Forum Rules

1. Forum accounts
   • Only one account per person is permitted. Anyone found to be in breach of this rule will have their accounts deleted immediately and without warning.
   • IIH Support is about people, domain names in forum/login names are not allowed.
   • You are responsible for keeping your forum password secret. Anything posted under your account name will be deemed to have been posted by you, and is subject to the rules of the forum outlined here and in the registration agreement we all agree to when we join the forum.
   • The forum and it's servers are UK based, and we have members from all over the world. Although it is not a legal requirement for us to do so, while we welcome children and young people to our forum, in order to comply with US's COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) requirements of seeking consent from a parent or guardian to access our content, we have introduced an age restriction below which a parent or a guardian of a child must provide consent for a child under the age of 16 to register an account on the forum. This ensures that children will not be exposed to possibly graphic descriptions of surgery etc. without their parent/guardian's consent. A child under the age of 16 may register an account on the forum, but their account will not be activated until either a faxed or emailed confirmation of consent is received from their parent/guardian.
2. Overall Community Attitude
   • Our purpose is to share, help and support others. Always display a positive, friendly attitude, and be respectful of others' opinions
   • Be civil and courteous at all times. Insults directed towards other users or the Site Admins and Moderators will not be tolerated. Coarse/insulting language will not be tolerated.
   • Choose your words carefully when posting a message. What can be seen as a joke in face to face conversations doesn't always come across in the typed word, and it's easy to unintentionally offend other members
   • Allow your fellow members to voice their opinions
   • Do not deliberately start arguments. Debates are great, as long as they remain respectful!
   • Give people time to respond to your questions. There's a lot going on in these forums, many of our members are living with IIH themselves, and it may take a little time for people to notice and respond to your request. Please be patient.
   • These forums are centered on IIH, and health matters around IIH. They aren't a place to promote ideological, religious, or political matters. All such discussions will be deleted/closed.
   • Thank those who help you. Acknowledgement of a helpful suggestion not only placates those who helped you, it may also help others with a similar problem.
3. Medical Advice
   • Anything suggested on this site and forums or opinions offered are not intended to be medical or pharmaceutical advice or to take the place of your doctors' orders, nor to diagnose or treat your specific health problems. Please discuss all methods of treatment with your doctor before starting any mentioned here.
   • The forum consists of patients, not doctors. Discuss any advice found here with your doctor before trying it. Many ideas are helpful but any treatment can be dangerous and should be monitored. Advice or suggestions regarding medicine includes prescription medicines, over the counter medicines (OTC), supplements, vitamins, and herbal alternatives. These are all examples of pharmaceuticals. For the purpose of this post, "medicine(s)" will refer to herbal alternatives, supplements, vitamins, OTC's and prescription medications. Other medical advice includes dietary changes, exercise options, or alternative treatments.
   • People on this forum are often desperate to try anything that may help them. Most people here are willing to help others, and want to share information that's helpe them, but we must be careful when asking for advice or giving advice. IIH is a very individual illnesses, and may not be the only illness we suffer from, and IIH sufferers often take multiple medicines for various conditions. Little is known about the causes and mechanisms of IIH, and because of these two facts, any change of any kind of medication can cause either positive effects or potentially fatal ones.
   • We aren't doctors here. We don't have access to your complete medical history, and we aren't medically qualified. We don't know everything you are using and doing to help you with your illness, and while we can make educated guesses as to what may be causing someone new health concerns, we cannot offer any form of diagnosis. We can offer suggestions and advice, of what has worked for us or what we have learned through research and coping with living with this illness, and advice on what to discuss with medical professionals. We can offer advice on helping those in your life understand what you are going through, on coping skills, ways to reduce stress in your life, and easier ways to deal with day to day activities. Sharing what has worked for us is a way to educate fellow sufferers and to "give back" to the IIH community, but we mus be careful with the words we use to offer suggestions and advice and what has worked for us. Saying something like "Take vitamin X with painkiller Q and it will help your pain" is potentially dangerous. However, if you say "itamin X, and the painkiller X has lowered my pain levels. Ask your doctor if this might work for you" is a) a suggestion, b) shares what worked, and c) adds in advice of making sure it's safe to use. The difference is subtle, but it could make the difference between making another member's life better or making it worse.
   • The owners, Administrators and Moderators will not be liable for any consequences of relying on information provided by forum members.
4. Prescription Drugs
   • Not only is sharing prescribed medication with others dangerous; it's also illegal. If it's not obtained via a doctor's prescription there are no guarantees what you might be taking, and if you don't tell your GP what you're taking, you could be putting yourself at risk, especially if you are prescribed other drugs which interact with it. The possession and supply of any drug without a prescription is illegal.
