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Using the online community

Risk checker

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House rules

When you use the online community, you agree to these House rules as well as our terms and conditions. If you don’t play by the rules we may have to edit or remove your post – or even take more serious action – to keep the community supportive and welcoming for others. Please understand that our moderation team has the whole community’s interests at heart and abide by the decisions we have to make. If you think we’ve made a mistake, let us know by contacting us online.

  • Be supportive  

    The community is for a wide range of people who may have been affected by cancer. Please focus on sharing support and always be sympathetic to other members’ feelings. Don’t bully or harass. Lend a hand if new users need help finding their feet.

  • Be kind  

    It can be hard to communicate tone of voice in written form. Take care with humour and irony, which can often be ambiguous and may come across as sarcasm. If you don’t understand what another community member means, try to assume the best intentions.

  • Be relevant and personal  

    Help others find the conversations they want to join by posting your message in the topic area that makes the most sense. If there’s already a conversation going about what you want to talk about, consider joining in before starting a new conversation. Don’t post the same message in more than one place, and don’t send the same private message to more than one person.

    Jokes can put a smile on your face when you need it most – but make sure to post them under the ‘Social’ topic area so they don’t upset people who aren’t in a laughing mood. Please keep jokes clean and kind – we may remove any jokes we think could make someone feel bad when they’re seeking support.

  • Be real  

    Tell the truth about your experience and intentions. Make sure you always post from the same account so that others can get to know you. If you do suspect another user is posting under false pretences, please contact the moderators rather than making public accusations.

  • Respect each other  

    It’s good to offer well-considered views on a subject, but respect the right of other people to disagree and recognise that their views are as sincere as your own. Don’t be hostile or aggressive towards others, or use language that others may find abusive or offensive. We don’t tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism or other forms of hate speech, or content that could be interpreted as such.

  • Protect your privacy and others  

    Remember that information in your profile can be seen by anyone who registers an account, and information in the messages you post can be seen by anyone at all, including people using search engines like Google. Don’t post your own personal information (like real name, address, email, phone number or social networking profile). If you happen to know personal information about someone else, keep it private – we take exposing someone else’s personal information very seriously.

    Keep your password a secret and don’t share it with anyone.

    Don’t share the names of healthcare professionals who are treating you, or disparage particular hospitals or GP surgeries – publishing that information could be considered libel.

    Read the full details of our privacy policy. 

  • Help us keep the community peaceful  

    If you read something in the online community that makes you angry, please wait a while before posting your response. If an argument is breaking out, please try to reduce the level of hostility rather than increasing it. If you think someone is being aggressive or deliberately provoking others, please use the ‘report’ button to alert the moderators and then simply ignore them rather than taking them to task yourself.

  • No soliciting  

    The community is primarily for people affected by prostate conditions to support each other – not for advertising products or services, finding a source to interview for a news story, or for recruiting research subjects to take a survey. If you feel your request would benefit the community, get permission first by contacting us.

Signing up

You can sign up to the Community on our registration page. Don’t use your email address or real name as your username because this will be visible to the whole of the community

  • Do I need to include my age?  

    No, but the Community is for people older than 16. If you are under 16 we recommend that you check out Teen Macmillan or RipRap online community for information and support

  • What do you do with my information?  

    Prostate Cancer UK are committed to protecting your privacy online. To find out more about this, read our Privacy Policy.

  • Will I get a verification email?  

    Yes, once you’ve completed the registration we will send you a verification email within one hour containing details of how to login to your new account. If you don't receive your verification email, please contact us.

  • How do I change my email address?  

    Click on ‘My Account’ in the Community menu and you will be able to click ‘Edit Profile’ to change your email address.

  • How do I change my password?  

    Click on ‘my account’ in the Community menu and go to ‘Change Password’

  • How do I change my username?  

    Please contact us to request this.

  • Forgotten password  

    If you forget your password, you can click on the retrieve password link and enter your user name or email address. An email will be sent to your registered address shortly with instructions for resetting your password. Passwords are encrypted for security so cannot be resent, only reset.

    If you were a member of the online community before May 2014 your username and profile information have been moved in to the new community, but your password will have been reset. To get your new password you should also use the retrieve password link.

Editing your profile and homepage

Your profile is a place to tell the Community who you are and why you have joined. Our members include details of their treatment history in this section in order to find other people in the same situation, or check up on each other’s test results.

It's up to you what you write, but please don't include your address, email address, phone number or anything that can be used to identify you offline.

  • Can I include a profile picture?  

    Yes, you can upload a photo (or ‘avatar’) which will appear on your profile and next to all comments you make. It doesn't have to be a photo – it can be anything you want as long as you own the copyright and abide by our terms of conditions and house rules.

  • How do I upload a picture?  

    To upload your profile photo click on 'My account', then 'Modify Avatar'

    Find the photo that you want to use from your own computer by using the ‘browse’ button, and then select ‘Update’.

  • How do I update my profile?  

    There are a couple of ways to update your profile details.

    From the community home page you can click on the button which says “Update my profile” which you will find underneath your avatar.

    Or you can go to ‘My account’ and ‘Edit profile’

    Remember to click save afterwards.

  • How do I see someone else’s profile?  

    If you’re reading a conversation, you can see any user’s profile simply by clicking their username. A mini-profile will appear on top of the conversation, so you don’t have to leave the conversation to find out more about the user. Clicking ‘View profile’ will take you to their full profile page.

    You can also search for a particular user by clicking ‘Members’ and entering it their username the search box, or finding it by using the A – Z buttons. Just click their username in the list to view their profile.

