Your use of this site
Medical information and advice posted or privately messaged by users of the ECHO Forum must never be used in place of the advice of a health professional.
To register with the ECHO Forum, you must provide a unique username. You may only register once. Anyone found to have registered twice will be excluded from using the forum. If you wish to remain anonymous do not use your full name as your username, choose something which protects your anonymity.
Your username should be appropriate. Please do not create a username to make political statements or which may be discriminatory or cause offence on the grounds of an individual’s sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability or working status. We reserve the right to suspend or change usernames which may cause offence, or are abusive, vulgar or obscene.
The ECHO Forum is a closed forum. If you wish to remain anonymous, please choose a username which does not identify you or compromise your anonymity. If you post any personal details on the forum, it will be at your own discretion. You must not post phone numbers or a third party’s personal detail.
We advise the usual caution if you want to meet another forum user. If you do choose to meet another user, you do so at your own risk and should take common sense precautions.
You may report to us about any post or a private message from another ECHO Forum user and this will be investigated (see complaints section below).
The use of private messaging is intended for members to conduct private conversations with friends they have made on the forum or with others who have shared experiences. It is not intended for unsolicited emails, spam, or harassment. Please do not abuse this service.
If you choose to use the private message function, you do so at your own risk and should take common sense precautions. Only accept a friend request if you are happy to be contacted privately
Do not post any material that may compromise or damage individual healthcare providers.
Please check your facts. Inaccurate information is not helpful.
Posting of confidential information on the forum is prohibited. If you think that your message may include confidential information, then do not post it.
Advertisements, self-promotion, direct selling, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and requests for money are prohibited.
You are responsible for the content of any messages that you post on the forum or privately message.
You must be over 18 years of age in order to participate in the ECHO Forum. If you are under this age please do not try to access the forum, anyone found to be using the forum under this age will have their account terminated. If you are under 18 years of age, you can find information and support for children and young people on our website, or by contacting our youth worker.
You must not upload, post, transmit, or make available, any material that contains viruses or any other computer code, programs or files designed to destroy, interrupt, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment.
Please check that you have posted in the right place, under the correct topic heading.
You are responsible for keeping the details of your password and account confidential and are fully responsible for all postings and private messages that come from your password or account
Any information provided by other users is not a substitute for professional care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease. You should always contact your doctor for any medical advice.
Studies and Research
The use of the Site for gathering information for surveys, articles and research studies, or similar, is not allowed. Please contact the ECHO team if you would like to discuss any opportunities.
Respect for others
Postings and private messages must not contain any material that is abusive, vulgar, obscene, hateful, fraudulent, unlawful, threatening or defamatory towards any person or organisation.
Do not post or private message any material which may be discriminatory or cause offence on the grounds of an individual’s sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability or working status. This also applies to images and avatars.
You may not use the ECHO Forum to post or private message any material or links to any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, harassing, obscene, profane, threatening or otherwise in violation of the law.
Please do not attack or disrespect someone for having an opinion that differs from your own; if you disagree with someone, please express yourself respectfully.
Copyright and third party rights
You may add links to internal or external sites within your post or private message but you agree to remain responsible for any links you add. We reserve the right to remove any links on the forum that we consider inappropriate.
Restricting access
Provided you stick to these common-sense rules you may continue to access the ECHO Forum.
We reserve the right to restrict access to the ECHO Forum for any user.
We reserve the right to remove any post without prior contact with the author.
If you are responsible for any breach of these terms and conditions it will not be an excuse to say that you did not read the terms and conditions.
As a last resort we may issue a ban (either temporary or permanent) if it becomes evident that you unwilling to keep to these terms and conditions. This will only occur if we feel it is necessary to protect others or the integrity of the forum.
Your promise to us
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless ECHO from and against.
i) Any claim, liability, cost, damage or loss we may incur (including, without limitation legal costs) as a result of any material you post on our forum or privately message to another ECHO Forum user.
ii) Any violation by you of your obligations under these terms and conditions.
Complaints
If you wish to make a complaint regarding a post or private message (i.e. that you think it is objectionable or in breach these terms and conditions) then please contact us using the ‘report’ button which is on every forum post. You can also contact a volunteer moderator.
If a complaint is made against you as a result of any material you post or private message, we reserve the right to suspend your account and only reinstate it if the complaint is resolved.
We reserve the right to view in its entirety any private conversation which has been reported to a moderator for a breach of the terms and conditions via the report button
Privacy Policy
When you register we collect your username, email address, password (encrypted) and IP address. Your Geo-IP address is logged by us so that we can prevent any spam, fraud or abuse of our Site. ECHO Forum asks you to provide your email address so that we may contact you about administrative issues and changes to the forum.
ECHO will only share your details in exceptional circumstances to comply with our code of professional conduct or where legally required, for example where a child reports abuse, or someone reports serious self-harm or a serious intention of harming someone else.
For more information on how we are protecting your data, you can read ECHO’s privacy policy in full.
General
We reserve the right to change these Terms and Conditions at any time. If you are uncertain about anything in these Terms and Conditions, please contact us directly by phone or email. This website is intended for people based within the United Kingdom. We cannot guarantee that the site or the contents of the site complies with the requirements of, or is appropriate for use in, other countries. We will try to ensure ECHO Forum’s availability, but shall not be liable if for any reason it is unavailable for any period.
Disclaimer
Opinions posted or private messaged on ECHO Forum are those of the individual and in no way represent the view of ECHO. We reserve the right to delete any message for any reason whatsoever at our sole discretion.
The Forum is not monitored 24 hours a day, if you need to talk to someone urgently the Samaritans offer a 24 hour telephone service. Call them anytime from any phone 116 123
“We offer a safe place for you to talk any time you like, in your own way – about whatever’s getting to you.”
The Forum should not be used in emergency situations. If you or your young person is in crisis please contact your GP to arrange a same day, emergency appointment or immediately attend A&E or call 999 out of GP hours.