BoneSmart
Administrative Staff
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2013
- Messages
- 219
- Country
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United States
We make every effort to keep BoneSmart a pleasant, positive environment so all members are comfortable within our community. Some "do's and don'ts" for posting are included in our forum rules, but a little more detail is provided here.
Read and abide by the forum rules
BoneSmart has specific rules for membership and posting on the forum published under the Help & Information tab at the top of every page (Forum rules and warning protocol). These are the rules you agreed to when you registered on BoneSmart. We employ a point system to warn members who stray outside these guidelines to offer an opportunity to become familiar with how BoneSmart operates.
When you post...
Members posting for the first time should start a thread in the forum that best suits their situation to introduce themselves to the community. New BoneSmarties sometimes put their opening comments into an established thread and ask a question about their own case. This is actually contrary to our forum rules. The post and any replies to it will be moved into a new thread dedicated to the questioner's own situation. Just as when you are entering a room with a group of people you don't know and want to join a conversation, the polite thing to do is introduce yourself, tell a little about yourself and then ask your question or make comments.
DON'T SHOUT, use abbreviations, jargon, slang, or "texting language."
POSTING IN ALL CAPITALS (commonly referred to as "online shouting," is tiring to read and not allowed on BoneSmart. BoneSmart is an international forum, read by many people for whom English is not their first language. So keep comments in plain language that is simple and straightforward. Try to avoid abbreviations unless it's something like our standard joint terms such as TKR, PKR, BTKR, THR, BTHR. If you must use an abbreviation, spell out the words the first time you use it and follow with abbreviation. Text-speak such as u for "you," w for "with," r for "are," etc. are not acceptable.
In the Surgical forums there are some additional guidelines you need to be aware of:
In the Pre-Op forums, members are permitted to start multiple threads if they like, each with different topics or questions. It is fine to keep all your questions and comments about your situation in one post, but it's also okay if you prefer not to. In Pre-Op forums members may start any number of threads to solicit information or to discuss their own condition. Purely social chat ("What did you think of last night's television?") is not allowed. BoneSmart is not a social forum such as Facebook and Twitter. Such posts may be deleted if they are excessive.
On the Recovery side, we require each member to only have one recovery thread per forum for each surgery. The thread should have a prefix that identifies what surgery was done. Everything to do with recovery - achievements, concerns, problems, questions - is posted in your recovery thread so it forms a journal of your joint journey. We do this so our staff doesn't have to go searching through multiple recovery threads when advice is needed or you have a concern and it also makes it easier for other BoneSmarties who come along later to follow your story. We encourage members to post supportive comments and they can even talk about similar experiences they have had. But keep in mind that posts need to focus on the Opening Poster's surgery and not dwell too heavily on the status updates or comments about your experience. Each recovery thread is about the original author and not about you.
NOTE: If you have multiple surgeries (such as one knee replacement followed by another a few months later), you may feel it's easier to have two separate recovery threads and that is just fine. And if you have surgery on different joints (say a knee and a shoulder), you obviously will have more than one recovery thread on BoneSmart.
Learning how to use the forum
We have a comprehensive set of tutorials available under the Help & Information tab so you can learn about the features that will make your BoneSmart experience easier and more enjoyable. There is a categorized Guide To Tutorials that can help you find exactly the tutorial you need. Or just click on the Help & Information tab "How To Use This Forum" link and view the entire tutorial list.
Some final thoughts about being an outstanding poster on BoneSmart:
If you have a question about using the forum that you don't see addressed anywhere, you can either post a question in the "Bugs, Errors and Techy Questions" forum or you may send a Private Message (PM) to any member of staff (PMs can only be sent after you have 5 posts).
You can find the list of staff here The staff of the forum.
We're glad you've joined our BoneSmart family and look forward to providing the help and support you need with your arthritic joints. All our staff and a majority of our members have joints replaced and have been right where you are. We understand.
Read and abide by the forum rules
BoneSmart has specific rules for membership and posting on the forum published under the Help & Information tab at the top of every page (Forum rules and warning protocol). These are the rules you agreed to when you registered on BoneSmart. We employ a point system to warn members who stray outside these guidelines to offer an opportunity to become familiar with how BoneSmart operates.
