No More Panic Rules

Please make sure that you have read and understood the following rules and guidelines.

No More Panic is open to anyone who feels that they may benefit from reading the experiences of others, get advice and tips on coping, learn new techniques, sharing how you recovered, and even those people that are able to help others when they are not sufferers themselves.

Please don't feel overwhelmed by the forum. There are different topics for various problems and we appreciate that it will take time to look around and get a "feel" for the forum. Everyone is welcome here and we will support you all we can during your recovery - whatever your problem is. You made a positive decision coming here so please take some time to read posts, search the forum and, if you feel comfortable, please start off with an introduction post of your own. We are here to help and would like to welcome you to No More Panic.

THE ADMINISTRATION TEAM

The role of the administration team is to look after No More Panic's online community so that it remains a friendly and safe network of anxiety sufferers. Day to day tasks for an administrator include but are not limited to moving threads to more suitable parts of the forum, updating member profiles, answering questions, and making sure that the No More Panic rules are being upheld. An administrator should be the first port of call for any member who has any comments, concerns, questions and queries.

In order to keep all aspects of No More Panic running smoothly and prevent problems, please follow these simple rules. If you have any questions or problems, please don't hesitate to contact one of the administrators. Administrators can be contacted via the Forum Leaders page or by clicking on their profiles.

GENERAL RULES AND CONDUCT

  • Treat others how you expect to be treated. Members will remain courteous to all other members including administrators. Please remember that you are a guest on No More Panic.
  • While debating and discussion is fine, No More Panic does not tolerate rudeness, insulting posts, personal attacks or purposeless inflammatory posts. The decision on what is appropriate will be made by the administration team and that decision is final.
  • Harassment of members is not tolerated. Please respect the member's wishes if they want to be left alone. Deliberate provocation of other members or consistently high jacking threads may result in a ban.
  • Each member is allowed one login account. Registering with multiple accounts is not allowed.
  • Discussion of illegal activities is not allowed. Such activities include but are not limited to software and music piracy, violations of intellectual property, and illegally obtaining drugs and prescription medications.
  • Also, while these rules cover most common situations, they cannot anticipate everything. Consequently we reserve the right to take any actions we deem appropriate to ensure these forums are not disrupted or abused in any way.
  • No More Panic also reserves the right to ban anyone who wilfully violates the rules, as access to our support forums is a privilege and not a right. Any member who receives a ban will not be able to post on the forum or to create or receive PMs. However, they are able to view both the forum and help pages of the site as a guest user.
  • The Administrators and Moderators on No More Panic are sufferers as well. They provide their time free of charge to help keep the site running smoothly. The rules related to conduct equally apply to messages sent to Administrators.
  • All of the rules outlined here also apply to any other messaging systems available on No More Panic including but not limited to
    • The Public Forum
    • The Chat room
    • Private Messaging

FORUM RULES

By registering on the No More Panic website you agree to the following rules.

1) Members are not permitted to register more than once. Doing so may get one or both registrations deleted. If you have forgotten your username or password then simply click on "login" and follow the instructions on the next screen. If this does not work then use the "contact us" message system.

2) Login names must not be offensive. Additionally there may occasionally be disputes over login names. If you use a login name which is considered to be too similar to an existing user's login name (to the extent that it would cause confusion) then admin reserve the right to change your login name (in consultation with yourself).

3) Do not re-register once banned. A ban from NMP forums means you are no longer welcome to use our website. Re-registering will lead to a permanent ban of the new account and if deemed necessary a complaint to your ISP or other action as deemed appropriate.

4) Please post your question once only even if you think it is relevant in several forums. Pick the most relevant forum and post it there. Your question will be seen by lots of people wherever you post it. Duplicate posts will be deleted and the administrators will decide which is the most appropriate forum for your post. Multiple or repeated posting in order to increase your post count is also not allowed.

5) If you have a question you wish to ask in the forums, please first check whether your question has already been answered. You can use the Search facility to do this or click on "Similar Threads" at the bottom of the page. You may also find our Technical Forum may answer your question, and we encourage people to search this first.

6) Please do not post text in ALL UPPER CASE. The internet community considers this to be SHOUTING and therefore discourteous.

7) Please avoid using txt speak. There is plenty of capacity for creating eloquent, correctly punctuated posts. Txt speak will not get a good response from forum members and is likely to be deleted by moderators.

8) Members must not post libellous, insulting, antagonistic, racist, aggressive or otherwise abusive remarks about any individual either within forum posts or the PM (Private Message) system.

9) Do not post swear words in such a way as to circumvent the built-in swear word removal system (including in signatures)

10) Do not post any images or text which are pornographic or violent or otherwise inappropriate for general viewing.

11) Members posting spam will be instantly and permanently banned and their posts will be deleted. We reserve the right to also submit their details to the Stopforumspam service so that they will not be able to use those details to re-register with either No More Panic forum or the many any other communities which use that service.

12) Advertising, spamming and trolling is not allowed and includes using the forum email and Private Message (PM) system to spam other members.

