Terms of use for our discussion forum

By signing up to be a part of this Forum community, you agree to respect and follow these Terms of Use (including any amended versions of the Terms of Use as amended by Pancreatic Cancer UK).

If you do not comply with these Terms of Use, Pancreatic Cancer UK (or “we”) reserve the right to close your account immediately and thereby withdraw your access to posting on the Forum. Of course, we hope that will not be necessary.

Please note that the information contained in the Forum is shared by users in a supportive manner only, and that anyone using the Pancreatic Cancer UK Forum does so at their own risk.

The information posted or contained in the Forum is not intended to constitute medical or other professional advice and it should not be used to replace or supplement advice given by health or other relevant professionals. Pancreatic Cancer UK cannot be held responsible for the contents of any material posted on the Forum, and you are strongly advised to consult a doctor or other health professional(s) if you have any concerns or queries.

By using the Forum you understand and accept that you may be exposed to inappropriate and/or inaccurate material, and agree that you will not seek to hold Pancreatic Cancer UK liable for any loss, harm or damage you suffer as a result of your use of the Forum. You agree that you will not bring any legal or other claim of whatsoever nature against us arising out of or in relation to your or a third party’s use of the Forum.

By using the Forum you also recognise and agree that the messages posted do not necessarily reflect the views of Pancreatic Cancer UK or any other person or entity associated with us, and we do not accept any responsibility for the contents of the posts and are not responsible for the accuracy, completeness or validity of any information posted in them.

The Forum is public.

Please therefore remember that anyone can view the Forum without registering, and your posts may appear in internet searches and could be seen by anyone browsing the World Wide Web.

All messages are indexed by search engines such as Google. This ensures that the site continues to attract new users and the Forum remains fresh, but please bear this in mind before you give any details about your diagnosis and treatment, or mention anything which could be used to identify you.

To post messages on the Pancreatic Cancer UK Forum you must be over 18 and registered as a member. By registering with us you agree to abide by these Terms of Use.

To register on the Forum you will need to choose a unique Display Name and must provide one unique and valid email address to us.

For your own safety you are not permitted to use your real full name or your email address as your Display Name. Users are only allowed one Display Name and must provide us with a current live email address.

Pancreatic Cancer UK may delete all accounts held by individual users found to have more than one account or an invalid email address. Pancreatic Cancer UK, at its own discretion, may close an existing Forum account from any specific email service or internet service provider.

When posting on the Forum you must make your points politely, respectfully and lawfully.

Many people using the Forum are going through difficult times. A few kind words can go a long way. We encourage you to welcome new posters – it can be very nerve-wracking to write on a forum for the first time.

Give each other the benefit of the doubt: it can be easy to misinterpret other people’s comments, especially when read or written in haste.

A wide range of people with different experiences may use the Forum. Differences, debate and an exchange of ideas are welcome, but this Forum is no place for personal attacks and these will not be tolerated. You must be respectful of other people’s opinions, be prepared for people to disagree with you, and try not to take it as a personal attack if they do.

We will not tolerate content that discriminates against anyone because of their sex, sexual orientation, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or philosophical belief, disability, gender identity/reassignment, marital status, family circumstance or age, or that treats anyone unfairly.

As a user of the forums you are not permitted to post any material, or links to any material, which is knowingly false, defamatory, libellous, inaccurate, abusive, extremist, hateful, harassing, pornographic, obscene, profane, sexually orientated, offensive, racist, homophobic, ageist, threatening, invasive of a person’s privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law.

You are not permitted to swear or use terms that people could find offensive.
Any content that violates these Terms will be removed.

You are not permitted to post your contact details (or links to any personal websites) on the Forum. If it comes to our attention that any users have posted this information we will remove the details from the Forum.

You are not permitted to pretend to be someone else when posting on the Forum, and nor may you share or post anyone else’s personal information or contact details of any kind.

Unfortunately some people may use the forums to provoke a reaction. As such, from time to time you may come across unconstructive or unsupportive comments. If you come across any such posts please report them to us (details of how to report any posts to us are set out below), and then do your best to ignore it.

All sorts of personalities use message boards. If you start to feel uncomfortable or upset for any reason at all, remember you can always report any posts to us and/ or just turn off the computer and walk away.

We hope you will find support and friendship on the Forum, and we recognise you may want to continue these friendships offline by exchanging details and meeting up. We don’t allow personal details to be shared on the Forum and can’t facilitate their exchange, however you may well recognise somebody from the Forum elsewhere – in a Facebook group, or local meeting, for example – and wish to share your details in this setting. In this case, we recommend you think carefully about the information you share, and if you do decide to meet up in person we encourage you to consider what steps you can take to stay safe (for example, meeting in a public place, letting others know the details of your meeting, or taking somebody with you).

You are not permitted to disclose the identity of any other users of the Forum, or of any healthcare or other professionals, by their name or by posting any information which might reasonably enable other users to identify them. Any references to other Forum users must be to their Display Names only.

Any ‘naming and shaming’ of individuals or organisations, or the posting of any other potentially defamatory content, will not be tolerated. Publishing statements which damage or could damage others’ reputations could leave both the Forum user who posted the statement(s), and Pancreatic Cancer UK, vulnerable to legal action under libel law.

Any such posts will be removed and we reserve the right to remove them without notifying you.

