Message from MedHelp...again!

Hi,

We truly appreciate all of the comments and suggestions you have given to us and want you to know that our intention is to offer you a place to share information, support and yes, even jokes!  One thing that we are not sure is clearly understood is the difference between the Hepatitis Social Community and the Hep C Community.

Here is the story....

Originally we had only one Hepatitis Community to cover all Hepatitis issues.  As you have all witnessed, the communities grew rapidly and due to over-crowding, we needed to spin-off Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.   Hepatitis C became hugely popular.  Many members were there for just Hepatitis information, such as the latest research and treatment options.  Many other members wanted to chat about everything from who should win American Idol to exchanging healthy recipes.  In an effort to meet both needs, we spun-off the Hepatitis Social Community from the Hep C Community.  The Social Community is a place to discuss anything you like  - with two exceptions:  (1)  Religion  and  (2) Politics.   The Hep C Community is a place to discuss only issues that pertain to Hep C, such as treatments, research, support and information for newly diagnosed.  As always, our standard Rules apply to all of our forums.

Again, thank you all for your patience and for the great suggestions!

Cindy Thompson
MedHelp

[can-do-man]

I can understand the Religion and Politics, but could you please tell us why Andiamo1 thread was pulled thursday? Unless i missed it i saw neither in that thread.

[comeagain]

Neither did I !!

And there has been a lot of comments, threads deleted before that had nothing to do with politics or religion please explain how come.

[Cindy]

The Andiamo thread is back and it was removed in error.  We are sorry for the error and really appreciate your bringing this to our attention!

Keep those suggestions coming!  

Cindy

[Rockerforlife]

If we cant dicuss politics or religion,is it ok i express my views on different alien life forms from other galaxies    :]   smile?

[Cindy]

  Aliens are fine as long as you don't discuss their religion or politics!   :)

[Rockerforlife]

Im gald i asked,because the newest crop circles are in the shape Celtic cruxifixes in the UK.I find this fasinating even tho its not believed by the main stream public.

heres a few  of the latest circles of 2009 minus the crosses of course,if this is boring ,ill be a monkeys err..  aliens uncle



http://www.colinandrews.net/Crop-Circles-2009.html

[eureka254]

Cindy:
Thank you for all your efforts and this miracle called MedHelp.  With the volume of posting it certainly was a helpful spin-off to create the separate forums, but I feel the need to point out the descriptions currently under the forums:

Hepatitis C Community says:
"This forum is for questions about medical issues and research aspects of Hepatitis C such as, questions about being newly diagnosed, questions about current treatments, information and participation in discussions about research studies and clinical trials related to Hepatitis."

Hepatitis Social Community says:
"This forum is for questions about medical issues and research aspects of Hepatitis such as, questions about being newly diagnosed, questions about current treatments, information and participation in discussions about research studies and clinical trials related to Hepatitis."

Perhaps it would help people understand the differences better if the summaries of the two communities were different and clearly outlined your intentions, expectations, and guidelines for each.  With all due respect, the forum rules don't expressly prohibit the discussion of religion or politics, so if that is a MH forum policy, perhaps it should be made clear more than on this thread alone.  Personally not fond of discussing either, nonetheless, I'm of the opinion that standards aren't out of line so much as a result of the presence of religion or politics, but the absence of respect and courtesy.  After all, the success of any community is inclusion, not exclusion; its humanity is not the result of what the people talk about, but how they communicate with each other.  I've been proud to have been a member of this community and hope to continue doing so. ~eureka

[DragonSlayer45]

I have been around long enough to have seen some of the nasty fights and other non-sense that would occasionally crop up (some rather amusing to watch unfold). Some due to the topics you posted about and some just because some folks were just ornery! I agree completely and think that  medhelp is a wonderful website! I also like the the fact that you separated out the social from the community. Keep up the excellent job and service you provide. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

[GreatBird]

Thank you for fixing the description of this forum at the top.

[Cindy]

It was our pleasure!

Cindy

[Marcia2202]

I hadn't seen that! That looks great!

[Cindy]

Thanks Marcia!!  Let us know if you see any "typo's"!  :)

Cindy

[Marcia2202]

LOL... I guess you have caught on to my 'typophobia'...

I think I should leave that to all of you who have English as a first language...

[eureka254]

Thank you for your responsiveness and the new summary of the Social forum!  I think it'll be helpful for newcomers, especially those who don't necessarily want to discuss the 'medical/science' side of this disease.  And, it'll be helpful for old-timers and remind us all the frame of reference here:  'social' and 'community' being the larger part of this forum.

I truly appreciate your presence here -- it reinforces the reality of community and caring rather than the impression of arbitrary and unfeeling censorship.  My hope is that threads will need to be removed less often (perhaps, when necessary, just omitting offensive comments rather than removing entire posts) and individuals won't need to be banned as much. (Though I have to wonder with the new description -- there have been some great posts in the past supporting political activism -- i.e. letters to your Congress rep about National Hepatitis Day -- will these individuals risk being banned?)  Most respectfully, ~eureka