PLEASE READ: Community Standards & Guidelines

[MosaicMinds]

"Self-help" Community
Mosaic Minds Community Forums are not staffed with mental health or medical professionals. We are a "self-help" community . Therefore any suggestions or advice given by any participant, regardless of their professional credentials, is not to be construed as professional advice, nor as a substitute for appropriate 3D professional care. Mosaic Minds takes no responsibility for the content and opinions expressed on this site by the individuals in the community.

For the purposes of these Community Standards, "community member" consists of participants in the community forums and any volunteer serving in any capacity as administrator, committee member, or director.

Crisis Situations
Neither Mosaic Minds nor any community members are equipped to handle crisis situations which may involve immediate danger or injury. Computer support groups cannot replace live, 3D intervention and assistance. Community members who find themselves in these situations are encouraged to get appropriate 3D help.

The posting of suicide notes or any other indication of the intent to attempt suicide or self-injure is prohibited, as is the posting of descriptions of self-harm activities. Discussion of the urges and feelings are appropriate, but making a clear statement of current safety (as in "these are feelings only and will not be acted upon") is a MUST when doing so. In any case, descriptions or "plans" are prohibited. Furthermore, any posts that appear to lay blame on or demand action by Mosaic Minds or any community member (as in "help me, talk to me, or I will...") are also prohibited.

Responsibility for what you write
You are collectively responsible for what you as a system write, and how you as a system interact in the community. Friendships, trust, etc. are the benefits of positive interactions between your system and others. The community does understand that many of us have some of the dark and angry parts; many of these parts have been able to grow beyond this with positive interactions. However, your system is responsible to see to it that these parts also conform with our Community Standards.

Responsibility for what you read/how you interact
You are collectively responsible for what you read and who you interact with in the community as well. Postings in the community are rated to help you keep you and yourselves safe, giving you an opportunity to avoid things that might upset you unnecessarily. Please ensure that you are in a safe place emotionally and mentally before you read any posts.

Titles on posts
As an additional measure to keep the community forums as safe as reasonably possible, we don't allow potentially triggering or upsetting words in the title/subject line of our posts; things to avoid in the subject line include profanity, religious references, and terms indicating details of abuse (such as the word "r*pe").

"Spoiling"
In posts that are likely to be triggering, we ask you to put a brief description of what type of triggering material is contained in the remainder of the post, then use the spoiler function to present the material. In the linear format, this gives everyone a chance to avoid the material if the topic is something that is too hard for them to read right then.

We do not require you to spoil individual words in your posts. Some words are "auto spoiled" by our posting scripts, which replaces the vowels in the word with an asterisk. This keeps us out of the search engines specifically looking for those terms.

Graphic Descriptions of Abuse
Graphic descriptions of past abuse events are permitted only on Hard Hat Zone or on Creativity Corner forums. A graphic description is one which includes enough detail that it creates a word picture, reasonably allowing the reader to "see" and personally relate to what is being described.

Communication on the internet
Communication on the internet opens a whole new world to all of us; making friends in far away places becomes commonplace. Yet there are some things unique to online communications. For example, we only have the written word to communicate online. Subtle cues like tone of voice and body language are absent; therefore, choosing your words carefully when posting is highly recommended. After you have written a post, you may want to read through it, seeing it as someone else might. Likewise, when you read a post and find it personally upsetting, you may want to have another read, or ask the poster to clarify what they meant.

Differences and Disagreements
In a community as diverse as ours, we may find ourselves strongly disagreeing with or perhaps even disliking another community member. If you find this happening to you, you have a couple of options. You can choose to ignore a post with which you have strong negative feelings, and perhaps all other posts by that member. You can use the "Ignore List" feature found in your User CP which will cause all posts made by that community member to be invisible to you. You can also express your own opinions. However, your differences need to be expressed with respect for the other person. Avoid name calling and ad hominem attacks. Ad hom·i·nem (hòm¹e-nèm´, -nem) attacks are marked by an attack on an opponents character rather than by an answer to his or her contentions. The expression of hostility and ill-will towards members of this community will not be tolerated.

Posting Anonymously
Mosaic Minds prohibits anonymous posting because this is contrary to MM's policy which encourages system responsibility and accountability. When you post, the Mosaic Minds software automatically fills in the Username you selected at the time of registration. The use of a nickname by an individual allows other community members a chance to become familiar with that person, which in turn increases the possibility of trust and friendships developing. Consistent use of nicknames also increases the sense of general overall community safety and fellowship.

Safety on the internet
Safety on the internet mandates that we take exceptional care with private details of people's lives in 3D. We don't allow posting of phone numbers, addresses, or other important private information. Also, avoid posting about the details of others' issues and problems without their permission.

Personal boundaries
In any community, the setting and enforcing of personal boundaries is likely to be an issue from time to time. Add to that the fact that the majority of the participants in a survivor community were taught that taking care of themselves was selfish and contrary to what they "should" do. While this is something that each of us has to learn for ourselves, as a community we have set standards that will tend to promote the respect of others' personal boundaries and their legitimate right to choose how they will participate in this community. Posting to a specific community member to ask for help through a crisis or to listen to a recount of specific memories of abuse goes contrary to the ethos and "self-help" nature of Mosaic Minds. Addressing particularly needy posts in this manner tends to put the named individual under unreasonable pressure to read and respond to what is likely to be an emotionally laden post.

Under such pressure it can be difficult for community members to exercise genuine free choice and to give appropriate attention to their own needs for safety and emotional stability. Therefore, we ask that when posting such intense messages please use a generic heading in the subject field. Posting in this manner invites responses from any community member and therefore promotes choice for everyone. It is an acknowledgement that no individual member of a survivor community can be expected to be both available and in a good enough space emotionally anytime you are in need of support. Further, not addressing posts to a specific community member improves your chances of receiving diverse feedback from any number of people who may have been through what you are dealing with and can share how they handled it. The variety increases your chances that you will learn techniques appropriate to your own individual needs and preferences.

If you are not persuaded by the advantages of generic posting and still wish to seek a response to intense issues from a specific individual, it becomes a private matter. As such, it is not an appropriate use of a public forum and should be taken to a more private medium off-site. However, we would point out that the same sensitivity and respect for others applies. Recipients of such emotional private communications needn't feel under any obligation to respond if they do not choose to do so.

One on One "Chatty Threads"
In consideration of other community members, Mosaic Minds discourages the frequent use of the forums for conversational, one-on-one support or games-playing threads involving only two people who have already established a relationship outside of the forums. Please be aware of the nature and length of your one-to-one communications, and whenever possible conduct these conversational types of threads in a more private way, e.g. private messaging which is available on this site. It will generally not be a problem if community members occasionally become involved in long one-to-one threads when getting to know each other, supporting someone you don't know well who needs occasional help with grounding, or playing games/having fun with a group on the Amusement Park forum.

Solicitations and Advertisements
Solicitations and advertising for businesses are not allowed on our Community Forums; this includes the latest "get rich quick" schemes.

Post removal
Posts which violate our Community Standards will be removed from the site by the volunteer administrators. If you read a post which you believe violates Community Standards, please report it to the administrators by clicking on the Report option found in the bottom right side of the post box. Some of the other reasons a post may be removed include, but are not limited to:

• The use of obscene, racist or sexually explicit language
• Posts not in English
• Posts that suggest or encourage illegal activity
• Posts whose content is inappropriate for the forum on which it is posted
• Posts that defame, insult or attack (implicitly or explicitly) community members.
• Posts that can be construed as harassing, stalking or otherwise threatening community members
• Additionally, Mosaic Minds reserves the right to remove any posting, although it is under no obligation to do so.