Forum Rules & Member Rights - ALL MUST READ AND FOLLOW

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Hawk

Peyronies Disease Society's
Discussion Forum

A bit long but it is full of important information.  You are required to follow all 9 rules.

Welcome!  To all Guests and new members.  You should read and periodically refer to the information below.

If you are new to Simple Machines Forum (SMF) software we recommend reading the "HELP" link near the top of your screen.  Like anything new, it may seem a bit awkward at first, but we are confident you will find it both simple and powerful after a very short time.  SMF is a clear cut above the competition and it provides a slick forum.

Members & Guests should feel free to email us with questions or comments at:  [email protected]    Members can also send an on-forum "Private Message" to Hawk or Angus.  We are very interested in your opinions and concerns.

Why this Forum?
This Peyronies Disease forum is set up because Peyronies Disease patients searched in vain to find another forum that filled our simple basic need to exchange information openly and free of disruption.  Simply put, we are not run or moderated by drug companies or doctors but by you the patient.  We do invite doctors and drug companies to join and become part of the discussion.

Our Purpose
Our purpose is simple.  Freedom of speech on any topic that directly relates to the issues and decisions that a Peyronies Disease suffer must face.  The PDS forum is set up, and moderated by Peyronies Disease patients, exclusively for Peyronies Disease patients and their partners.  It is the only true "Patient's Forum" in existence that stays on topic and minimizes disruption from impostors, trolls, and others attempting to thwart our attempts to openly communicate.  We have no commitments that would conflict with accomplishing our purpose of open communication for Peyronies Disease patients.  We are also the exclusive host of the only private, Women's Only, forum.  The "Ladies Room" is for women who are in any way suffering from the effects of Peyronies and want to talk to other women in security and privacy. Anyone detected even attempting to breach the security of this forum will be permanently banned from the entire PDS site.

Why Rules
We the patients have designed our few simple rules for the sole purpose of increasing open communication.  Any rule that is suspected of doing anything else, will be examined by the forum members for change or elimination.  These rules all deal with protecting the patient's right to speak and be heard.  They cover two areas.  First, they protect the members from impostors and combatants.  Secondly, they organize information for rapid access.  This is our, (the patients) forum.  Because of that, our rules ARE negotiable.

A few Simple Rules
Obviously, the following rules are in addition to site rules covering criminal activity.

1. Choosing a member name - Using terms like proper names of penis structures (tunica, shaft, etc) or medical terms such as Peyronies, plaque etc are not allowed.  Such member names would cause untold confusion with forum conversation.  Such names would also confuse the use of our forum search feature.  For this reason, certain member names are not allowed and we reserve the right to determine which names or terms shall be restricted from use.  Please do not use numbers in your name or pick names confusingly close to other member names.  Pick a name that is a word that can be pronounced. If you pick a long name, be advised that other members are likely to refer to you by some abbreviation of that name. Once you post under a chosen name you cannot change that name without the administration's prior approval.

2. Gratuitous vulgar profanity will not be allowed on the Peyronies Disease Patient's Forum.  Peyronies Disease is a frustrating disease.  Occasionally as patients, we vent, sometimes we need to cut through poetic prose and bluntly express our point.  That will not be penalized, but we do need to police ourselves to have a forum free of vulgarity that can easily be avoided.

3. Stay on Topic -Information not specifically related to Peyronies Disease or Erectile Dysfunction must not be posted on the main boards.  We do have an "Off-Topic" board for such issues.

4. Open attacks and threats will not be allowed.  If we think an idea is stupid we can find a gentleman's way of saying so.  This is not just a gentleman's club, however. If we are not gentlemen, then we can say, "I think that is a stupid idea".  We can not, however, disrupt this board in an exchange of personal attacks, name-calling or threats against anyone.  A personal attack is one that is directed at a person rather than at an idea.  "You are stupid" is a personal attack.

5. Posting -To promote communication and easy access to information, we ask members to make reasonable efforts to keep information under the appropriate Board and topic.  To post, click on "REPLY" in one of the exiting topics.  Double posting the same message in multiple topics is strictly prohibited. Bizarre font styles, colors, and sizes should be avoided unless needed to emphasize a small part of a post.  Posting photos requires a lot of transmission bandwidth.  Due to this load, the posting of on-topic photos will be evaluated for their value to the members.  Note that some boards have special rules specific to that board.  These rules will appear in highlighted sticky topics at the top of the board.