When you post...
- Keep it simple
- Be nice to everyone
- Use proper English, not txt spk pls
- No swearing or bad language get-arounds like "I hate this ******* place"
- No personal remarks or abuse of other posters or staff
Members posting for the first time should start a thread in the forum that best suits their situation to introduce themselves to the community. New BoneSmarties sometimes put their opening comments into an established thread and ask a question about their own case. This is actually contrary to our forum rules. The post and any replies to it will be moved into a new thread dedicated to the questioner's own situation. Just as when you are entering a room with a group of people you don't know and want to join a conversation, the polite thing to do is introduce yourself, tell a little about yourself and then ask your question or make comments.
Avoid derailing another member's thread.
Every thread (even in the Social and Games Rooms) have a topic that is reflected in the thread title. When someone starts a new topic, it is"'their" thread. Replies should be in some way pertinent to the original post and should not drift off-topic. A few off-topic posts are fine, but more than a few jokes, playful bantering, discussions of non-medical subjects, etc. can result in those posts being removed from the thread.
POSTING IN ALL CAPITALS (commonly referred to as "online shouting," is tiring to read and not allowed on BoneSmart. BoneSmart is an international forum, read by many people for whom English is not their first language. So keep comments in plain language that is simple and straightforward. Try to avoid abbreviations unless it's something like our standard joint terms such as TKR, PKR, BTKR, THR, BTHR. If you must use an abbreviation, spell out the words the first time you use it and follow with abbreviation. Text-speak such as u for "you," w for "with," r for "are," etc. are not acceptable.
In the Surgical forums there are some additional guidelines you need to be aware of:
In the Pre-Op forums, members are permitted to start multiple threads if they like, each with different topics or questions. It is fine to keep all your questions and comments about your situation in one post, but it's also okay if you prefer not to. In Pre-Op forums members may start any number of threads to solicit information or to discuss their own condition. Purely social chat ("What did you think of last night's television?") is not allowed. BoneSmart is not a social forum such as Facebook and Twitter. Such posts may be deleted if they are excessive.
On the Recovery side, we require each member to only have one recovery thread per forum for each surgery. The thread should have a prefix that identifies what surgery was done. Everything to do with recovery - achievements, concerns, problems, questions - is posted in your recovery thread so it forms a journal of your joint journey. We do this so our staff doesn't have to go searching through multiple recovery threads when advice is needed or you have a concern and it also makes it easier for other BoneSmarties who come along later to follow your story. We encourage members to post supportive comments and they can even talk about similar experiences they have had. But keep in mind that posts need to focus on the Opening Poster's surgery and not dwell too heavily on the status updates or comments about your experience. Each recovery thread is about the original author and not about you.
NOTE: If you have multiple surgeries (such as one knee replacement followed by another a few months later), you may feel it's easier to have two separate recovery threads and that is just fine. And if you have surgery on different joints (say a knee and a shoulder), you obviously will have more than one recovery thread on BoneSmart.
We have a comprehensive set of tutorials available under the Help & Information tab so you can learn about the features that will make your BoneSmart experience easier and more enjoyable. There is a categorized Guide To Tutorials that can help you find exactly the tutorial you need. Or just click on the Help & Information tab "How To Use This Forum" link and view the entire tutorial list.
Some final thoughts about being an outstanding poster on BoneSmart:
- Use of multiple tags or alerts in posts . Save tags for those times that it's really important to notify a member (especially a member of staff) that you have posted something you need that person to look at quickly.
- Try not to use the "quote this message" unnecessarily. You don't need to use it for every reply. Just scoot on down to the bottom of the page where it says "write your reply" and get typing.
- Don't automatically make a person's name a tag (adding an @ before their username) when you're just mentioning them in the course of conversation. Tag someone ONLY if you really need them.
If you have a question about using the forum that you don't see addressed anywhere, you can either post a question in the "Bugs, Errors and Techy Questions" forum or you may send a Private Message (PM) to any member of staff (PMs can only be sent after you have 5 posts).
You can find the list of staff here The staff of the forum.
We're glad you've joined our BoneSmart family and look forward to providing the help and support you need with your arthritic joints. All our staff and a majority of our members have joints replaced and have been right where you are. We understand.
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