Discussion Forum terms and conditions
Please note that opinions expressed within these discussion boards do not necessarily reflect the opinions and should not be attributed to the Brain and Spine Foundation. You should always seek the advice of your health care provider before making any decisions which may affect your health.
Go back to the discussion boards >>
House rules
The House Rules are here to ensure that our discussion boards are a safe and informative place to be. The Brain and Spine Foundation reserve the right to delete any message at any time for any reason, in particular messages which are likely to cause offence to other people, may cause legal problems or reveal personal details which could endanger a person’s safety.
Posting personal information
Our discussion boards are a public forum and anything posted here has the potential to be viewed by a great number of people. It is extremely important not to include any personal information in message board postings (i.e. no names, email addresses, phone numbers, or home addresses).
As these discussion boards include the user name of the person who posts a message, we encourage you to create a user name alias for yourself, so that your true name is not visible on any posted message.
Email addresses in posts are not allowed (the only exception to this rule is email addresses of the Brain and Spine Foundation), if someone wishes to email you privately they can do this through your username and profile. You will be sent an email from the Brain and Spine Foundation explaining that an individual would like to contact you and it will then be your decision if you wish to proceed. Providing another person with your personal details is entirely your choice and responsibility. Your email address will never be available to another person through the Brain and Spine Foundation unless you provide it to them.
Please refrain from mentioning details about individuals e.g.: health professionals, hospitals, family members etc. Please keep in mind that YOU CAN BE HELD LEGALLY LIABLE FOR WHAT YOU WRITE. For example, if you post defamatory comments about someone or a hospital, you may be held legally accountable for them.
Editing your posts
As a user of the discussion boards, you can go back to a message you have posted and edit your post, but it is not possible for you to delete it completely. If you would like it to be deleted, please contact the Moderators by email at helpline@brainandspine.org.uk
Medical information
Any information provided on these discussion boards is intended to complement, not replace, the relationship between patient and doctor. You should always seek the advice of your health care provider before making any decisions which may affect your health.
Posts including information about medical conditions, treatments or services must be backed up by references (e.g. links to the source website) where relevant. Discussion board users must post information that is true and correct to their knowledge. If you are a medical professional and you post a message containing medical information or advice, you must identify your status as a medical professional.
Unacceptable behaviour
You should refrain from inappropriate language on the discussion boards. Unlawful, harassing, defamatory, abusive, obscene, threatening, harmful, profane, sexually orientated, racially offensive or otherwise objectionable material is not acceptable.
Copying and pasting copyrighted material in a post is not allowed. Information copyrighted or owned by any individual or entity other than the member should not be posted on the message board without the consent of the owner. You may not violate, plagiarise, or infringe on the rights of third parties including copyright, trademark, trade secret, privacy, personal, publicity, or proprietary rights. If such an event occurs, the individual posting the information shall be held solely responsible. The Brain and Spine Foundation will not be held responsible for member-posted information that may violate copyright law.
Posts advertising products or services are not allowed.
The use of the discussion boards for gathering information for non Brain and Spine Foundation surveys or research studies is not allowed without prior permission of the Brain and Spine Foundation.
Courtesy
Please be patient, users of all ages and abilities may be contributing to the Brain and Spine Foundation message boards. It is an open forum so please respect others' views and opinions even if you do not necessarily agree with them. Users of the discussion boards must behave at all times with respect and honesty.
People aged under 18
The Brain and Spine Foundation adheres strictly to a child protection policy and will do our utmost to ensure that our message boards are a safe environment for children and young people to visit. If you would like to see a copy of our child protection policy please email info@brainandspine.org.uk
Moderators
The Brain and Spine Foundation discussion boards are moderated by paid members of the Brain and Spine Foundation helpline staff, which consists of neuroscience health professionals. They check the boards every working day and are able to correct and/or remove any inappropriate messages. Any complaints regarding the moderation of the Brain and Spine Foundation message boards should be emailed to the moderators at helpline@brainandspine.org.uk. The user names of our moderators are Brain & Spine Moderator 1, Brain & Spine Moderator 2 and Brain & Spine Moderator 3.
Our discussion boards employ an open format and all posts will automatically appear. However, if a post disregards our terms and conditions the message will be deleted and the user may be banned without warning.
If you discover inappropriate postings, or if you become the subject of abusive postings from other Message Board users, please use the ‘report post’ function or email the moderators at helpline@brainandspine.org.uk.
If you fail to abide by these rules the moderators reserve the right to ban a user without warning. This decision is final and no correspondence will be entered in to nor will the Brain and Spine Foundation be obliged to explain such a banning.
Privacy policy
The Brain and Spine Foundation abide closely to the Data Protection Act 1998. The discussion boards can be used anonymously and therefore we do not collect any personal details about you unless you choose to complete the username registration process. Even then details can be limited to as little or as much as you wish. We will never share this information with a third party outside of the Brain and Spine Foundation. If you choose to follow a link from the Brain and Spine Foundation website to another organisation you are then subject to the rules and privacy laws of that site. If you have any questions about our privacy policy please contact us.