   • If you pass on your prescription drugs to others, or try to get hold of prescription drugs without a prescription, you are breaking the law. The possession (and supply) of Prescription Only medicines without a prescription is a serious offence, under the Medicines Act 1968. Drugs prescribed to you are for your own use only. Even if someone has the same symptoms as you, for them to take a drug that hasn't been specifically prescribed to them can be very dangerous.
   • The use of this discussion forum, or the forum Private Message or email function to facilitate such illegal activity is strictly forbidden and will result in users being denied access. Use of the forum for illegal activity will not be tolerated and any members found to be indulging in such activities will be immediately and without further warning be banned from the forum, initially for a period of seven (7) days. Any further breaches of this rule will result in a permanent ban from the forum.
   • If you receive a message from another member asking you to supply medication to them you should alert one of the forum Administrators, forwarding a copy of the message to them, who will take appropriate action. If a request is received by PM (Private Message), you can contact an Administrator by clicking the "report to Administrator" link at the bottom of the message. Any such activity will not be tolerated.
5. Inappropriate Behavior
   • Do not make inappropriate or offensive posts – including threats, harrassment, swearing, prejudice, libel or deliberate insults/name-calling, or other negative remarks about IIH Support, it's moderators and administrators, or fellow members. Even if this is just your own personal opinion
   • Do not post pornographic or adult content. This also includes sites promoting activities such as drug abuse, gambling and links to sites containing such content.
   • Even though this is an international forum, please make sure that your posts are written in English.
   • We want IIH Support to be open to people of all ages, genders, races, and sexualities, so any inappropriate or offensive posts will be deleted
6. "Naming & Shaming"
   • The Defamation Act 1996 is the legislation that deals with defamatory statements, which are something that lowers someone in the public esteem. If made orally it's called slander, if in a recorded format (including online) it's libel. Both individuals and organisations (where goodwill is damaged) can be defamed.
   • Any person who makes a defamatory statement about another person, or organisation, where that person or organisation is identifiable or recognisable may be subject to a claim of libel by the person defamed. This would include the "naming and shaming" of doctors or hospitals where patients may feel they have received poor treatment.
   • Carrying the legal status of "distributor", the forum and it's owners and managers may also be subject to legal proceedings in the same way the original poster would be, where a defamatory statement has been made publicly. For this reason, for the protection of members, the forum Administrators, Moderators, and the forum, the practice of "naming and shaming" will not be tolerated on the IIH Support forum.
   • In the first instance, and for a first offence where a doctor or organisation is named in a negative context, the offending post will either be moderated or removed by the forum staff, and a warning by Private Message issued. Repeat offences will be subject to a six month ban from the forum. A third offence will result in a permanent ban.
7. Forum Abuse Policy
   • 1st Offence – A polite Private Message from a Moderator pointing out the Forum Rules, in addition to the editing or deletion of the post
   • 2nd Offence – Public warning on the message board plus deletion of post
   • 3rd Offence – Moderators and Administrators will discuss and possibly delete the user from the IIH Support forum
   • Depending on the situation, Admins may bypass any and all of these steps and take whatever action is deemed appropriate.
8. Private Message and Email Abuse Policy
   • Do not use IIH Support as a basis for spamming or scamming our members. We take PM/email abuse very seriously, and it will result in the immediate removal of your membership and ban of your IP address, without warning
9. Our SPAM Policy
   • Please make sure that you are posting for the good of the community, not just for the sake of self–promotion
   • Do notuse the IIH Support community for the purpose of 'spam' or advertisements. This includes forum posts, private messages, or emails to other forum members
   • Our moderators reserve the right to edit or delete any posts they consider to be 'spam'
   • If we find that you are spamming our forum, you will be warned by a Moderator or Site Admin, and it may lead to the deletion of your posts and/or the removal of your forum account
10. Identity Theft
    • Do not impersonate anyone whom you are not. Identity theft is illegal and will not be tolerated.
11. Multiple Posts
    • Do not post the same topic in multiple forums. If you are unsure of which forum a thread should go under, state that in your post, and a moderator will move the thread to the correct forum. Multiple posts are unnecessary and will be deleted.
    • Do not post the same question multiple times in multiple threads in the same forum. If no one responds to your question, just post a reply to the same message thread again to bring the message to the top of the list so members notice it.
    • Check that your question has not been answered anywhere else on the site. Use the search feature.
    • Post your comment/question to the most appropriate place. Any posts deemed to be in the wrong forum will be moved. Do not cross–post the same question to multiple places.
12. Signature/Avatar Restrictions
    • Signatures must be setup in your Profile, and not manually added to your messages.
