READ THIS FIRST - Anonymous Section Rules etc

[Paul_UK]

We realise that members may sometimes want to post something but due to embarrassment or whatever may not want it to be associated with their username. To accommodate this I have added this Anonymous Discussions section.

When you start a new thread or reply to a thread you will see a tickbox to the right of the title labelled "Make Post Anonymously". If you make sure that box is ticked, the post will be shown as posted by "Anonymous" and not by you. It is ticked by default so posting is anonymous by default.

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Quick Reply is not available in this section (because it won't work woth the anonymous posting system), so you need to click "Post Reply" to reply.

This section is currently being tested and will only remain if it works and is not abused. There are some risks with allowing anonymous posting (even though it is limited to EC members) but we hope the benefits will outweigh any problems.

The following rules and conditions apply to this section, in addition to the normal EC Code of Conduct (http://emptyclosets.com/index.php/conduct/):

ADMINS AND MODS CAN FIND OUT WHO ACTUALLY MADE ANONYMOUS POSTS. We obviously won't do so unless there is a problem, but we will take action if your post is inappropriate, in exactly the same way as if your name was shown. Indeed due to the nature of this section we may choose to act more strongly.


DO NOT hide behind being anonymous to make comments about people that you would not make if your name was shown. NO INSULTS AND NO PERSONAL ATTACKS.


DO NOT try to identify who anonymous posters are. Even if you think you know from the posting style, do not post names or guesses. Also do not post speculation in the chatroom.


DO NOT question why people are or are not posting anonymously. It is their personal decision and should be respected as such.


Please stick to sensible discussions, and stick to the subject of the thread as started by the original poster. Off-topic or irrelevant comments are not welcomed.

Currently this section is open to all members regardless of post count. We think this may help new members so do not want to apply posting restrictions. However if there are problems our first move will probably be to limit it to those with 10 or more posts (as with the chatroom).

The following notes may help you make best use of this section:

This is part of the "Support Area" section so threads should be appropriate for this section. This includes health, coming out and any other support related discussions.


Because anonymous posts appear to be by a different user you will NOT be able to edit or delete them after posting. So please take extra care to get it right by using the preview feature before finally posting.


Because you are not posting as yourself there is no indication of your age, gender, orientation or anything else. Your signature is not shown and there is no link to your homepage. So you will probably need to give a bit more background information than you would if posting normally.


If you have posted previously in the thread you may wish to include the previous post number in a new post, or you may wish to "sign" your posts with something like "Anon #1".

[Paul_UK]

The following rules and conditions apply to this section, in addition to the normal EC Code of Conduct (http://emptyclosets.com/index.php/conduct/):

ADMINS AND MODS CAN FIND OUT WHO ACTUALLY MADE ANONYMOUS POSTS. We obviously won't do so unless there is a problem, but we will take action if your post is inappropriate, in exactly the same way as if your name was shown. Indeed due to the nature of this section we may choose to act more strongly.


DO NOT hide behind being anonymous to make comments about people that you would not make if your name was shown. NO INSULTS AND NO PERSONAL ATTACKS.


DO NOT try to identify who anonymous posters are. Even if you think you know from the posting style, do not post names or guesses. Also do not post speculation in the chatroom.


DO NOT question why people are or are not posting anonymously. It is their personal decision and should be respected as such.


Please stick to sensible discussions, and stick to the subject of the thread as started by the original poster. Off-topic or irrelevant comments are not welcomed.

Everyone, please read these rules again.

If someone does post something inappropriate, please do not respond to them as that often makes things worse. Instead please click the Post Report icon http://emptyclosets.com/forum/images/buttons/report.gif to notify us then one of the mods will tidy it up. That way we have less posts to edit or delete and less people to PM, which makes things a lot easier for us and avoids disrupting the thread so much.

Thanks. :thumbsup:

[Paul_UK]

Note that if you untick the "Make Post Anonymously" box (so you are posting as yourself) and then click "Preview Post", the "Make Post Anonymously" box becomes ticked again.

So you need to check "Make Post Anonymously" just before you click "Submit Reply" if you have been using the preview and wanted to post without being anonymous.

[Paul_UK]

Yet again I am reminding everyone of the rules of this section. We have had a number of insults, attacks and bad language in this section recently - most of it posted anonymously.

I feared this might happen when we introduced this section, and it is. If things to not improve it is likely that the section will have to be removed.

[Paul_UK]

Please remember that this section is part of the support area. It should therefore be used for support type threads (including health issues). It should not be used for the sort of threads that would normally belong in Chit Chat or Fun and Games.

Thanks!

[Paul_UK]

A reminder: If you are starting a thread anonymously then remember that we know NOTHING about you other than what you say in the post. None of the info that is under your name normally is available to us. So you may need to include more information than if you were posting normally.

For health related threads for example your age and gender would be very useful. This info could be useful in other threads too, together with info such as whether or not you're out to the people you're talking about, previous incidents that may be relevant, what country you're in etc.

Think about what info someone replying may need to know about you, and include as much as you can (obviously without identifying yourself).

It all helps us to help you! :thumbsup:

[Paul_UK]

Please remember that this section is part of the support area. It should therefore be used for support type threads (including health issues). It should not be used for the sort of threads that would normally belong in Chit Chat or Fun and Games.

Thanks!

Nor should it be used for threads that would go in EC Help and Feedback or any other section. We seem to have had more non-support than support threads in here recently.

[Martin]

Any members found to be using the anonymous feature to talk about other members will now be spoken to directly.

There was an incident recently that involved the anonymous feature being used to talk about another member in a negative way. This member obviously never appreciated this and reacted. So far we have allowed people to be anonymous for any issues they do not want to talk about openly. However, using the anonymous feature to bitch about members is not acceptable and any member found doing this will be spoken to privately by a member of staff.

We do not like matching members to anonymous posts, but we will do so if you are using it in an unacceptable way. If you have a problem with a member then you either speak to them or to the staff.

That is all. :)

[Paul_UK]

Please remember that this section is part of the support area. It should therefore be used for support type threads (including health issues). It should not be used for the sort of threads that would normally belong in Chit Chat or Fun and Games.

Thanks!

Nor should it be used for threads that would go in EC Help and Feedback or any other section. We seem to have had more non-support than support threads in here recently.

BUMP!!!

We have had a few threads recently that are out of place here, have no reason to be anonymous and would do better elsewhere.