Forum rules
One rule determines almost everything: tell your own story, don't tell someone else what to do.
What is always allowed here
Your own experience, however raw, sad, angry or hopeful. What a treatment does to you. A choice that differs from what your doctor advised. What you experienced with an alternative treatment. Asking questions, even questions you've seen elsewhere before. Naming grief, fear and exhaustion. Criticism of healthcare.
This forum exists for precisely that. We prefer to approve something that later needs to be removed, rather than turn away someone writing their story.
What is not allowed
- Telling someone else what to do. "I use this and I noticed that" is always okay. "Take this" or "stop your chemo" is not. The difference lies in the direction, not the subject.
- Dosages as a recommendation. A number may appear in your own story; as a prescription to someone else, it may not.
- Promoting or selling remedies, clinics or practitioners, and referring to places where something is for sale.
- Accusing someone by name and surname of negligence or malpractice.
- Sharing others' data — names of fellow patients, phone numbers, addresses.
- Claims that cause harm if someone believes them, such as that a regular treatment is poison or that a remedy cures cancer.
- Insulting, threatening, or spam.
How the review works
Every message is read before it becomes visible. F.R.I.D.A.Y., our own system, usually does this within a minute. If your message is not posted, you will be told why and what you can change — almost always that means: write it as your experience rather than as advice. You can find that explanation under messages that were not posted.
Do you disagree? Let us know, then a person will look at it. Below each message there is also a report button, for everyone with an account.
About your privacy
You always write under a pseudonym; your real name and email address are never published. With each conversation you start, you choose who may read it yourself: only people with an account, or everyone. The first setting is the default.
If you choose "everyone", keep in mind that search engines can then also index it — and what ends up there once, you cannot get it out completely, even if you delete it with us.
Do not share things by which someone could recognize you if you don't want that: your full name, your place of residence in combination with your hospital, or photographs.
And furthermore
What you read here are experiences of people, not medical advice. It is never a substitute for a conversation with your own healthcare provider. We do not verify whether what someone tells is true — we verify whether it is told as their own experience and whether it causes harm to anyone.
These rules also appear in the user agreement (article 7). In case of repeated abuse, we may close an account.