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| Emergency Help |
It is important to look for help from a variety of sources if you are feeling suicidal. With this in mind, the following links and contacts can be of help and should be consulted if you are feeling suicidal. In emergency crisis: If you are actively suicidal we ask that you consider contacting the following:
For emergency support: If you are struggling with feelings of suicide and wish to express these, we suggest you also consider the following:
Other Supports: Talk to someone you trust about how you feel. If you do not want to speak to someone via a helpline, you could also contact:
Message a text line - If you do not want to talk to someone over the phone, these text lines are open 24 hours a day, every day:
Talking to someone can help you see beyond feelings of loneliness or despair and help you to realise that there are other options open to you apart from ending your life. Whoever you talk to now, you should also visit your GP. They will be able to advise you on treatment options, should these feelings continue to trouble you. Additional Information: Further information on coping with suicidal feelings can be found here: |
| What is Social Anxiety (SA)? |
There's lots of great information about social anxiety on the SAUK main site located here: http://www.social-anxiety.org.uk/Some other links that may be useful are: |
| Aims of the SA-UK Discussion Board |
The purpose of this board is to provide information and support for sufferers of social anxiety and related disorders. Specifically, this is a forum: Information contained within this board is intended solely for general educational purposes. The information contained in this service is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific medical condition or question. Always seek the advice of your GP or other health provider for any questions you may have regarding your medical condition. Only your GP can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. |
| Posting Guidelines |
In order to meet our aims, we need to have some rules for posting (and Private Messaging) on the board. The board is moderated by a group of long-term members of the discussion board who are appointed by the owner, who use their own best judgment when deciding what to modify. Please be advised that these guidelines extend to the whole of the board, including, but not limited to, blogs, visitor messages and social groups. By registering and posting on this discussion board, members agree to observe and abide by the following:1. Personal attacks and personal information 1.1 Personal attacks, in any form, are strictly forbidden. 1.2 Insults, implying insults, baiting, bullying and harassment, in any form, will not be tolerated. This extends to the use of PMs. 1.3 No personal information about other members, of any description, can be posted without their express permission. This extends to discussing personal relationships, fallouts or otherwise involving members of the board. 1.4 Personal messages must not be transmitted to anyone other than the intended recipient, without the express permission of the originator of the PM. Unauthorized replication and/or transmission of PMs, in any form, is strictly forbidden. 2. Posting manner 2.1 Overly aggressive, or disruptive, posts will be edited, or removed, at the Moderators' discretion. Check your CAPS lock. Please do not "shout" at other members to make a point. If a post is deemed to be harmful to other members, or disruptive to the support of SA members in general, it will be edited or removed at the Moderators' discretion. 2.2 Offensive/obscene material (including, but not limited to, posts, user names, avatars and links) is not permitted and will be removed at the Moderators' discretion. Topics that are generally offensive or disturbing (including, but not limited to, racist and sexist posts or prejudiced against a certain section of society) will be deleted at the Moderators' discretion. 2.3 Posts should be as inclusive as possible and not appear to exclude members of the board. To this end, we kindly ask that all users post in English and, where possible, use the PM feature for personal messages. Personal messages within threads may be deleted, at the Moderators' discretion, if they are deemed to exclude other members. 2.4 When posting articles, please do not simply cut and paste, or open threads with a single link. You should provide some identifying information (source, author, publication, date or URL). Also, offer some context as the more context you provide, the more you assist others in gauging the excerpted information's significance, encouraging constructive discussion. Answer one or more of the following questions: How did you hear of this article? What is your opinion? Why is it important to you? Why should it be important to other members? In order to encourage people to read a whole article, copy and paste an excerpt or series of excerpts, but avoid posting the piece in its entirety. 2.5 Spam (topic-less threads with, for example, no text or one random word) will be deleted or moved at the Moderators' discretion. Repeat or cross posting may be removed, depending on its nature. 3. Topics, links and advertisements There are no restrictions on topics for discussion, but there are restrictions on how and where those topics are discussed. Please try and post in the area that's most suitable for your topic. Moderators reserve the right to move posts and/or threads to more suitable forums if it is deemed necessary. 3.1 Advertisements, commercial or otherwise, are generally not permitted. If you're not sure, please contact the Administrators before posting. 