Migraine

We have a wonderful forum community full of supporting, caring people. Many of you have commented that our forum members are "family." Teri, the other moderators, and I feel that way too. From time to time, with the influx of new members, questions come up about private messaging and posting email addresses to the forum. The private messaging feature is disabled on all HealthCental forums, and we do ask the email addresses (even if disguised) NOT be posted here. Other than Teri's and mine, even the moderators do not post their email addresses.

Like all communities, there are certain policies that need to be followed for everyone's privacy and safety, to ensure a positive online experience. The following points should help everyone better understand these policies and the reasons behind them:

• The purpose of the forum is to provide a place for safe group discussions where even people who never post can benefit from the discussions.
  
  
• It is not the purpose of the forum to facilitate private communication.
  
  
• We do not set the policies we do just to make "rules" and definitely not to censor anyone. There are plenty of conversations where we disagree with some of what is said, but we do not censor. Those conversations run their course with no interference from us as long as nobody is giving medical advice or trying to sell a product or service (spamming).
  
  
• Spamming the forum is very difficult. The word filter has words most often used by spammers. With our team of moderators, we spot spammers very quickly, delete their posts, and lock them out of the forum. So, no, people can't spam the forum more easily than private messages. We've seen people register, never post to the forum, but send spam via private messages to hundreds of forum members. This truly is potentially dangerous because when people are desperate enough, they will try virtually anything, and they'll do it without talking with their doctor first or taking other precautions.
  
  
• We are not new to this. Teri, the moderators and I have been together doing this for over seven years now, having started out together on another site. The policies we have set are the result of these years of experience. We don't like all of them either, but we have seen the damage that can result from not having them. When we permitted email addresses on the forum, then OUR email contained more and more complaints from forum members who were being spammed by people who had gotten their email addresses from the forum.
  
  
• The forum is one of two "community" areas of MyMigraineConnection. The other is the SharePosting Community, which you access by clicking on "Register" or "Sign In" from the home page, www.MyMigraineConnection.com. If you haven't registered there yet, you will need to register there separately from your forum registration, but you can use the same email address, name, and password if you like. SharePosting is very similar to blogging, allowing you to share your experiences that way. Also, if you have a profile in that section of our community, you can send private messages to any other member who also has registered there.

Thank you for understanding,

Teri and Nancy

I thank you and Teri so much for keeping this community safe and "spam-free".

The most important part of this community is that it is family friendly and safe. I never feel as if anyone is going to get taken advantage of here, and I give the address out to everyone I know....migraine sufferer or not, because it is so safe. People can learn and share in a safe enviroment, without the hokey stuff.

I really feel this site has done so much for me and helped me take control of my health and my healthcare team.

I don't think I would have felt as safe sharing the info that I do, if we were getting hit up with spammers every day.

I thank you and Teri so much for all of the hard work you both do to keep this a safe place for all of us.

I agree 100% with Eileen. Not only is this forum so full of great information and support it is a safe place to be. My kids like to read with me while I'm on here at night and I know they can because everyone keeps their language in check and remains respectful of each other.

Not having to worry about Spammers is a huge benefit I appreciate.

Thanks everyone!!

Nancy - Thanks for clarifying and helping us understand, and for keeping the space safe!

- megs

I have a co-worker whose teen daughter has migraines, and I told her she could safely allow her teen to use the forum--but I couldn't necessarily say the same about other migraine forums on the web. I was glad to feel I could give my co-worker that assurance.

I want to feel good about letting my 13 year old Migraineur come here, and I and a VERY picky mom when it comes to web sites.

Wonder if this is possible?

Is there a way to remove the link to "private message" since it will never be enabled anyway? That may help cut down on some of the confusion. New folk may be seeing it and not understand.

I'm fully aware of the importance of internet safety. I've been cyberstalked. Nancy, we may never fully realize all that you and Teri have done to keep us safe but we appreciate it.

Add my "thank you" to the pile.

Let me see about that private message. I don't think so, but I'll check.

Hei there all!!

Min mind still so spacie cadet that no can remember min passwords so I using min Hubbbbby accounts to post.

Mange takk Nancy for posts this and rmeinds us all. Min Dave feels wery bad about wording him post abouts injectables the way him did. Him no ment to it be see as medical advices him just so step by step orient when him types if that make sense and we now does understands how that seen as concrete how too adice and we is sorry.

We loves this forum and all here and respects the rules.

WOOT him home now so off I goes.

Sol

Sol sweetie,

This is definately not directed at anyone in particular, especially Dave --- REALLY...

All is good. The forum is getting so big now, every once in a while we need to make a few changes to make things "nice".

I am getting an email message in my private email that says
someone has posted a reply to your posting. Please go to the following link below to see the reply. When I try to go to the link,
it will never open.I get an error message that says IE or Windows Internet Explorer cannot open this link.

What I don't understand is why this person is not replying to my posting thru the mymigraineconnection.com site. There is a place for personal messages, isn't there? I see that when I log in. Or why don't they just post an open reply back to my open post. I new to this posting thing so I am sure I am not understanding it all. Please enlighten me. Or tell me how I can retrieve those posts they are sending to my email address.
parisbabe

parisbabe,

Did you register for the other side of the site? Did you create a Share Post?

The email you are getting is probably a notification of someone commenting on your Share Post. Sometimes the system sends out email alerts, but then if someone has changed or deleted their posting, it cannot bring you to the page in question.

Try looking over your Share Posts. It sounds like that is what the email you are getting is about.

Your email address that you used to sign up for the site is NOT shared, so no one can email you directly from this site, as we do not have your email address. If you read the above information from Nancy - private messaging is NOT enabled on any Health Central sites for your protection. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a way to remove the tab saying "send a private message", it just does not work and will state you do not have authorization to use this feature, which NO ONE does.

Hope this helps!

Eileen,
Thank you for your reply. Yes, I did sign up for the other side. With the same email and password for both sides, but they said that was ok, wasn't it?

And that is what I don't understand because there is a place for them to send me a message. Why don't they just reply to my share post? Or does the system automatically post that link to my email saying you have to go to this link?

Anyway, there is nothing wrong with my email address or provider. I had it checked out. It's so frustrating to keep getting these messages and can't retrieve or read these replies.

And yes, I did understand that you can't send private email messages on this side of the site. I may not have made that clear in my post but I do understand. TOPPYMAX-OR TIPPYMAX talking!!

I'll keep trying to work it out. Maybe one of these days I'll get the replies. THANKS!
parisbabe

Are you getting something stating "you've received a private message" or something like that?

That is the "email" set up on the other side where you registered for share posts.

When you are logged in on that side of the site, on the top right hand corner it should show you as "logged in". Somewhere in there it will show any messages you may have, you can click on that to view them.

Let me know if that helps.