6.  Politics - Politically controversial statements will not be permitted anywhere on this forum.  We are also not here to promote or condemn religion.  If we have some remark about religion that relates in some way to Peyronies Disease, we should limit those remarks and confine them to the "Psychological aspect of Peyronies Disease" or the "Off-Topic" area.
 
7. Limited Use of the Quote Button - Normally, we should use the REPLY button to reply to a post.  We can use the quote button on a member's post only when we want to quote a small portion of another post.  We can also use it when responding to anything that was previously posted BUT NOT when we are responding to the post immediately before our own post in the same topic.  When we do use the quote button, we should trim the quote down so entire posts are not repeated. That way, the reader can more easily follow the conversation.  Underline and bold can be used for emphasis.  Emotion faces are activated and can be used.  We can use italics for titles of other topics etc.  Other than this, the standard types/fonts should be used.  

8. One User Name - Members may only register under one name and have one user account.  If there is a legitimate need for more than one account, request prior approval before attempting to make a second account. Members are to use secure passwords and not share them. Attempts to breach the security of any segment of our site will not be tolerated or discussed. Those violating aspects of rule number 8, be banned from this site.

9. Vendors - We allow those selling items for profit to declare their intent and make statements and answer questions about their product after making full disclosure to the administration.  However, anyone suspected of posing as a Peyronies patient to influence a commercial transaction (a shill), is subject to an immediate and permanent ban.  Spamming the forum with promotions, links, or trolling for membership will not be allowed.

10. Regulated Drugs - Related to the purchase, sale, transport, or transfer of regulated drugs, herbs, remedies, or devices, members agree to abide by applicable laws and regulations, and will not ask or encourage other Forum members to violate this rule.

Some boards are NOT discussion boards OR have special rules posted at the top of those boards (Dr. Trost's board, Our Histories board, Accounts of Improvement board, Psychological Aspects board).

That's it for now.  We may have to remove rules or apply more rules as the members see fit on their board.  Communication under "Off-Topic Discussion" will be given wider leeway with these listed rules.

Forum Member Rights
We have a right to privacy.  As such, we will never divulge any email addresses or other private information that we have control over.  We will make every attempt to minimize the private information required and used.  We will also use every precaution to hide such information from display. We also recommend that you consider hiding this information when you register if you don't want other members to see it.

Patients on this forum have the right to free speech within the framework of "A Few Simple Rules" posted above.  Free speech means only items that violate rules will be penalized or edited and members will be advised of ALL edits.

Voting members have and will decide many issues on running and setup of this forum.  A person must be registered with 4 or more posts and have made a post within the past 4 months to vote on questions of forum operation.  These posts can be questions, or comments, and can be of any length.  Obvious rapid posting of totally meaningless comments right before a vote will inactivate that account for a brief time and disqualify that person from voting on that issue.

We think of it as a sacred trust, that members of a forum have a right to know they are reading the actual comments of others and not reading censored or modified remarks.  If violations occur, usually the entire post will be removed until it is resolved (this has only occurred twice).  Minor changes such as repairing a posted link, or deleting accidental double posts, or removing repetitious quotes, will be done prior to notification.  The forum also has automatic word substitution on some words such as abbreviations that may not be understood by new members and a few profanity substitutions.  The body of every post will remain unaltered by administrators or moderators.

It speaks not only to our policies but to our community that out of a hundred thousand posts, to date, we have literally edited only a few member posts and have noted the edit in red right in the post so all would know.  Unlike some forum software, SMF forum software shows all edits by the poster or moderators at the bottom of each post.  Since our inception, not counting obvious SPAMMERS, we have banned less than 10 members and deleted their posts.

Registration requires no personal information -> Register with TOTAL Privacy - Peyronies Society Forums
Prostatectomy 2004, radiation 2009, currently 74 yrs old
After pills, injections, VED - Dr Eid, Titan 22cm implant 8/7/18
Hawk - Updated 10/27/18 - Peyronies Society Forums