3.2 Links, invitations or any type of publicly viewable advertisement, in any form (excluding PM), for, or to, posters' own discussion forums (especially), will be vetted on a continuous basis for suitability of association with SAUK. The Moderators reserve the right to refuse any such linkage with any site or forum collectively deemed unsuitable. 3.3 SAUK is a site for support, first and foremost, and that making posts asking for a relationship, or hinting at this can be counter-productive and can make people feel uncomfortable. Therefore, while the discussion of dating is allowed (within the SA and Relationships subforum only) advertisements, links and posts for the purposes of a romantic relationship are not allowed. Please be aware that also prohibits sending Private Messages for this purpose. Sex related threads or posts which are excessive or gratuitous in nature will be removed at the Moderators' discretion. Discussion of sex is restricted to the Basement, or the SA and Relationships room for serious discussion specifically related to sex and mental health difficulties. 3.4 Profanity is tolerated in small amounts, particularly in the Basement. Posting profanity for the sake of it is not permitted. 3.5 Please do not use the board to compete with other users as to who suffers more than whom, or to question the severity or entire existence of other members' SA. The belittlement of others' suffering will not be tolerated, and posts/threads of that nature will be edited and/or removed at the Moderators' discretion. 3.6 Individual threads should remain as on-topic as possible. Start a new thread if you want to branch out to a new topic To avoid confusion, please start a fresh thread instead of bumping old ones that have been inactive for more than 18 months. Moderators reserve the right to split/close threads and/or delete individual posts where necessary. Please use the correct forums for posting on general topics: The Social Anxiety Discussion section is primarily for discussion of SA related issues, however, any topic regarding (mental) health may be posted here. The General Discussion area is a gentle off-topic forum. Please bear in mind that this is a family-friendly space; all discussion of sex is restricted to the Basement only. The Basement is for topics that some people may find offensive, with its own set of rules, which must be strictly adhered to at all times. 4. Suicide Suicidal threats, persistent or otherwise, and discussion of suicide methods and/or techniques are not permitted. Suicidal threats, persistent or otherwise, will be addressed by the moderators on an individual basis with the discussion board member(s) in question. For help with suicidal feelings and/or self-harm, please see our ‘Emergency Help’ section. 5. Miscellaneous 5.1 Please keep any images in sigs at approximately 25kb or less, and resize them to approximately 200x200px at the absolute most. Bear in mind that these images must be appropriate and family-friendly 5.2 You are prohibited from taking any action to disturb the use of the services by others, distribute material that contains viruses, spyware or any other malicious code or harmful programs. This includes interfering with the working of the network, attempts to gain unauthorized access to a service or other computer systems that are part of the site or any other site, by use of the available services or otherwise. 5.3 The terms and conditions of our server, A Small Orange, must also be followed (summarized here): No attempts to violate any law (be it local, state, county, national or international law), infringe upon the rights (including, but not limited to, property, copyright and privacy rights) of anyone (including our customers, users, staff, and the general public), transmit any data that is illegal, abusive, threatening, defamatory, obscene, or invasive of anyone's privacy, contain pornography, or sexual material of any kind. 6. Warnings and bans Depending on the severity of infractions, members will normally be given a warning first, followed by either a temporary or permanent ban. In general, bans will escalate as follows: 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, 1 week, 1 month, permanent. This will include any multiple accounts the user may have. Attempts to circumvent a ban will lead to the ban being extended. All members have the right to appeal against any decision, by email or PM only, to the Administrators or Moderators involved. Discussion of moderator actions on the public boards is strictly prohibited. See here for more information about Moderating. The Administrators of SAUK reserve the right to change or amend these rules and guidelines in any way and at any time they deem necessary or appropriate. 7. Account deletion, Multiple accounts and Name Changes 7.1 Account deletions will only be carried out under exceptional circumstances. In real terms, this means that accounts will not be deleted without good reason to do so. If you have a valid reason for removing your account, please PM one of the Moderating Team.. 7.2 Users are allowed to create multiple accounts at SAUK, provided that they are used appropriately. Misuse of multiple accounts will be dealt with accordingly, which may result in a suitable ban and/or being prevented from using multiple accounts in future. 7.3 Only one change of username per user will be permitted in a 6-month period, unless there are exceptional circumstances (in that instance please PM a Mod or Admin). In real terms, that means that if you change your username, you will not be allowed to change it again until six months have elapsed.. |
| Moderating |
