Frequently asked questions

There are some questions that frequently get asked by many members... I'm going to attempt to answer some of these for you in order to help you with using the forum.

Contents
Considering your safety and privacy
What should I know before signing up to the forum?
Why didn't my first post show up on the forum?
I'm a new member, do my posts always need to be approved before becoming visible on the forum?
I'm new. Where is the best place for me to start posting?
Why can't I add a signature?
I just sent a PM to someone. Why is the message still in my outbox?
How do I delete my posts?
How do I edit my posts?
How do I delete my account?
How do I change my username?
Can I create more than one account here?
I just typed a post or PM and pressed submit. It asked me to log back in again. My typing is gone. How do I stop that from happening again?
I just published a blog post and below the title it says: "This message needs approval. Click here to approve this message." Does this mean that I have to approve it after I publish it?
How do I edit my blog?
What do the icons beside the thread names mean?
What does the consumer ranking and dots underneath my username mean?

Considering your safety and privacy

I have decided to write just a little bit about considering your safety and privacy when using the forum. This is not something that people often ask questions about but it is certainly worthy of consideration.

There are a few basic rules of thumb that you should take into account in order to help your internet safety. Keep information like full real name or other personally identifying information about yourself, such as your email, exact place of work or study etc. private. You may also want to keep other information private that may identify you, such as exact dates and times you had a conversation with X member of your family, rather extremely unusual implements that may have been used to abuse you, or specific sequences of events that may be extremely particularly unique in nature etc. It may also be important to you to refrain from choosing a username that you use elsewhere on the internet that people could trace to your posts here and vice-versa. It is also very important to not quote anything you've said in social media on this forum so as not to have your posts here be traceable by people in your real life and people from here be able to trace you back to your real identity. Another thing is to make sure is that you do not give out ways to contact you off of the forum on the open forum. For example, telling people instant messenger names, Skype account, or facebook account on the open forum would not be permissible.

A lot of these things that I've mentioned above are covered in the forum rules. Helping keep your identity safe and private is very important for your well-being as it may effect you in real life. There are many instances where your future employers may investigate what you have written on the internet or friends may use a search engine to look you up. If you have done something like linked to your facebook account here, then that may give them access to more information about your mental health history than you are comfortable knowing or that may have repercussions for your employment etc. So even though you may be comfortable at this current time to have some personal things about you known, it is important not to give any actually personally identifying information about yourself that would be enough to work out your actual identity as you do not know yet how this may effect you in the future. The same goes for if you can be traced from here to elsewhere on the internet, people may be able to find out more information about you than you are comfortable with or can be used to pray on you or bully you in some way.

Having said that, there are over 70,000 members on the site currently from all around the world so if you've said some stuff that's a bit personal, it's only cause for concern if it's unique enough to be identifying. Really, there are a great many people in the world who go through similar circumstances with their mental health and life experiences, so in that sense you can take comfort in the fact that a lot of the stuff you say about yourself will not be at all identifying. If you do however, spot anything that you think may compromise a person's identity and hence safety, please contact a moderator by pressing the top right hand corner of the post, the "report" button that has an exclamation mark in it.

Another aspect that is important to consider when you are visiting here is how much information you are prepared to share in private with another member. Always approach sharing information about yourself with other members with extreme caution and don't say any more than you are comfortable with sharing. Remember that not everyone is always who they say they are on the internet. You may also wish to consider that getting to know another member here more personally may effect how you feel about coming back to the forum if you have a falling out with that member off of the forum. In instances like this, it could mean that you may feel uncomfortable at their presence here and effect your ability to get support if you are not feeling comfortable with having them around. Always always always be extremely cautious about giving out any of your personal information to anyone else and take great care with your interactions with them in private.

One other point to remember about your safety while visiting this forum regards computer sharing. If you wish to discuss your issues in confidence and not have someone else using your computer discover your account here, you may wish to wipe your internet history and make sure you've signed up using your personal email account so that they don't see the notifications leading to your account here.

Take care, stay safe and I hope you find using the forum a helpful experience.

What should I know before signing up to the forum?

The username you sign up with will be viewable to other people on the forum and visible in the results of search engines. Do not use your real name. It is also advisable that you do not use a username that you use elsewhere on the internet in order to prevent people from elsewhere on the internet being able to also identify your posts here and vice versa.

I just posted my first post. Why didn't it show up? Did I do something wrong?

Posts by new members need to be read and approved by a moderator before they will become visible on the forum. This is in order to help us make sure that people are able to post appropriately and haven't broken the forum rules with their post. Please be patient in waiting for this process to be completed. There is no need to try submitting your message a second time.

I'm a new member, do my posts always need to be approved before becoming visible on the forum?

Once you have had your initial post/s approved you will no longer have to go through the approval process for your posts. Your posts will become visible on the site automatically when you press submit.

I'm new. Where is the best place for me to start posting?

You may wish to have a look through the forum index page in order to see if there seems to be a forum that seems to be most appropriate for what you want to write about. If you are really not certain what is going on for you and have no idea where to post, you may want to ask for people suggestions on where to look in the Living With Mental Illness Forum. If your question is regarding someone else's mental health issues, you may wish to discuss this in the Significant Others, Family and Friends Forum.

Why can't I add a signature?

You need to have a certain minimum number of posts before you are able to add a signature. This is a measure that is in place in order to prevent spam from easily making it's way to be viewable on the forum. If you currently can't add a signature, post several more times and try again.

I just sent a PM to someone. Why is the message still in my outbox?

PMs remain in your outbox until the receiver has opened your message. You have sent the PM correctly if it is in your outbox, it's just that the receiver hasn't opened it yet. Do not delete the message from your outbox as this will mean that the member will not be able to read your message, it will be deleted before they see it.

How do I delete my posts?

You cannot delete your posts from the forum. Before posting, please carefully consider what you wish to share and the ramifications this may have now and in the future. You may have an extremely short window of opportunity to edit your post but once this is gone, you are no longer able to change the content your post.

How do I edit my posts?

There is an extremely short window of opportunity with which you can edit the content of your post by clicking the "edit" button in the top right hand corner of your post in order to help you fix spelling errors etc. Beyond this time it is no longer possible for you to edit or change the content of your post of your own accord.