    • Do not use your forum signature for advertising your own site/forum. Any links should be in your account profile and should be for personal sites only, unless agreed in advance with the Site Administrators
    • No more than 2 links per signature
    • Signatures may not contain links to other threads or posts for the purpose of self promotion. Signatures may include two clickable links, URL's or mailto: – No duplicate links. Signatures may not contain any pricing, sales, product etc. details.
    • Images in signatures should be small and not obtrusive. Any which are deemed too large by our Moderators will be removed. Signatures may contain a maximum of two smilies.
    • Maximum font size cannot be larger than the normal font size in messages.
    • Maximum length: 3 lines
    • Your signature is your signature. It is not for sale or rent.
    • Any signature or avatar that is offensive or insulting to either us, our members, or our Admins or Moderators, are prohibited.
    • Signature/avatar size should not exceed the size allowed in the forum settings
    • We reserve the right to ask you to change and/or remove your signature or avatar at any time, for any reason.
13. Posting and Font Restrictions
    • Keep all posts on–topic within the IIH discussion areas. Off–topic posts may be moved or deleted.
    • Do not discuss illegal activities. Our server is hosted in the UK and so is subject to UK law. Please do not expose us to any unnecessary legal liability.
    • Make sure you have read the parent article/post completely before posting a reply
    • This is not the place to settle a disagreement with another member, or with Site Admins or Moderators. Complaints should be dealt with via the forum's private message system, and not on the open forums. Settle your disputes in private please.
    • No commercial advertising is permitted.
    • Any posts deemed to be self promotion, advertising, or spam can and will be removed, e.g. posting and making excessive, inappropriate and unnecessary references to your products and websites is self promotion.
    • No thread bumping of a post which is less than 48 hours old, flaming, trolling or spamming.
    • Do not use excessively large font sizes, as it is considered to be –shouting– and will be edited back down to the default size by the moderators
    • Please take care when using font colours other than the forum's default font colour. Some font colours can be very difficult to read for some members. Posts in colours which are deemed unsuitable will be edited by the moderators.
    • Please be sensible when using "smileys" in posts, particularly animated smilies. Post which are deemed to have an inappropriate number of smilies may be moderated.
    • We're not all perfect spellers, but posts which contain an excessive amount of spelling errors, abbreviations, lack of punctuation or capitalisation, or any other form of posting which makes the post difficult to read will receive a warning from a Moderator. If the post is not made acceptable within 3 days of the warning, it will be deleted or moved without further warning.
    • Use an appropriate subject line. Try to summarise the problem briefly in the subject. Do not use all caps. An example of a bad subject would be "HELP ME". A good subject might be, "I need advice on X". Do not use a URL (web site address) as a thread title.
14. Image Restrictions
    • Unless otherwise stated, if you post an image in the forums, please keep the image size under 100K, and preferably under 400 x 400 pixels
15. Copyright
    • All of the material on the IIH UK site and the IIH Support Forum is copyrighted
    • Material (this includes text, images, code, and logos/trademarks) is protected under international law under copyright legislation
    • Material on the IIH UK site and IIH Support forum should not be copied, re–used or otherwise redistributed without permission. You can contact us using the contact form on the main site.
    • Material on the forum is also copyrighted, and the copyright of posts remains with their author. IIH UK and the IIH Support Forum retains the right to use quoted material in publicity material but we will not do so without contacting the member concerned wherever possible.
    • If you wish to use material from the forums, in the first instance you should contact the member concerned or one of the forum administrators if you are unable to contact the member
    • It is your responsibility to establish the copyright status of any material such as quotes, poems, and images that you use in your posts. If the forum staff feel that any content you have used in your posts may be copyrighted we may contact you to warn you of that, but it is not our responsibility to do so, and we will not be help liable for the content of postings by members.
    • We take copyright theft extremely seriously, and will take action against anyone found to be infringing copyright. Anyone found to be using any content from the IIH UK site or IIH Support forum will be warned and a 7 day ban imposed on their account. Any further instances will result in a permanent ban. In cases of serious copyright infringement, at the discretion of the Forum Administrators and Moderators, a permanent ban may be applied without warning.

By joining the IIH Support forum, you agree to abide by the forum rules as stated in the member agreement and in this post, and you understand that violations will not be tolerated.

Failure to abide by these rules may result in an editing, moderation or deletion of your post and/or account. We reserve the right to ban abusers from the site. We reserve the right to change these rules at any time.

Please report any member whom you feel to be in violation of these rules to a moderator or Site Admin immediately. If you feel a post violates any of these rules, or you need to bring it to the attention of a moderator (if you feel a thread should be moved/closed/split), please use the "report to moderator" link on each post to notify the moderators.

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