CherryBombSenior Contributor
Are you new to the SANE Forums for Carers?
Are you new to the Forums?
If you’re new to the SANE Forums, and not sure where to start then read on to get some to find some tips about how you get the most out of participating on SANE Forums.
Writing your first post:
- It’s useful to write a short post, about 200 – 300 words, or anything up to 1 – 4 paragraphs. We’ve noticed that posts longer posts do not tend to get as many replies.
- State what you’re looking for. It’s helpful for other members to know how they can respond or if they can help. If you need advice about a particular issue, ensure that you ask a question (or several). Or if you just want to share thoughts, it can be helpful to express this.
Deciding whether to start a new discussion, or write a post
- Starting a new discussion means starting a new conversation where no one else has commented. It’s literally like striking up a new conversation. Writing a post means contributing to an already existing discussion, where others are already ‘chatting.’
- Before starting a new discussion, we recommend looking through the Forums to find others who might be talking about a similar issue that you want to chat about. This way you may find that there’s another member, or an established discussion, where there is wealth of knowledge with members talking about exactly the same topic that you are interested in. Remember, it’s ok to contribute to an established discussion. Many members welcome it.
Looking relevant discussions
- You are able to search for discussions by using the search bar (see image below). Just type in words that are relevant to your search.
- You can also search for topics by using our filter. Just click on one of the discussions, on the next page, select ‘show filter (displayed in image), and this will expand to give you a list of topics. Click on the relevant topic.
- These are the ‘in’ and ‘outs’ of the SANE Community, which exist to keep people safe. They’re fairly straight forward, and basically ask that we treat everyone with respect. Though, we do recommend that you read them just to clarify what’s ok. Don’t worry if you make a mistake (many members do!) and write something in a post that’s not up to our guideline’s standards. When this happens one of our lovely moderators will contact you via email to let you know what guideline in your post needs to be worked on, and they will explain why that particular guideline exists. Usually, you’ll be asked to edit your post so that it meets the guidelines. Once this happens your post will be published.
- See this thread for tips and advice for when things get tough on the Forums. It contains some strategies about what you can do if you find that you’re feeling bothered by a particular post, or posts written by a particular member.
Online events
We host a few online events on the Forums, which everyone is invited to:
- The Weekly Friday Feast: Is an opportunity just to mingle with other members. Bring along a virtual plate of food and enjoy people’s company. It usually starts around 6pm AEST. Its in the Lived Experiences Forums but carers can go along too.
- Topic Tuesday: Keep an eye in our 'Special Events' area. Once a month, we have a lively discussion about a topical issue. Sometimes we have a guest speaker, or we host an in-house styled conversation between our peers to address an issue of interest. Watch this space as we’re looking at increasing the amount of Topic Tuesdays in 2016!
- Ask Anything Monday: We call for members email any questions that they are reluctant to post on the Forums. We post these on Mondays so that members of the community can respond.
Moderation
- The Forums are moderated 24/7 by a health professional who reviews every post. However, if you find a post that concerns you, please contact our moderation team: team@saneforums.org or select the ‘report inappropriate content’ function that is available on every post, which will prompt one of our moderators to review that post.
