Community Guidelines

A Moderator's Guide to Netiquette

WebMD's Community Moderators would like its communities to be the safest and most welcoming place they can be. With this in mind, the Community Moderation staff has come up with some guidelines to consider when using our interactive areas.

We Love Our Members!

Each of our message boards is moderated seven days a week by Community Moderators. We try to remove duplicate postings and violations of the WebMD Health Terms and Conditions from the message boards. We also post relevant content to this Community and send weekly newsletters to members. You can direct questions about the site to the Moderator of a board or to our lovely Customer Service folks by filling out and submitting the Customer Support Form.

That being said, if you use one of our community areas, you -- yes you -- are responsible for your communications, the consequences of posting those communications, and your reliance on any information posted in the interactive areas of WebMD Health. We look into complaints that we receive about postings, and follow up with individual members directly as necessary and if possible.

The Doctor is in

Some boards may feature a Health Expert who answers member postings. S/he offers medical information, but not diagnosis or treatment. Neither Health Experts nor Community Moderators are able to provide medical advice or crisis intervention on the message boards, chat rooms, or through e-mail correspondence. If you should ever feel threatened or believe someone else is in danger, contact your local law enforcement agency immediately. If you think you may have a medical emergency, please call your doctor or 911 immediately.

Know Thyself

Keep your personally identifiable information to yourself! Sharing one's contact information is not recommended by the Community Moderators; would you want your phone number posted to a roadside billboard? We think not. In this day and age, one can never be too careful. If you get to know someone on the message board, invite them into a private chat room to talk.

Be Yourself

Pretending to be someone else is not acceptable, be it another member, a Community Moderator (who is always identified with a "WebMD_Staff" moniker after their nickname), or a representative of a legitimate organization.

We Come in Peace

Remember that your community can only flourish if it is allowed to grow. Welcome new members the way you would like to be welcomed if you were new to the community, and try and keep your conversations as inclusive as possible.

Play Nice

As long as there are message boards, there will be flame wars. A rude comment here, a snide remark there, and suddenly you are public enemy number one. Your reaction? Self-defense and an offensive attack? Maybe a dramatic "I'm never coming here again!" farewell? Whatever your motive, agree to disagree and move on. Your community will be a better place for it.