  • How do I follow a user?  

    In the community it is possible to follow users so that you can see at a glance what updates they have made to their profiles. To do this simply click on the user to view their mini profile and then click “follow”.

    When they update their profile you will get a message on the community home page which says “‘User x, user y and user z have updated their profiles.’” with a link directly to it so you can see what the new update is.

  • How do I edit my homepage?  

    You can personalise what you see on your home page by going to “My account” and clicking “Edit profile”.

    Choose whether you want to see the “Popular conversations”, “Most thanked”, or “All topics” modules on the homepage by ticking the boxes, and click save when you are finished.

Getting involved in a conversation

On the home page you can use the search box to find conversations that you might be interested in. You can choose the most relevant items from the dropdown boxes, or enter a specific word in the box under “Know exactly what you want?”.

You can also go to ‘All topics’ to see a full list of  conversation topics, or ‘Recent conversations’ to see what people have been talking about in the last few hours, days, or weeks.

You can also search for a conversation by keyword, using the search box on the Groups Home Page.

  • How do I start a conversation?  

    If there aren’t any conversations already going on the subject you want to talk about, then you can create one yourself by clicking ‘Start a conversation’.

    New conversations must be approved by a moderator before they appear on the website, so please be patient. If your conversation isn’t appropriate for the community (see terms and conditions and house rules for more information) then the moderator will usually contact you to explain why it has not been approved.

  • How do I know if anyone has replied to my post?  

    You can return to your discussion at any time to see if anyone has replied, and you can choose to be notified about all replies to conversations you have created or posted on.

  • Where has the search box gone?  

    The search box is hidden on most pages, so to view it again you just need to click “Show search”.

  • Why would I follow something?  

    If you are interested in a particular topic, you can click ‘Follow topic’ to be notified when new conversations are added to the topic. You can click the same button to unfollow a topic you’re already following.

    If you're interested in just one conversation, click on ‘Follow this conversation’ to be notified whenever people add replies to a particular conversation.

    You can follow conversations you reply to by ticking the “Follow this conversation - get email notifications “ box when you post your reply.

  • Where can I see everything that I follow?  

    You can see five of the conversations you follow on the community homepage and you can click the “view all my conversations” link to see a full list.

    You can also view this list by clicking ‘View all my conversations’ or going to ‘My conversations’ in the navigation bar. This view will also show you the conversations you have commented on.

  • How do I stop getting email notifications?  

    Click on ‘My account’ to visit your profile, then click on the ‘Email preferences’ tab. Here you can see all conversations you are subscribed to email notifications for, and you can unsubscribe from each group individually.

    You can also change the types of notification that you receive emails for. Your options are to get no email; to get email about all conversations you have started, posted on or follow, or to get email about only the conversations and topics that you have specifically selected to follow.

  • Can I visit the Community on my mobile?  

    The Community has been specially designed so that it will work as well on mobile phones and tablets as on desktop computers.

  • How can I reply to a post?  

    You can reply to a conversation quickly, by hitting the 'Show quick reply' button below the post. This is a way to reply to a message without adding any formatting. This will just display your text (and your signature, if you have enabled it).

  • How do I format my reply?  

    When posting messages you may wish to include some formatting such as bold, italic or underlined text to add emphasis or to make sections of your reply stand out.

    To post a reply with formatting press the 'Post a reply' button under the heading, or press the 'Reply' button to the right of any of the conversation's replies.

    To use formatting, simply press the button (for example, the 'B') and then type to get bold text. Click the button again to stop using that formatting.

    You can also format text that you have already typed into the editor by highlighting the selection and clicking the formatting button (for example the 'I' button for Italics).

  • How do I quote another user?  

    If you want to reply to a specific post in a conversation you can use the quote functionality.

    Simply click on the quotation mark in the post that you want to reference, and you will be taken to an editor with space to write a comment below the original. When you submit the post it will appear within the conversation with special formatting around the original text.

  • Why would I 'thank' someone?  

    The 'Thank' button lets you give another user positive feedback, without having to compose a reply.

    If you want to 'Thank' a user simply click the thumbs-up button to the right of the post. You can remove your 'Thank' at any time by clicking the button again.

    If you want to view all the posts you have thanked, or show the list of posts you received thanks on, you can go to 'My Account' and select 'View Thanks'.

Rule breakers

If you think someone has broken our Terms and Conditions or House Rules then please click the “report” button next to the post and fill in the form on the next page. A member of the moderation team will be notified immediately so they can decide how to deal with the situation appropriately. Please don't try to sort it out yourself.

Private messages

A private message is a communication between two people which nobody but those two people can read. Please note that administrators can access all communications on the site in order to prevent abuse.

  • Where do I find them?  

    You can find all of the messages which people have sent to you and which you have sent to others from the inbox tab.

  • How do I know when I have a new one?  

    When you have a new private message you will see a notification in your home page telling you how many unread messages you have.

    You will also see a number next to your inbox when you have unread messages.

  • Private Message Folders  

    • The inbox contains messages you receive, who they are from, the subject of the message, and when it was sent
    • The sent folder contains copies of all the private messages you have sent
    • The archive folder contains only messages you move to that folder.

    There is a 100 message limit on the mail folders, so you may have to delete or export some of them from time to time. If you do not keep some space in the mailbox then you will not be able to recieve new messages.

    There is a tick box next to each message which allows you to select one or more messages and archive, export, or delete them. If you choose to export you can select which format you want (XML/CSV/Text-File) and save them to your computer.

Glossary