Hi all
The admin team want to make a few comments/observations/suggestions regarding the use of NMP to try and encourage members to think about the way they use it.
There is quite a lot here to read but we would really appreciate you all taking the time to read it and follow any guidelines that you currently don't or at least appreciate some of the points we are making.
Review your previous posts and the replies
If you create a new thread asking for advice then please make sure you go back and read the replies and respond in some way.
Feeling ignored when you reply to someone is a sure fire way of "getting your back up" and then eventually you just stop replying to that member as you feel advice falls on deaf ears and you never get even a thanks for helping them.
Just one little word says a lot - "Thanks" - that is all you need to say to acknowledge any advice and support you received. If you repeatedly post new threads and never even thank people they will most likely get bored and frustrated and give up replying.
I am seeing this more and more recently with members who appear to just repeatedly create a new thread about the same problem over and over but never even reply to previous threads they created.
"Tea and sympathy" or advice?
If you just want "tea and sympathy" then maybe add to the post that is all that you want. If you want advice then it is down to you to read, digest and act on that advice - not just post the same thing the next day having not even acknowledged that people were trying to help.
If you want advice then you will get a variety of different opinions and no one opinion is right (in most cases) but everyone has a valid point they want to make.
Keep it to one thread
There is no need to create a series of individual new threads. For example:
"I am going for this test tomorrow"
"I am going for this test later today"
"I went for the test" and then
"I got the test results and they are this...."
If you have tests then post the results on the SAME thread. If you create a new one then new members coming along may never know how you got on and what the results were. Keep it all in one thread so we can see what the problem was, what tests you had and the results you got.
Posts will be merged if we feel it is appropriate.
Help yourself
No-one recovered just by sitting around waiting for it to happen. Be proactive! Act on advice given but equally look after yourself. There are loads of tips and advice on the website pages on the left as well - so read them and act on the suggestions.
Dramatic /uninformative subject titles
This has been covered before but we will copy it here again.
Please could Members have a think about the type of titles they are using for threads.
This is for your sake as your choice of title may make a difference to if someone answers your thread or not.
When people look through the 'Active Topic' list they tend to look at the title and make a decision there and then if they have the experience to answer the thread before they even click to read your thread.
It therefore helps if your title lets the reader know about your thread.
There have been quite a few threads recently with titles such as "please Help me" "read this" or just "I need Help"...... These titles although 'dramatic' may tend to get ignored even though the poster needs help.
There are a lot of threads stating things like "I have cancer", "I am going to die", "I have a brain tumour", "I can't live anymore" and these are on the whole untrue, unfounded and just a reaction to a symptom.
Titles saying more about your problem are more likely to get you a reply..... such as "panicking about my headache" or "worried about my Heart tests tomorrow" may get more replies as people with experience who can give advice or help will know what the thread is about.
We will amend titles that are inappropriate.
Post in the relevant forum
Some members seem to think that every post has to be in the Health Anxiety forum. The reason we created many sub-forums was so that you could easily find people with similar experiences and problems.
We will move posts to the correct forum if we feel they are in the wrong place.
Search, read similar threads, take time to use the forum like google!
This informative post shows you how to use the search facility and find similar threads:
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=47712
Do you really need to post your question when you can spend some time reading previous replies about the same thing?
For example, there seems little point posting a thread saying "is anyone taking Citalopram?" when there is a sub-forum with 4000 posts of members using Citalopram.
If you want to know what an ECG involves then read the posts in the ECG sub-forum and it is highly likely your questions will be answered.
We know a lot of members like to use Google, well you can search locally on NMP for answers and probably not scare yourself half to death with what you read!
"Bump up" threads do not repost
If your post didn't get any replies then simply "bump it up". You do not need to post an entire new thread.
Bumping up simply means posting again on it so it will appear on the active topics list again. Just add a comment such as "bump" or "still looking for help on this".
We will merge posts about the same thing.
Medical Advice
If any medical advice is given on a thread then it is your choice if you follow that advice. Any medical advice given is not associated with NMP and we are NOT responsible IF you choose to follow advice. We strongly suggest that the only medical advice you follow is from that of a medically trained professional.
Give and Take
NMP is a community and by joining you become part of that.
It doesn't take 5 minutes to have a quick look around the forum and see if anyone else could do with some support. If you are not very good at giving advice then read the HUGS forum or the SUCCESS stories or post just a simple "hi and welcome" to a new member on the INTRODUCE YOURSELF forum.
Chat Room (and the No More Panic Facebook Page)
These are just an extension of NMP itself so please remember that the same rules apply for those as for NMP itself and breaking of the rules will not be tolerated.
The rules for the chat room can be read on the log in screen for chat, please make sure you aware of these before entering the room.
The chat room moderators are there to ensure the safe and smooth running of the chat room, please respect decisions made by them and if they ask you to stop a specific behaviour then please do so.
moderators are able to warn/freeze/kick and ban a member in the chat room.
Contact Us Emails
Nicola replies to all "Contact Us" emails (unless they are obvious spam/advertising etc). Please make sure you check your spam/junk folder for her reply. It would also be nice if you let her know if she helped with your query as she rarely hears back or even get a simple "thanks for the help".
***edit***
Use of Acronyms
Please can members remember that not all other members know what specific Acronyms mean. Feel free to use them in your threads but please add at least one full version of the acronym into it to then people will know what it is and can respond and give advice if they can.
Thank You taking time to read this and we hope you can take something from what we have said.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Fishmanpa