13) No More Panic is not equipped to deal with certain subjects and as such any posts/threads relating to these may be removed. The links section of No More Panic contains a wealth of links to other sites that may be able to help. These subjects include, but are not limited to

  • Threatening suicide, hinting you may attempt committing suicide, and describing attempts/methods. Members are free to post their worries about the subject.
  • Paedophilia. No More Panic acknowledges that OCD can include upsetting thoughts about paedophilia. Members may seek advice about coping with these thoughts but must not describe them in detail.
  • Harming others whether physically or mentally.
  • When discussing self harm members must not graphically describe the method by which the victim self harms.
  • Eating disorders. However, posting about unintentional weight loss or gain caused by anxiety/depression is acceptable.

14) Posts that are sexual in nature or violate No More Panic community standards are not allowed. The administration team shall be the sole arbitrator of what does and what does not violate community standards.

15) You cannot post any affiliate or referral links, or post anything asking for a referral. Such posts will be subject to removal.

16) If you are going to post non-English on these forums, please also post an English Translation of your post.

17) Please refrain from posting meaningless threads, one word (or short) non-sense posts, or similar.

18) Do not send messages intending to cause upset to any other member of the community. If you receive any unsolicited messages intending to cause upset do not reply to it and report them to the administrators.

19) Publishing private correspondence in the public domain is a breach of No More Panic's Privacy Policy and the Data Protection Act 1998. Publishing private correspondence in this way is strictly prohibited. This includes Private Messages (PM's) and Emails.

20) The forum is a support medium for anxiety sufferers and not a platform for challenging the decisions of the administration team. Posts of this nature will be deleted without warning. Any grievances a member may have should be dealt with through PM's to an administrators.

21) Whilst the administration team monitors posts, it's impossible to find all posts that may break the rules. If you find a post that you feel breaches any of the rules please report the post or PM an Admin. Do not post in the public form. Administrators will then decide if the post should be removed.

22) If you find yourself on the receiving end of a post that you feel breaks any of the rules Do Not Reply to it, instead contact an Administrator or report the post. Replying to such posts may be also deemed as a breach of the rules.

23) Do not post on threads, or create new threads, intended to provoke an argument. Any such posts will be removed

24) No More Panic and the administration team reserves the right to remove posts and threads without notice.

25) Administrators reserve the right to remove people's avatars if they are deemed inappropriate.

26) Please make sure your email address is kept up-to-date. This needs to be changed on your profile. In addition, if you install a spam filer, please specifically allow NMP forum emails through.

27) If you find you made an error in your post, we ask you to edit it rather than creating another post correcting the mistake.

28) If you wish to have your account closed then please contact one of the administrators. We do not remove any of your posts when you leave. You are free to remove any of your own posts if you would like to. Please consider this decision carefully as we tend to find that over 900f members ask for their account to be reinstated (many within a few days).

29) Do not use smilies other than NMP forum smilies. Using smilies from other websites is forbidden. This is because spammers have been attempting to increase their search engine rankings by posting links to smilies on their websites. We cannot guarantee the safety of externally used smilies so please do not use them!

30) Account Security: You are responsible for the security of your account. Any post from your account will be attributable to the account holder. It is the account holder’s responsibility to keep the account secure. It is no defense to say that a sister, brother, friend, etc. posted any offending post. Keep your password a secret and change it regularly.

31) NMP forum staff (Moderators and Administrators) have the final say over what constitutes a violation of the User Agreement and the Forum Rules. In addition we reserve the right to terminate your account without warning(s) and move/delete/close posts/threads without further explanation.

32) Copyright material: Information copyrighted or owned by any individual or entity other than the member should not be posted on the forums without the consent of the owner. If such an event occurs, the individual posting the information shall be held solely responsible. NMP shall not be held responsible for member-posted information that may violate copyright law.

33) Copyrighted material: If you quote text from another web site then please properly credit the source. Not doing so constitutes plagiarism, always include a source link with quoted material. Members are asked to copy only as much as is necessary when quoting copyrighted material from other web sites, do not copy and paste entire articles or web pages.

We find that the vast majority of forum members have no problem with the above rules. However, if any of them are broken, then moderators will take appropriate action to ensure the forums remain a pleasant place to visit.

Chat Room Rules

By entering the No More Panic chatroom you agree to the following rules.

1) Due to legal reasons anyone using this service must be aged 13 or above.

2) Swearing / Strong language and vulgarity are prohibited. Use a similar standard of language to what you might hear on major network TV, on the radio, or in any other public forum. Crude sex words are strictly prohibited. Using asterisks or other symbols in place of letters does not make a word okay to use. Please use common sense and courtesy. If you wouldn't say it in polite company you shouldn't say it here.

3) No personal insults to others.

4) If you don't like what someone has to say, then the ignore feature in the Chat room can be used.

5) Arguments that get out of hand or fighting will not be tolerated and Chat Room moderators will remove problem people from the chat rooms regardless of who started it.

6) Any problems in the Chat Room will be passed on to the Administrators by the Moderators who will then discuss what action if any will be taken against any problem members.

