here's an idea I'm not sure about...but it's an idea: If we remove someone from the community, we explain why so that folks can understand it's not arbitrary. That violates what I said previously about user privacy...hm...not sure about that.