Helpline: 0808 800 0303

Forum terms and conditions

The purpose of the forum is to provide users with a positive space in which they can share experiences and exchange views.

The forum is for debate and discussion. It is not a suitable place to obtain medical advice and users should note that such advice may be inaccurate. No advice given by users on this forum should be taken as actual professional advice unless identified by Parkinson's UK as a qualified expert or professional.

Parkinson's UK cannot be held responsible for advice given by forum users. If you need support or information, contact our free and confidential helpline 0808 800 0303 from Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm and Saturday 10am to 2pm, and speak to one of our skilled nurses or specialist advisers.

If you feel unwell or need advice in an emergency situation, help should be obtained from one of the following sources:

  • Your local GP service - either your surgery or, if closed, the local out-of-hours centre. Some regions also have NHS Walk-in centres.
  • NHS Direct - a nurse-led advice line which can provide medical advice, or call an ambulance if needed – in England and Wales telephone 0845 4647. In Scotland, contact NHS24 at 08454 24 24 24
  • Dialling 999 for an emergency ambulance, or by going to your local Accident and Emergency department

We may update these rules from time to time, so please check back here regularly. When significant changes are made we’ll inform all forum users.

We have established these terms and conditions to help protect users and allow you to get the most out of the forum. In using this discussion forum and our site, you agree to be bound by all forum rules, including the user guidelines and terms and conditions.

The following terms and conditions apply to all content posted in the community including, but not limited to posts, private messages and links.

1 Your registration obligations

1.1 By registering with our forum, you agree:

1.1.1 to provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself when filling out our registration form

1.1.2 to maintain and promptly update your registration data to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. If we have reasonable grounds to suspect that any information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, we have the right to suspend or terminate your registration

1.1.3 to choose a username that is not your correct full name. This is for the protection of our users as all posts on the forum are publicly available on the web and can be found using search engines. Your posts are not deleted if you decide to leave the forum.

1.1.4 to act in accordance with user guidelines and keep all messages tasteful, civil and relevant

1.1.5 to maintain respect for other people on the forum, including moderators

1.1.6 to use only one account to access these message boards. We will suspend users who create multiple accounts.

1.1.7 that you are over the age of 18

1.1.8 to abide by and be governed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and to accept legal responsibility for the contents of your communications

2 Online conduct

2.1 You agree that you will not use the discussion forum to:

2.1.1 attack others

2.1.2 make inflammatory remarks

2.1.3 upload, post or email any content that is unlawful, libellous, tortuous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented or explicit or invasive of another's privacy

2.1.4 upload, post or email any content that is hateful or racially, religiously, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material

2.1.5 harm minors in any way

2.1.6 impersonate any person or entity, falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity or disguise the origins of any content

2.1.7 'stalk' or otherwise harass other forum users

2.1.8 collect or store personal data about other users

2.1.9 publish email addresses, the content of email or private messages, phone numbers or personal contact information in posts

2.1.10 allow other people to post to the forum using your account

2.1.11 post messages advertising commercial products or services, 'junk mail', 'spam', 'chain letters' or any other form of solicitation

2.1.12 use the private messaging service to send multiple copies of the same message

2.1.13 participate in manipulative or malicious behaviour with intent to cause damage to Parkinson's UK, the Parkinson's UK website or any of the computer systems linking to Parkinson's UK

2.1.14 use the forum to gather information for research, surveys or similar

2.1.15 post messages which contain discussion of any illegal activity or threats of violence (eg illicit drug use including medicinal marijuana, fraud, etc)

2.1.16 post messages of an overtly political or religious nature OR posts promoting advocacy of particular religion or political or religious causes. As the forum is intended for offering mutual personal support, limited religious references are allowed (eg "my prayers are with you" or a brief quote as part of a larger post), but the forum should not be used to convert others

2.1.17 post links to external websites which are not relevant to the topic and/or have no connection with Parkinson's or related conditions

2.1.18 upload, post, or email any content that you do not have a right to transmit under law or under a contractual or fiduciary relationship

2.1.19 upload, post or email any content that infringes any intellectual property rights of any party. Please see section 4 below for further information on copyright infringement.

