Our Community Guidelines
The Group Hug Community exists as a platform for discussions to take place and flow. However, any posts which are obscene or contain a personal attack on someone or break the law, will be removed.
Bear in mind that going through ‘life’ stuff can cause individuals anxiety and stress and sometimes someone could have an opinion they wouldn’t have if they were functioning in a normal way, in normal circumstances.
There are posts in our site highlighting how our members have acted irrationally when they have been under extreme pressure.
That said, it is better to speak about your issues here in the forum anonymously, than to give the details of, for example your divorce, on social media where you are easily recognised. We want to keep our moderator’s intervention to a minimum and The Group Hug Community is not pre-moderated. We will use our discretion to delete posts or ban posters when we feel that is necessary.
Feel free to change your posting name, but bear in mind that we do not allow changes for malicious or misleading purposes.
To keep everyone safe and happy; don’t make personal attacks or write posts which break the law. We do not allow trolling, misleading or deliberately inflammatory behaviour, no troll-hunting and definitely no spamming! If you think there are any posts which break these rules, please do report them to us. We rely on our forum members to report any issues they may be having.
Be courteous to other members, as a nice comment really could make someone’s day. Being rude or offensive when someone is already feeling low, really isn’t what our forum is about. Everyone could always do with some moral support with an issue they may be dealing with. As moderators of the Forum, we often have to make tricky decisions on whether a reported post is offensive etc, so please, if we delete one of your posts, don’t take offence and respect our decision.
Please don’t take it personally. It’s so easy to say something in writing which can be taken the wrong way. Without ‘tone of voice’ it often happens. We have all sent an email or text which has been taken in the wrong context and this happens in the forum too.
We’ll delete posts which we deem to contain personal attacks or which break the law or are obscene, racist, sexist, ageist, homophobic, transphobic or disablist.
If you see any posts containing any of the above, please bring them to our attention.
With regards to swearing, we are all adults and we will not delete swear words, but we will delete words which are obscene, racist, sexist, ageist, homophobic, transphobic or disablist.
If your thread is deleted, don’t start a new one on the same topic repeating what you said before. It will be deleted again and could mean that you are banned from the forum.
If you wish to post useful links to other sites and/or blogs, that’s fine with us, but we will delete spamming or promotion of your own business, surveys, services etc. We have The Hug Directory and members pay to be featured in that. It would be unfair for others to freely promote their business in the forum. If you wish to promote your services, then email [email protected] for further information.
Spamming is super annoying. We started The Hug Directory so that services are all neatly in one place, allowing discussions to take place without people constantly advertising. People who repeatedly spam will simply be banned.
If you wish to advertise then contact us [email protected] – we have a number of different opportunities.
Fundraising for charities is not allowed – do this on your own social media platforms. We cannot vouch for the authenticity of those who are fundraising.
If you start a thread, you have 3 minutes to delete it. After this time has elapsed, it will only be deleted in exceptional circumstances and you will have to get in touch with us to discuss. The reason for this is because it is really annoying if members of the forum take the time to reply to a thread.
If you suspect someone is a troll or trying to upset people in the forum, please let us know and we will deal with it. Do not take in upon yourself to hunt them down and expose them etc.
Instead, please report your concerns to us and we’ll check them out.
If you see anyone disclosing abuse, please report it to the relevant authority and seek professional advice and support. Relevant organisations are here.
Our Privacy Policy states that we do not pass on any information you have registered with us unless you specifically consent us to do so or if we are specifically required to do so by law. Where there is a clear need to safeguard the welfare of someone using The Group Hug or his or her family or friends, it may be that we feel it is necessary to contact the relevant authority with that person’s personal information which makes them identifiable and to give information on their posts on The Group Hug.
If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]
