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
xoxo Lisa
thanks for your efforts Doug
1.The privacy policy has to remain in effect. The one thing that the DS staff
cannot do is take away someone's dignity. The banned member does deserve an explanantion from the DS staff, the rest of the community does not.
2. I hate the bickering...but it is a part of life..WE do it at work, we do it at school. we do it with the people we love and care about. You cannot have the DS team step in and take action on arguements.
3. I do expect them to step in and go after those that hatefully bash in public or "stalk" in private.
4. I am glad to see these threads up for people to respond. I don't believe that the staff has been near as supportive in the past as they should have been, in regards to communicating...so I will give you the thumbs up for the effort, we'll see how it goes.
5. For the person asking for the "verification of death" regarding reported suicide. I understand where you are coming from but...unfortunately that would also be in violation of the privacy policy..it could never happen.
For those of us that have been around for awhile...we are remembering the way it used to be and missing those times. I know I am... it was supportive but it was a fun..somewhere we could come to escape the stress of reality and talk to a friend and share a laugh.
If we get back to that place, there is no other website I would rather be on!
We'll see what happens..
If say more than 20 people request the post to be deleted, their request is granted.
Kind of like a negative rating scheme?
I would also like to see an "offline" option like Yahoo so that I can write in my journal privately which is a form of therapy for me.
Thanks you.
i wanted to expand on, and get your thoughts on avatars/photos/videos.
Here's a list of guidelines about what we ask to be replaced or removed.
Avatars:
*nudity--including transparent clothing
*overt sexual content--a person grabbing their genitals, for instance.
*blood
*wounds--no "cutting" photos. Exceptions for member faces that might have experienced some sort of trauma, or genetic challenge.
*curse words--as avatars are everywhere, we ask members to avoid showing curse words
*drugs--depends on context. doesn't work if a pile of pills and a syringe, but if a member just happens to be holding a bottle of aspirin it would probably be fine
*death--no images of humans who have passed. but a skull and crossbones would probably be ok
*suicide--no images suggesting or promoting suicide
*violence--nothing overt--cartoon violence, such as Homer strangling Bart Simpson would probably be ok.
*copyrighted images--if we receive a legal take down notice, we have to comply
Personal photos:
The same guidelines, only a bit more leeway for personal photos in your Photos page. If a member wants to show a surgery scar or a healing wound for instance. Again, context is important.
Videos:
The same guidelines. VideoEgg--the company that hosts DS videos--will also remove videos that infringe on copyrighted content. In other words, if you have a song playing in the background of a video, and you didn't write it, the video may be taken down.
So, what do you think? I'd love to hear your ideas and refinements.
I agree that there should be an explanation when a person is banned. The banned person may be in denial, or out right lying, about their reason for being banned. (I have seen more than one banned person come back under a similar name to continue to press their case.)
Allow people to delete their own topics and comments. So if I start a topic I regret, I can delete it and it is replaced with a single, non-respondable entry that says "Deleted by author".
The same for posts, so if I respond to a topic and regret my words I can delete and it is repalced with an entry that says "Deleted by responder".
Yes, too many fake death notices. They really hurt people. Death certificates are public records, so there may be a way we as members can put links into our profile that would allow any of our "deaths" to be verified.
And by the way, I got enough of a glimps of topics yesterday before they were deleted to get a grim picture. I feel for the people who got banned, they are hurting. But they were also hurting this site. I hope they heal and come back.
As for profanity etc. Should DS be split into over 21 and under 21 groups? I know that a lot of us older members serve as surrogate parents (or grand parents?) for the younger members.
I do hope this thread goes on for a lot more entries from a lot more people!