Dear members,

I just want to remind you all to please report guideline violations to us if you come across them on the forum or in private messages. This helps a lot in keeping TTL a safe and supportive place to be for all members. In particular, please keep an eye out for serious guideline violations such as:

- Encouraging suicide. This can be telling another member that they should kill themselves, agreeing with another member that suicide is a viable option (such as agreeing with the original poster that everything is hopeless), or general discussions about suicide, suicide plans, methods, if it assisted suicide should be allowed etc. TTL is here to prevent suicide, not to encourage it. You are welcome to tell other members you can relate to them, but DO NOT agree with their negative view of the world and talk about your own issues in their thread. This can be very triggering, and it can make them feel worse.

- Suicide or self-harm methods. This includes just mentioning tools or methods, as just seeing certain words can be very triggering to members in sensitive states of mind.

- Trolls. If a member is acting in a way that is making other members feel bad or in other ways is harmful to the community, please do report the member to us. DO NOT "feed" the troll - that is, do not reply to them on the forum. This may instead elaborate the conflict and lead to the people asking for support not receiving it. It is better to ignore the person and continue supporting the original poster.

- Posts encouraging members to contact someone in person, or to give out personal contact information. This can be extremely dangerous, not only for you, but also for your family and friends. Unfortunately, there can be people online trying to use sites such as ours for their own purposes. Many of our members are in fragile states of mind, which can be exploited by such people. DO NOT give our your personal contact information to anybody here for your own safety. This is also why we do not permit support via private messages.

- Posts of a sexual or graphic nature. Under NO circumstances is "hitting on" other members appropriate. This is a support forum, not a dating forum. We have members who may have been sexually abused here, and such behavior can be very triggering and upsetting to them. We also have minors here.

- Posts stating that a member intend to harm themselves or someone else. Such posts can be triggering to members in sensitive states of mind, and lead members harming themselves or others. It can also make members upset or worried.

- Spammers and people giving out medical advice. It can be dangerous to follow medical advice given by someone online - even if they have your best interest at heart, and even if they claim that they are medical professionals. Even if they were, they do not know the members medical history, their allergies or other complications, so they can not give reliable advice. DO NOT stop taking your anti-depressants or other medication without first consulting your doctor. This can be very dangerous.

You can report issues to us by clicking on the report button next to the post or the private message. You can also contact us by posting in Contact Moderators. All reports will be treated confidentially, and information will not be given out to a third party. The member you report will not know that you have reported them unless you tell them so yourself.

Another issue I'd like to address is that sometimes members wonder why it is not permitted to talk about moderator actions on the forum. We do not discuss matters in public because we respect our members privacy. Just as a good teacher would not bring someone up in front of the class to discuss what they did wrong in their homework assignment, we will not talk about guideline violations of particular members in front of the whole community. If you have an issue with how things are handled by the TTL Team you are welcome to contact us about it. The guidelines are in place for a reason. While you may not agree with the guidelines, to be a member here you need to post according to them. While we want all members to find support here, we need to keep the forum safe. Participating here is a privilege, not a right, and we will not tolerate behavior that can be damaging to the other members or the whole community.

This being said, thank you all for being here and supporting each other. We do not want to contact anyone about guideline violations, and with most of you that is not necessary, as you are considerate of other members feelings and are posting according to them. We also understand that it may take a while for our new members to get used to posting here and how the rules work. We never want to ban someone, and we do not do so unless absolutely necessary.

As always, you are welcome to contact us if you wonder about anything. We would be happy to hear from you all.

Thank you,
Ella

As for medical advice, i am not sure, if its completelly well written rule. I think its nice for members to see at other peoples experiences with some medications, before they go on that drug (with doctors prescription and consultation of course). Or to discover something, that worked for people with similar disorders, so they could ask around with their doctor about it.

Maybe clarify that rule a bit as far as medical advice vs suggestion vs opinion vs experience?

Will do. Sorry, I saw this I just don't have time to reply right now.
- Ella

I'll try to explain what I meant here a bit better:
You are allowed to share what has or has not helped you and discuss your own treatment in your own thread. What isn't allowed, is to tell other members that they need to or should change or stop their medication or treatment. Even if you mean well, this can be dangerous. Anti-depressants and other medications can for instance have side-effects like increasing suicidal thoughts. Quitting these medications without first consulting doctors can be life threatening at worst. You can however say that it sounds like a good idea for them to talk with their doctor about it, and mention things that have helped you.

It is thus also not permitted to ask other members for direct advice on whether or not you should stop your treatment, change the dosage of your medication, or in other ways change the details of your treatment given to you by your doctor. This is to maintain the safety of all members, because some members may ask for this, and may further follow through with the advice they get here - which can be dangerous.

I'm not sure if you have noticed, but at the top of the main page it says:
We also have a sticky in the Prescription Medication forum about this:
https://www.takethislife.com/prescrip...-advice-13609/
I'm not sure if this information made the distinction between talking about your treatment and asking for medical advice any clearer? Thank you for asking us to clarify. I'm sure more members are wondering about this.

- Ella

I understood it from beginning, just wanted it to be clarified, so mistakes wouldnt happen :) Thanks Ella, you and other mods rock!

Thanks, nsdimitrije. You members rock as well.

If you wonder about anything else, do let us know.

- Ella

I like this site, because of the rules, because they make this site safe. I have been on some where it's like you feel worse after going there, lots of anxiety, and lots of mind games. which I didn't understand were mind games until I got here and there were;t any. so yeah, this site is peaceful, not stressful. I can vent and talk and no one says shut up either :)
Ella, once again, thank you for the edit :)

I'm happy to hear that you like it here, tessamess.