7) If someone wants to be left alone then leave them alone. They may just want to come in and read the chat rather than actively join in.

8) Racism and prejudice of any kind will not be tolerated. Do not use hate speech. Don't discriminate against anyone because they are of a different religion, ethnic background, creed, gender or sexual orientation. In other words, gay-bashing, women-bashing, or male-bashing is not allowed. As it should be in the real world. Such behaviour only makes you look small minded.

9) Sometimes we make mistakes and say something we didn't mean to. As long as you admit that you made a mistake, apologise, ask for forgiveness, and try not to repeat it.

10) Don't harass or threaten anyone. Don't call people names. Whilst we understand that emotions will sometimes run high with various topics, please do not turn on each other.

11) There will be no sexually explicit or suggestive conversations in the chat room. There is to be absolutely no cybersex on this site.

12) When you leave the Chat room, please observe the '10 second rule'. This means, when you are going to leave, say goodbye and wait for at least 10 seconds so others can say goodbye as well.

13) If you have a problem with another member, please contact a Chat Moderator or Admin, and protect yourself using the 'Ignore' feature.

14) Do not threaten suicide. We are not equipped to deal with crises of this nature. It puts a huge burden on others in these rooms when someone threatens self-violence and there is nothing they can do. Contact your local crisis hotline instead. Threats are not permitted at any time, including statements like "Nobody cares about me, I'll just do it".

15) Do not create multiple forum logins so you can use these in the chat room.

16) Follow the requests of the Admins/Moderators. If you disagree with the request, respect it anyway and email your objection to nomorepanic@btinternet.com

17) If someone wants to stop contact with you, either by telling you this or selecting the "ignore" function then respect that decision. To continue contact is harassing and may be considered stalking, with legal remedies.

19) Respect the Admins/Moderators (their name will show in RED). People with admin status are there to keep the room safe and have the ability to remove people from chat when these rules aren't being followed.

20) Never, under any circumstances, promote pornography or pornographic sites to any member.

21) Do not post links into the Chat Room which contain nudity, pornographic material or from unsafe internet sites.

22) Don't grill people with questions or pry into their personal lives. Don't press for information about others. Do not threaten to contact authorities about anything you may hear in these discussions.

23) Listen carefully to what others are saying before you draw conclusions. Don't judge. Even if you think someone may be lying, respect other's histories and background. You will not know what happened if you were not there. If a member tells you his or her story, it means they trust you.

24) Joking and laughing are important parts of recovery. If someone enters the room and wants to talk about painful issues, joking must be put on hold while the person in crisis is being helped. If you do not want to participate please wait until the person needing help is done. It is inconsiderate to laugh and joke while someone else is talking about disturbing issues.

25) Do not enter these rooms just to be malicious. If you are trying to be scary or hurt people, you will be immediately banned from chat and reported to the Administrators.

26) Offering advice to other members who are in need is encouraged, however please be cautious with regards to medical advice such as medications. This type of advice must only be given by qualified medical staff. Of course you are welcome to offer your advice on your experience with medication.

27) If you feel a member is breaking the rules report the incident to a moderator or administrator as soon as possible. Do not confront the person or argue with them because this could result in action being taken against you if it's deemed you also broke the rules. Use the ignore button instead.

28) Do not use the Chat Room to promote sites offering a "cure" for money.

29) Although the administrators and moderators of No More Panic will attempt to keep all objectionable/rule breaking messages out of the Chat Room, it is impossible for us to review all the Chat Logs. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of No More Panic, nor RealChat Software will be held responsible for the content of any message on the Chat Room.

30) No spamming the chat room with advertisements of any type.

31) All caps is considered to be shouting. Please don't use it. The exception to this is during the Saturday night quiz when the quiz person will use capitals so the quiz questions and answers stand out in the room.

32) Please do not post any personal information such as telephone numbers and addresses in the chatroom. If you need to exchange information with another chartroom member, please do so in private.

33) All chat logs are recorded by law but will only be read if there is a complaint/allegation made against a member in the chat room.

34) The site administrators have the right to ban you (temporarily or permanently) if you fail to comply with any of the rules above.

BANS

  • From time to time members will be banned for breaking these rules. The bans normally only last a short period of time. No More Panic and the administration team will not enter into discussions (either in public or via pm) regarding bans as this would violate the Privacy Policy. If you wish to know more information regarding the ban please contact the banned member.
  • Bans are imposed through a process where the opinions of all administrators are sought. If a ban is imposed then it will have been a majority decision from the administrators.
  • Any threads/Posts related to members being banned may be removed.
  • If you are banned then it will have been for a good reason. Please serve out the ban and consider why you were banned. Any attempt to create duplicate accounts may result in an additional ban.
  • If you feel a ban is unjust then please contact either Nicola or Alex.
  • Please note that if you are banned you will have to log out of the forum to be able to browse the website. To do this log out, close your internet browser, and reopen the No More Panic website. Once the ban has been lifted you may login again. If you do not logout you will be unable to browse the forum.