Hi everyone,

Last week I let you know I was beginning work on creating Community Guidelines for Trusera and asked for your feedback.  Some of you sent me your thoughts and I really appreciate it.

Below is the first draft version of Trusera Community Guidelines.  I really do want your feedback.  Please feel free to comment directly on this entry or email me privately at billy@trusera.com.

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Welcome to the Trusera community, your new online health network.  The purpose of this guide is to help you make the most of your Trusera membership.  Below you'll find a brief overview on getting started in the community and some helpful tips to help you out along the way.

GETTING STARTED

- Introduce yourself.  Fill out your profile so the community can get to know you.  Consider adding a picture to your profile.  This could be a picture of yourself, a pet, or one of your interests.

- Share your experience.  Trusera is an online health network made up of stories from people like you.  We understand that your real-world experiences are meaningful and very valuable.  Consider sharing your health experiences  and helping others who may be going through similar situations.

- Learn from the community.  Maybe someone on Trusera has gone through what you're going through.  Or, maybe they have a loved one or friend who has.  If you're looking for answers, take a look at health stories  written by other members.  You may also want to browse questions  or ask your own.

- Promote good content.  Find a post or member you like?  Give a karma point by clicking the thumbs-up icon.  Find an inspiring story?  Click the heart icon.  How about something useful?  Just click the tools icon.

- Report inappropriate content.  Find an inappropriate post (e.g. advertising, soliciting, harassing, etc.) or member?  Simply click the flag icon and we'll take a look.

- Invite your friends.  Know of any friends or family members who would find Trusera to be beneficial?  Invite them to the website by using the "Invite Friends" link at the top right-hand side of the homepage.

  
HELPFUL TIPS

- Understand privacy settings.  Remember that your username is always public.  If you post, remember that your username is associated with it. Pick a username that will help you feel most comfortable sharing.  For some people this will mean not using a real name, location, or other identifiers.  When posting a story, journal entry, or question you have the ability to determine your privacy settings.  You can make the post Public to share it with all people on the Trusera website, set it to Friends to share it only with your network of friends on Trusera, or make it Private to make it visible only to you.  Setting a post as Private is a good way to save a draft version before submitting it live to everyone or your friends.

- "Read generously and assume good intent."  I like the spirit of this article , specifically, "don't get too bent out of shape from one comment.  Try to look at it from the writer's point of view before responding."

- Avoid flame wars.  There are tons of places on the Internet for warring parties to "go at it."  The Trusera community avoids this, as people are here to learn from one another and gather health-related information.  Please avoid flaming fellow members.

- Respect differences of opinion.  People feel very personally and passionately about health.  Some gravitate to science and evidence-based medicine.  Others are open to naturopathy or non-Western medicine.  We appreciate all points of view and urge our members to do the same.

- Copying and pasting.  When migrating your content from somewhere else to Trusera, avoid copying and pasting directly from another website or software program (e.g. Microsoft Word).  This doesn't preserve the formatting and makes your posts look disjointed.  Instead, copy and paste the content into Notepad, then copy and paste into your story and journal on Trusera, and then format your post in Trusera.

- This is not medical advice.  Don't expect to be diagnosed or prescribed a treatment regimen on Trusera.  This is a place to share health experience, not tell people what to do.  It's totally appropriate to share what's worked for you and any tips and tricks that have helped you get or stay healthy.  For example, instead of saying, "Vitamin D will cure cancer" try, "I believe that Vitamin D helped me cure my cancer.  Here's what I did..."  If appropriate, be specific and cite your sources.  The more evidence you include to support your experience the more useful others will find your experience.

- Not appropriate for medical emergencies.  Please don't use Trusera as a venue to discuss medical emergencies.  If you are in an emergency situation or in crisis dial 911 immediately.