Forum Guidelines

This may be your first visit to an online support forum or message board, or maybe you belong to several. Either way, this page lays out the ground rules that you will be expected to follow while you are visiting LungLoveLink.

A few things to remember:

Members and Moderators are not healthcare professionals.
Never rely on information or opinions online to replace a personal consultation with qualified health or medical professionals. This forum is not for professional medical advice, even if you are a medical professional. Also, remember that what's right or has worked for one person may not be what's right for you. Talk with your physician or personal health professional about the benefits and risks of various options in order to make a fully informed personal choice.

Protect yourself

You are communicating with people who you don’t know. This is a public message board that anyone can join, so what you post may be visible to the world. Even if you delete your content, parts of it may still be visible in search engines. For privacy reasons, you should never use your real name as a user name. Be careful about the information you post in your profile and that you choose to share with others. You should never include information like telephone numbers and street addresses in your profile or posts. We cannot control anything that happens if you give your personal information to someone else.  

Be polite

This is a support forum. Don’t harass other members. Harassing communications may be considered to be any words that may cause distress, embarrassment, unwanted attention or other discomfort. Any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-oriented language, graphics, or materials will not be tolerated.

Respect differences in opinion

Decisions about health and well-being are highly personal, individual choices. We encourage a healthy exchange of opinions about all different aspects of lung cancer. Personal attacks (also known as “flaming”) and insults, however, will not be tolerated. NO one is an expert on what is appropriate for someone else. Both medical and alternative solution opinions should be freely discussed here. Decisions about health and well-being are highly personal, individual choices. If you disagree with a person's post or opinion state your opinion once, then move on without argument. If a discussion becomes too explosive, a moderator may close it or delete it.

No advertisements or solicitations

Please do not use LungLoveLink for any form of marketing or solicitation. This includes promoting a product, service, website, organization, company, person, miracle cure, presenting your resume and/or asking for work. This also includes recruitment for research. Please see the "Resources Section" link to "Social Research" if you are interested in submitting a research study for consideration. If you would like information posted about an event, please do not post it to the Forum. Please post it to the Events section of the site.

If you are contacted by anyone who tries to sell you a product or service, please let us know. This is NOT okay.

Social research

We recognize that social research often contributes to advancing knowledge, quality of life and treatment for lung cancer. As such, LCA is committed to providing a forum for those doing social research to access survivors and caregivers.  Studies submitted will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, however, studies must meet the following criteria:

• The study must be in line with LCA's mission 
• The study must not be registered on ClinicalTrials.gov
• The study must not be product marketing-oriented

Studies that meet the following criteria are preferred and will be highlighted:

• Studies which have passed through an IRB or other similar ethics review and approval will be prioritized.
• Studies funded by public funding, a private non-profit organization, or an academic institution will be prioritized.

Studies should be submitted to lunglovelink@lungcanceralliance.org for approval.  LCA reserves the right to not approve a study for any reason. Any study posted without LCA approval will be removed. 

Financial support or personal donations

We understand that the financial pressures of cancer can be overwhelming, but it is against the rules to ask another member for money, goods, or services. Please visit the “Resources” list for sources of financial assistance.

Medication and drug exchange.

We know that many people have an unused supply of prescription medications associated with treatment. We also understand that some people are in desperate need of these medications.  Federal regulations strictly FORBID sale or any type of exchange of medications online. You may not offer or solicit medication of drugs through LungLoveLink either through the forums or through personal emails with members.

A word about touchy topics

We know that from time to time, the subject of smoking will come up. Many of us have experienced stigma and blame related to lung cancer and smoking. This is incredibly unfortunate and unfair, and something that LCA as an organization is working actively to end.

We understand that there may be a need to discuss experiences with lung cancer-related blame and stigma. If you wish to add your opinion to a discussion concerning this topic, please keep in mind that sometimes if you can’t say something nice, it’s better to not say anything at all. While we are 100% in favor of the free expression of opinion, this is a SUPPORT forum. In conversations regarding this topic, if you cannot provide support to the discussion string, please do not respond at all.

This goes the same for politics and religion. Please respect the fact that many different beliefs are represented on this message board, and no one’s point-of-view is better or worse than anyone else’s is. Unless you are discussing lung cancer policy and who’s elected official is in support of (or against) lung cancer-relevant legislation, this is not the place for political discussions.  Whatever your religious or spiritual persuasion (or not), please respect that spirituality is very important to many people in coping with serious illness.

Let us know if something is wrong

While LCA staff and Forum moderators will make every attempt to monitor posts to LungLoveLink, we might not be able to review all content. We rely on members to self-moderate. If a post seems to violate the Forum Guidelines or Terms of Use, email us at lunglovelink@lungcanceralliance.org . Please do not post defensively or reactively to abusive or problem posts, because often that just adds fuel to the fire.

What happens if someone doesn’t pay attention to the guidelines?

We rely on these guidelines and your attention to them to ensure that this is a safe place for everyone. The first time a rule is broken, we will warn the user. We will also most likely delete the post. If we continue to have problems with a user, we reserve the right to suspend him or her. We will try to do everything we can not to delete anyone’s account but remember, being here is a privilege not a right. If we determine that a user’s rule breaking or other behavior is getting in the way of others enjoyment of LungLoveLink, we also reserve the right to ask that user to leave or to delete their account.  

For staff and volunteers of other non-profit organizations