People arrive here frightened, often on the day they got a result. The tone of the first reply they read decides whether they stay. These rules exist to protect that.
Protect your own identity
- Use a pseudonym. Do not use your real name, or a username you use anywhere else.
- No face photographs. No workplaces, schools, street names or licence plates.
- Think before naming a city if you are describing something unusual.
Protect other people’s identity
- Never name, describe or link to a partner, an ex, or anyone you believe infected you. Do not post their photograph, their social media, or their initials plus a location.
- Naming a person as infected is the fastest way to get permanently banned here, and it may be a criminal offence where you live.
- Do not repost another member’s story outside this forum in a way that identifies them.
How to reply
- Say what happened to you. Do not tell someone what they have.
- “Get tested” is almost always the right answer. Symptoms overlap; testing is what separates them.
- No shame, no jokes about how someone caught something, no lectures about their choices. An infection is an infection.
- If you disagree with a claim, say why, with a source if you have one. Do not attack the person.
Not allowed
- Selling anything. No cures, no supplements, no test kits, no clinics, no affiliate links.
- Claims that an infection can be cured by something that has not been shown to cure it.
- Telling someone to stop or change prescribed treatment.
- Diagnosing from a photograph. Do not ask for one and do not offer to look.
- Sexual content, solicitation, or contacting members privately for anything other than support.
- Harassment, hate speech, or targeting anyone for their status, sexuality, gender or ethnicity.
- Scraping, reposting or archiving the forum’s content elsewhere.
Posting
- One topic per question, in the right category. Use “General questions” if you are unsure.
- Search first. Your question has probably been asked, and the old thread may already answer it.
- Write a title that describes the question, not “help please”.
Moderation
Moderators remove posts that break these rules and may edit a post to strip identifying detail rather than delete it. Serious breaches, above all naming another person, result in a permanent ban without warning.
Report a post using the report link rather than replying to it. To appeal, write to [EMAIL].
If you are in crisis
Contact a local crisis line or emergency service. This forum cannot provide crisis support and no one here is on call.