You are only permitted to post your own content on the Forum and you cannot use the Forum to post any copyright material or other intellectual property without the express permission of the copyright or intellectual property holder – this includes any poems, stories, photos, reports or any other form of content that has not been created by you.

As a Forum user you agree to indemnify Pancreatic Cancer UK for all losses it suffers as a result of you posting any copyright or other intellectual property that does not belong to you.

Sharing experiences is what lies at the heart of the Forum.

However, Pancreatic Cancer UK does not censor or edit posts before they ‘go live’. Whilst we encourage people to share their views on the Forum, not everything people post will be accurate and we do not and cannot verify the veracity of the content of posts.

The giving of medical advice is not permitted. You are not permitted to post on the Forum any specific health or medical information other than that of which you have personal experience, and only then provided you post authorities for that information in the same post. We reserve the right to remove any such content without notifying you.

You are not permitted to advertise your or a third party’s services or use the Forum to try to sell any items of any kind to other Forum users. Such posts may be removed and your account may be closed. Advertisements, endorsements of particular products or treatments, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are inappropriate and are also not permitted.

Pancreatic Cancer UK cannot be held responsible for the contents of any material posted on the Forum. You agree that you are solely responsible for the content of your messages and that you will indemnify and hold harmless Pancreatic Cancer UK with respect to any claim arising as a result of your posts.

You accept and understand that you may be exposed to inappropriate and/or inaccurate material and will not seek to hold Pancreatic Cancer UK liable for any consequence or result occurring pursuant to use of the Forum, nor will you bring any legal or other claim of whatsoever nature arising out of in relation to your or a third party’s use of the Forum.

Users may edit their posts at any time subject to these Terms of Use.

It is sometimes very difficult to prove the efficacy of an alternative therapy.
Please keep in mind that the majority of alternative therapies are not approved by the medical authorities (i.e. they are not officially registered drugs or treatments).

As such, whilst you can be honest about your experience of any alternative therapies, do not exaggerate the benefit of any such therapies. If you believe you have reliable references, then you are permitted to provide links to these sources of information for others to access.

Pancreatic Cancer UK does not officially endorse any alternative therapies, and any content in relation to these on the Forum is not to be taken to represent Pancreatic Cancer UK’s view on the therapies or to be seen as an endorsement of them.

Pancreatic Cancer UK does not generally link to any third party sites other than recognised registered charities or relevant partners, and we do not endorse any other websites.

Where any post contains links to other websites or information, Pancreatic Cancer UK is not responsible for the information contained within those links, or for any consequences of you following them.

We recommend that you always consult a medical professional if you have any queries or concerns.

We do not approve or censor posts before they ‘go live’ and appear on the Forum.

We therefore require Forum users to take responsibility for their own postings, and to report to us any posts that are inappropriate or that violate these Terms of Use.

To report a post, please click the three dots in the top right-hand corner of the post, and select ‘Report’. You will be given the option to add a message. These reports go straight to the Support Team.

Alternatively, you can report something to us by sending an email to discussionboard@pancreaticcancer.org.uk.

If you report a post to us we will endeavour to respond to you within 1-3 working days (though it will likely be sooner). If you report a post, we will usually let you know what action we have taken in relation to it.

When something is reported to us, we will review the relevant post and determine whether we believe it violates these Terms of Use.

If we believe that the post does violate these Terms of Use we may do one or more of the following:

• Remove the post in its entirety
• Edit the post
• Close the relevant thread: for example, if a discussion breaks down into an exchange of “attacks” and/or insults, or we view that it has become too heated, we may close a thread to end the discussion and encourage people to move on
• Place the relevant user(s) in moderation (so all their posts must be approved before going live)
• Withdraw/ban the relevant user or users’ access to posting on the Forum
• Contact you by email to issue a warning or to make suggestions

We will endeavour to try to contact the user who posted the post to explain our reasons for taking any of the actions above.

We reserve the right to, at our own discretion, immediately take any of the action above in relation to any post(s) for any reason whatsoever (whether or not we have been notified of a post by a user) without prior contact with the author of the post.

We welcome your feedback about how you think the Forum is working.

We encourage you to complete our feedback survey. It’s anonymous, although you can choose to share your name if you would like to.

You can also email any feedback to us at discussionboard@pancreaticcancer.org.uk.

Your feedback will help us to ensure that our Discussion Forum is meeting your needs and working in the best way it can.

“Pancreatic Cancer UK” includes its connected companies, trustees, officers, employees and all those employed or otherwise engaged by it and/or them.
Unless expressly otherwise stated no trustee, officer, employee or other person connected with Pancreatic Cancer UK is medically trained or qualified.

Pancreatic Cancer UK reserves the right to suspend a user’s account following any formal complaint or threatened legal action until resolution is achieved, and to edit or delete any messages for any reason, at Pancreatic Cancer UK’s sole discretion. You agree that you are solely responsible for the content of your messages and that you will indemnify and hold harmless Pancreatic Cancer UK with respect to any claim based upon the appearance and/or transmissions of your messages.

In the event of any complaint about inappropriate use or posts or in case of actual or threatened legal action arising from any message posted by you, Pancreatic Cancer UK reserves the right to reveal your identity to appropriate authorities or bodies (including, but not limited to, the police and other legal authorities, government bodies, ISPs, and the Charity Commission) and any other information we may know about you to comply with due process.