Discussion of moderation actions in the public forums is not permitted. Moderation actions include warnings, suspensions and the editing or deletion of posts (this includes discussing bans from SAUK Chat). If a member has a concern about a moderation action, he or she is invited to address it with the Admin team (or Chat Ops with regards to bans from the chatroom) via Private Message or email, where the team will then review the action internally, before issuing a response to the complainant in due course. Posting about moderation actions in the public forums constitutes a violation, and will be dealt with as specified in the forum rules.You are free to discuss a moderation action via Private Message or email with the Moderator involved, but you may not harass or abuse the Moderators. In practical terms, this means that once a Moderator tells you his or her decision is final, no further PMs about that moderation action are permitted. - Moderators will endeavour to inform members why a post has been edited or deleted. This will normally be done via PM, but may not be sent immediately. - If a thread is moved to another area, or deleted, the poster will be notified by PM. Again, this may not be sent immediately. - Moderators may change the label or add a warning to any post or thread, in order to identify it more effectively and prevent members from viewing content that they might not ordinarily wish to see. - We will try and respond appropriately to any queries (technical or otherwise) or help on the board as swiftly as possible, but sometimes there may be a delay. - Please remember that the Moderators also suffer from SA and have lives that often include many priorities outside of SAUK. None of us are perfect and mistakes do sometimes happen, but we will try and rectify any legitimate mistakes or address any problems as soon as possible. -All content herein remains the sole property of SAUK Discussion Board. |
| Basement Guidelines |
There are no restrictions on topics for discussion, but there are restrictions on how those topics are discussed. By registering and posting on this discussion board, members agree to observe and abide by the following:- No personal attacks: Please, remain courteous and respectful to all forum members at all times. You can criticize an idea or point of view without resorting to insulting comments, made directly or implied. This rule is enforced not only to prevent the insulted person from being hurt, but to keep the atmosphere of the db welcoming to differing opinions, new and old. To reiterate, you cannot attack and/or personally insult someone, and you cannot bait other forum members. You have a shared responsibility for reporting such posts when you come across them. - Heated discussions: It has been known for discussions to devolve into personal attacks. Moderators will watch these threads carefully and edit any comments bordering on personal attacks or insults. This is especially true if the comments do not actually add anything to the current discussion. Because these threads are often very active, we do not have time to discuss the issues with the people involved before their comments are edited. We will however endeavour to inform you if your comments have been edited or deleted, although this may not be immediately. Hopefully, everyone involved in these discussions can take a moment before they submit a post. Ask yourself whether you are simply posting something in anger and whether your comments serve any purpose other than making another member feel bad. - Racism: Comments that are clearly racist will be deleted. The users of this board come from all over the world. Our commonality is only SA. Stating a negative comment about any racial group automatically insults a segment of our community and will be treated as a personal attack. Only racism is mentioned here, but insults against any religious group, groups defined by sexual orientation, etc will be treated similarly. As stated above, no topics are automatically disallowed, but discussing racism is not the same as making racist comments. - Personal Responsibility: You are responsible for the words you post here. Think for a moment about the effect your words will have on other posters before you hit submit. Again, no topics are currently banned here, but it is only by showing some consideration toward your other board members that this policy will be workable. The fact that the mods exist to edit out a personal attack, for example, does not excuse you from making those attacks. - Please avoid derailing a thread with off-topic posts. Moderators reserve the right to close/split threads at their discretion. - You may not alter quotes in a way that misrepresents what was originally said by another member. - Posting Articles: The following rules are to be followed for copy and pasting articles and posting links. They apply to any and all articles you post in the Basement forum, and to both opening posts and posted responses within any thread. - You cannot simply cut and paste, or open threads with a single link. - You must provide some identifying information (source, author, publication, date or URL) - Offer some context. The more context you provide, the more you assist others in gauging the excerpted information's significance, encouraging constructive discussion. Answer one or more of the following questions: How did you hear of this article? What is your opinion? Why is it important to you? Why should it be important to other members? - In order to encourage people to read a whole article, copy and paste an excerpt or series of excerpts, but avoid posting the piece in its entirety. Moderators reserve the right to close threads and/or delete posts if these rules are not adhered to. If you have any questions concerning any of the above please PM a Moderator. Example:  Finally, insults against individual Moderators will not be tolerated. All members have the right to appeal against a decision, by email or PM only, to the Administrators or Moderators involved. The Administrators of SAUK reserve the right to change or amend these rules and guidelines in any way and at any time they deem necessary or appropriate. |