2.1.20 violate any applicable national or international laws or regulations

3 Privacy and data protection

Details provided by you and certain other information about you are subject to our website terms and conditions.

4 Parkinson's UK activities on the forum

Parkinson's UK activities may include consultations, question and answer (Q&A) sessions or user consultations in the 'About the forum' section. If you participate in these activities through the forum, you agree that Parkinson's UK may use and reproduce this information without prior notice.

Any information that is used will remain anonymous. Details provided by you and certain other information about you are subject to our website terms and conditions.

5 Private messaging

If you agree to participate in private messaging, the person you make contact with will then have access to your email address.

Parkinson's UK has no responsibility for content in messages exchanged between forum users through private messaging or through personal email with other forum members.

6 Copyright

Information copyrighted or owned by any individual or entity other than the member should not be posted on the discussion forum without the consent of the owner.

You may not violate, plagiarise or infringe on the rights of third parties including copyright, trademark, trade secret, privacy, personal, publicity or proprietary rights. If such an event occurs, the individual posting the information shall be held solely responsible.

Parkinson's UK shall not be held responsible for member-posted information that may violate copyright law.

7 Licence

You grant to us a worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive licence (including the right to sub-license) to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display any content (in whole or part) you post and/or to incorporate such content in other works in any form, media or technology now known or developed.

8 Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold us and our subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, officers, agents or partners harmless from and against any direct or indirect loss or damage (including consequential loss) and loss of profits, goodwill or business opportunities arising from any third party claim in relation to any content you upload, post or email on or through our forum or our site, your use of the forum and our site, or your breach of the provisions of these rules.

9 Sanctions

9.1 As soon as we are made aware of activities that breach our terms and conditions, our privacy policy or our user guidelines, prompt action will be taken. If you witness such breaches in the forum or anywhere else in our site, please notify forum@parkinsons.org.uk immediately.

9.2 On being made aware of any such breaches, we may ban, delete or prohibit any content that relates to those breaches or that we judge harmful to individuals or the rights of Parkinson's UK or any of our affiliates, licensors or partners.

9.3 We reserve the right to take whatever action we deem necessary to prevent such breaches including, but not limited to, the following:

9.3.1 request that the member edit the post

9.3.2 send the member a written warning

9.3.3 edit or remove posts or threads

9.3.4 close a thread

9.3.5 modify or delete information relating to a user

9.3.6 suspend, ban or delete a user's account

9.4 Breaches we deem serious may result in an automatic ban from our forum and our site in general. All cases will be logged and our decision is final in such cases.

9.5 Any breaches may lead to us reporting your activities to your internet service provider, your employer, relevant authorities, or to legal action being taken against you, or both.

9.6 In addition we may at any time move, modify or remove any content or take further legal action as a result of breaches or suspected breaches of these rules, our privacy policy, any applicable laws or regulations or where our rights or third party rights are threatened or infringed.

9.7 You acknowledge that we shall have the right to remove, edit, move or close any posts.

9.8 You acknowledge that we have the right to modify or delete any or all information relating to a user, including deletion of a user's account (whether temporarily or permanently) without prior notice or reason.

9.9 You acknowledge that any information posted to publicly accessible areas may remain publicly accessible indefinitely. Parkinson's UK is under no obligation to remove content from the site once it has been posted.

9.10 You acknowledge that our decision to remove or ban an individual from using the forum is binding and the decision final.

10 Disclaimer

10.1 All communications made available as part of this forum, and any opinions, advice, statements, views or other information expressed in this forum are solely provided by, and the responsibility of, the person posting such communication and not of Parkinson's UK.

10.2 Parkinson's UK does not certify, endorse or verify the contents of any communication posted to the forums. Parkinson's UK makes no warranty of any kind, express or implied, with regard to the posted communications or information contained therein.

10.3 Parkinson's UK is not responsible for defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of any author posting to this forum.

10.4 Although Parkinson's UK reserves the right to remove any postings from this forum at its discretion, this reservation creates no affirmative duty in Parkinson's UK, and failure to exercise this power shall not subject Parkinson's UK to any liability of any sort.

11 Changes to terms and conditions

These terms and conditions are subject to change at any time without notice.

If you have any concerns about posts or users in the forum, please contact forum@parkinsons.org.uk