Official Guidelines
Please Follow The Rules
Below are the official guidelines for participating in the TakeThisLife.com community. Failure to observe them may result in posts being edited, moved, or removed, or accounts being banned temporarily or permanently. Please note that while we have made an effort to communicate the rules as clearly as possible, it is ultimately at the staff's discretion whether a post needs to be edited or removed in the interest of the welfare of the TTL community.
We Try To Be Fair
The staff here will enforce the rules to the best of our ability. If post A is addressed by a moderator while post B violates the same guideline but is not dealt with, it is no reflection on the moderator's personal opinion of poster A or poster B. As committed as we are, we are only human, and we will not catch everything.
We're Always Learning
These guidelines are subject to change as we evolve and receive more input. Please check back regularly to stay advised of the current guidelines in effect. Also, particular forums may have additional guidelines specific to them which can be found in those forums.
Also, please be advised that because many spend significant time and energy replying to posts, and the resultant discussions are often beneficial to many, posts and threads will not be removed.
The Rules
A) No suicide methods or threats
- 1) No "goodbye" posts to indicate you are committing suicide or leaving the forum.
- 2) No suicide or self-harm methods (ie: razor, knife, rope, gun, .etc)
- 3) No "plans" or "dates" to indicate that you have the means and plan to use them.
- 4) No posts stating that you or someone else is in immediate danger. Instead, please contact medical professionals.
It is at the staff's discretion whether to edit any post details deemed potentially harmful to other members.
B) No encouraging other members to harm themselves
- 1) No explicit endorsement of another member's suicide
- 2) No implied endorsement of another member's suicide
- 3) No pro-suicide discussions, such as arguing that suicide should be legal or is otherwise a person's right. This is counter productive to the goals of this community and therefore may not be posted.
- 4) No encouraging eating disorders.
Details
C) No asking others how to harm or kill yourself. We are here to prevent suicide.
D) No purposely making other members feel bad
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E) No personal arguments with other members in a public forum
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F) No posting of personal or contact information.
Details This includes but is not limited to:
- 1) Names other than usernames
- 2) Addresses
- 3) Telephone numbers
- 4) Screen names for instant messaging services
- 5) Personal websites or blogs
- 6) Personal images that depict people
- 7) Email addresses
This includes posting personal information about someone else.
G) No posts containing depictions of gratuitous sex or violence, including self harm. If your subject matter is somehow violent or sexual, describe it with the bare minimum language necessary to adequately convey your idea.
H) Topics and posted exchanges should be relevant to the particular forum in which they appear.
- 1) Although personal connections between TTL members outside of the site cannot be prevented, communications between members regarding a personal outside relationship is not relevant to any of the community forums and will be removed.
I) No links to similar online communities, as it undermines all of our efforts to grow TakeThisLife.com.
J) No depression discussion in chat, private messages or in the forums designated as part of the "Lighter Side". Please use the appropriate forums for support. Chat, private messages, and forums designated as part of the "Lighter Side" are reserved for lighthearted talk among friends at TTL.
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K) No religious content outside of the Faith forums. Religion can be great, but it can also be uncomfortable to be "subjected" to beliefs that are not one's own.
- 1) No preaching or links to particular churches.
- 2) No general discussions or debates. The Faith forums are for personal depression related support only.
- 3) This includes all spiritual and faith related beliefs, either personal or as part of an official religion.
L) No gun or weapon related discussion. This includes pictures or videos.
M) No spamming, solicitation, advertisements or research requests.
N) No casual references to recreational drug use outside the scope of seeking support.
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O) One username per person. It is unfair to fellow members to masquerade as multiple people. Members found to have multiple usernames will either be banned or have their usernames merged, depending on how their multiple usernames were used.
P) No political discussion. Political discussion, while interesting, can be extremely polarizing. Many people are passionate about their political beliefs, and when these beliefs clash it often results in arguments and animosity which impede our overarching goal of creating a safe, helpful, welcoming place for members.
Q) Please post about your own issues in your own thread. While you are of course welcome and encouraged to let members know that you can relate to them, please do not launch into full blown descriptions/discussions of your own issues in another member's support thread unless it is specifically tailored for the purpose of providing support to that member. Similarly, please do not take another member's thread off topic by starting or participating in an off topic discussion in a member's thread that the member did not start themselves.
R) No expressions of intent or desire to inflict physical harm on others, or suggestions to others to inflict such harm. We value people's safety, on and off TTL. Nobody here is equipped to address such expressions appropriately, and they are therefore prohibited.
S) No posting about other TTL members or moderators or issues with them in public forums, including the Member Journals forum. If you have an issue with another member or a moderator that requires moderator intervention, please start a thread in the
Contact Moderators forum.