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Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

espressologicSenior Contributor19 Apr 2024, 3:04 pm AEST

Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

Hi everyone,

Late last year, SANE invited forums members to participate in a co-design activity where we asked for feedback on all aspects of the forums.

One of the key pieces of feedback was that our community guidelines are too complicated, with a perception that these are sometimes inconsistently applied to members' posts by our staff.

Below is a new, simplified version of the guidelines that we are seeking your feedback on here in this thread. Please feel free to ask any questions you have also about why we have certain guidelines, point out anything that is unclear, or anything you think we have left out that is important.

This thread will be open for feedback for the next two weeks, and will close at the end of the day on Sunday May 5.

We will look to upload the revised guidelines, incorporating your feedback, in early June.

Thanks for your time.

UPDATE: Revised version will be posted later today (May 6), and we will leave the thread open for further feedback until Sunday May 19.

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SANE Forums Community Guidelines

1. Who Can Join

If you are aged over 18 and currently living in Australia, then you are welcome to join. We welcome people looking for peer support, connection or belonging, whether you have lived experience of a mental health condition, or care for someone who does.

2. Keeping It Safe

Emergency Help For Suicide, Self-Harm, Family Violence: The forums do not provide crisis or emergency support. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, please contact emergency services and do not post to the forum. If we see such posts appear, we will have to remove them and possibly contact emergency services on your behalf.

No Detailed Descriptions: Please don’t share very detailed posts where you name medications, eating disorder behaviours, self-harm, suicide methods, sexual behaviour, trauma or abuse. Please see our more detailed guide for posting safely about suicide and self-harm and eating disorders.

Supportive Discussion: Do not discourage other members from seeking help, or encourage harmful behaviour.

Avoid Rumination: The forums are a recovery-oriented space. We encourage the sharing of helpful content focused on well-being, recovery, and help seeking behaviours.

Report Posts Of Concern: Please report any posts you see that break these guidelines; our team may not have seen them.

3. Being Respectful

Stay Friendly: Avoid posts that are disrespectful, rude, hurtful or could make someone feel unwelcome.

Fair Discussion: Avoid saying things that name or identify other people, practitioners, services, or refer to breaking the law.

No Pressure: While sharing and supporting are encouraged, do not place pressure on other members to respond to your posts. Everyone participates at their own pace and comfort level.

No Self-Promotion: Please don’t try to sell anything, give professional advice, look for clients or ask people to join in on research.

Fact-Check: If you’re sharing something factual, please let us know in your post where you found the information.

Avoid Repetition: Please don’t repeat the same or similar message across the forums or within threads.

Responding To Emails: We may contact you by email to check in on your safety, explain a decision to edit or remove a post, or discuss your forums activity. Your response to these emails is expected and appreciated.

4. Staying Anonymous

Stay Anonymous: Use a forum name that doesn’t give away who you are offline or on other social media sites. Please stick to using only one forums account.

No Personal Information: Do not share any personal, identifying details such as names, addresses, or places of work or study. Please remember your forum member name and posts may appear in search engine results.

5. Breaking The Guidelines

We will edit or remove posts that break these guidelines, and we will email you to let you know this has happened. We will also explain our decision and, if appropriate, provide advice on how you can re-post safely within the guidelines.

For members who repeatedly break guidelines, then we may take any of the following actions:
• Place limits on the number of posts you can make
• Place limits on when you can use the forums
• Remove your forums access for a period of time
• Remove your forums access permanently

53 replies

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In response to: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

ArraDreamingSenior Contributor03 May 2024, 9:44 am AEST

Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

if anything maybe a little wordy, but yeah not too bad @espressologic

In response to: Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

espressologicSenior Contributor06 May 2024, 9:55 am AEST

Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I am going to post a revised version later today incorporating this, and we will leave the thread open for another few weeks.

In response to: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

espressologicSenior Contributor06 May 2024, 1:37 pm AEST

Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

The SANE Forums are a mutual self-help space for people aged over 18 and living in Australia. We welcome individuals seeking peer support, connection, or belonging, including those with lived mental health experiences, caregivers, supporters, and allies.

Here are our guidelines for participating:

The Guideline	Why Do We Have It?	What Does It Mean?
Seek Emergency Help Off-Forum	To ensure members seek appropriate help in crisis situations, as the forums are not able to provide emergency support.	If you're in immediate danger due to suicide, self-harm or family violence, please contact emergency services instead of posting to the forum.
Limit Detailed Descriptions	To avoid triggering other members by steering clear of explicit content related to suicide, self-harm, trauma, abuse, eating disorders and medication.	Talk about your experiences generally without going into specifics that might upset others, such as self-harm and suicide methods, traumatic or abusive episodes, eating disorder behaviours, medication names and dosages.
Be Supportive To Others	To encourage a supportive atmosphere where help-seeking is promoted and harmful behaviours are discouraged.	Avoid discouraging other members from seeking help, or encouraging harmful behaviour such as self-harm or substance abuse.
Tell The Community What You Need	To promote discussions that support recovery and personal well-being, even on the tough days.	When posting about the tough days, tell the community what support you need. Let the community know what has worked for you in the past.
Report Posts If You’re Worried	To maintain a safe space by addressing posts that moderators might miss, ensuring community standards are upheld.	If a post seems inappropriate or you’re worried about someone’s welfare, please report it so our team can take the necessary action.
Be Friendly At All Times	To ensure all discussions are conducted respectfully, making all members feel safe and welcomed.	Avoid saying things that are disrespectful, rude, hurtful or could make someone feel unwelcome.
Complaints About Named Services	To encourage members to address complaints directly with the services involved to ensure effective resolution. General discussions about experiences remain acceptable.	If you have a specific issue with a service, please contact them directly to resolve it. You can discuss your overall experiences here without naming the service.
Pressure On Others	To ensures that all members feel comfortable with how and when they choose to engage, without feeling pressured to respond.	Refrain from tagging members with demands for responses or questioning why they haven’t replied.
Self-Promotion and Solicitation	To keep the forum focused on support rather than commercial or professional gain.	We will remove any posts trying to sell products, look for clients or promote your own research projects.
Sharing Credible Information	Ensuring that factual claims made are backed up with evidence, as many members rely on the forum to find health information.	When sharing health information or making a factual claim, please link to the source.
Avoid Repeat Posts	To make sure each post is meaningful and fits the discussion it’s in.	You can repeat advice when relevant, but avoid posting the same or similar messages across different threads without considering the ongoing conversation.
Respond To Moderator Emails	To ensure you are safe and to maintain your access to the forum.	When you receive an email from us asking about your safety, please respond otherwise we may be obligated to escalate to emergency services.
Choose A Unique Username	To protect members' identities by discouraging the use of identifiable usernames.	Choose a username for the forums that keeps your real-life identity and other social media accounts private.
Staying Anonymous	To protect members from privacy breaches and potential real-world consequences.	Avoid sharing personal details in posts that could be used to identify you offline.

For members who repeatedly break guidelines, then we may take any of the following actions:

Place limits on the number of posts you can make
Place limits on when you can use the forums
Remove your forums access for a period of time
Remove your forums access permanently

In response to: Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

espressologicSenior Contributor06 May 2024, 1:41 pm AEST

Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

Tagging members who have provided feedback previously @NatureLover @Snowie @Dimity @Former-Member @Zoe7 @Appleblossom @Captain24 @Shaz51 @ArraDreaming

In response to: Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

DimitySenior Contributor06 May 2024, 2:22 pm AEST

Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

Hi @espressologic

Many thanks. Congratulations. The new guidelines come across as kind and welcoming, clear and informative, protective and supportive. I'm humbled by your taking on board so many of my suggestions, and going over and above with their development. I guess they make me feel safe...

In response to: Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

SnowieSenior Contributor06 May 2024, 2:52 pm AEST

Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

Thanks for the tag @espressologic

I think the guidelines look good.

In response to: Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

Shaz51Senior Contributor06 May 2024, 4:01 pm AEST

Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

I think the guidelines look good tooo @espressologic 👍

In response to: Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

Captain24Senior Contributor06 May 2024, 9:30 pm AEST

Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

Thank you for the tag @espressologic

I really appreciate the work involved in re-tweaking the guidelines. I feel that they are more welcoming

In response to: Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

Unknown userMember07 May 2024, 6:46 am AEST

Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

Thanks for the tag @espressologic 🙂

the updated guidelines are clear, use concrete/single-definition terminology, and are most importantly very explanatory in nature (instead of appearing somewhat dictatorial and without explanation). The layout is much easier to comprehend when in brain overload or states of distress, making them easier to comprehend if mods need to refer someone to guidelines due to posting behaviours (I’m guessing posting posts that may lay outside guidelines happens when someone is in moments of distress, maybe? So having clear, explanatory guidelines for people means their engagement isn’t compromised by finding them too difficult to understand when not in their optimal place of function).

I guess the only other thing to add would be: if ever you have any questions or are unsure about these guidelines, we encourage you to contact the forum moderators/community managers/team SANE forum team (etc - which ever definition used for the SANE mods) at …. email address, and we would be happy to reply within (and include your standardised reply timeframes) to support your engagement with the SANE inclusive and supportive Forum community.

..or, something like that, would be my recommendation

🦩💜🌺

In response to: Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

NatureLoverSenior Contributor07 May 2024, 8:04 am AEST

Re: Your feedback needed: Updating our Community Guidelines

Hi @espressologic , I am blown away by the new guidelines!! They are brilliant! Also blown away by how you listened to us all, and incorporated the feedback into the new guiedelines. Thank you 🙂

The new guidelines are clear, welcoming, easy to understand because you've published the "why" behind them, and brief enough to not be overwhelming. Also not full of "don't"s.

I also think @Former-Member 's idea of putting an email at the bottom for any questions is a great idea.

Thank you again for your fantastic work!

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