Hi everyone, thanks for the great feedback so far. We are working on getting this thread pinned in a more prominent place today.

I'll clarify a few points raised so far about the intention behind some of the guidelines:

No self-promotion (research): the intent here is to stop the forums being flooded by researchers promoting their own studies, not to prevent members from sharing studies that they have participated in.

Avoid repetition/rumination: the intent here is not to stop people from discussing ongoing conditions or symptoms, or denying that recovery is non-linear, but to address issues where some members have posted identical or very similar messages on a daily (or sometimes multiple times daily) with no new information or context. These posts are often reported to us by other members who find them distressing or are frustrated that their helpful replies don't seem to be having an effect. We hope that the forums can be a space that help people move forward on their recovery journey, rather than enabling them to stay 'stuck'.

Fair discussion (naming of services): this is an update of an existing guideline about repetitive criticism of services. On a busy forum such as this, it is too difficult for our moderators to define 'repetitive' as it would require them to go back and review posting histories, so we are proposing changing this to not naming services at all. We encourage general discussions about difficulties people have had with services, but complaints about specific services should be taken up with the service itself, or the appropriate state-based agency. The intent here is not to stop people from naming national services or evidence-based apps that might be helpful for members to try.

Tone: it is a tough ask to write guidelines that are clear, concise and positive when a lot of the things we need to include are about setting limits and rules. I appreciate that a lot of "don'ts" can be alienating. Looking forward to further feedback on how we can 'split the difference' between emphasising what is desired vs. what not to do. I'm sure we can also find a space for explaining why guidelines are in place also.