Helpline: 0808 800 0303

Forum terms and conditions

Welcome to our discussion forum. 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 in an emergency. 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 - telephone 0845 4647
  • Dialling 999 for an emergency ambulance, or by going to your local Accident and Emergency department

You can also 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.

We may update these rules from time to time, so please check back here regularly.

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 them.

1   Your registration obligations

1.1   By registering with our forum, you agree to:

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

1.1.2   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   keep your messages civil, tasteful and relevant;

1.1.4   maintain respect for other people on the forum, including moderators;

1.1.5   post your message under the relevant thread; and  

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

1.2   You are over the age of 18.

1.3   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.

1.4   If you participate in Parkinson's UK consultations 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

1.5   You agree 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   Privacy and data protection

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

 3   Online conduct

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

3.1.1   attack or 'flame' people individually;

3.1.2   upload, post or email any content that is unlawful, libellous, tortuous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented or explicit, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material;

3.1.3   harm minors in any way;

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

3.1.5    'stalk' or otherwise harass another;

3.1.6   collect or store personal data about other users;

3.1.7   post your message twice under different subtopics (if a post has been entered twice please contact the moderators by email at forum@parkinsons.org.uk);

3.1.8   publish email addresses, phone numbers or other personal contact information in posts;

3.1.9   allow other people to post to the forum using your account;

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

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

3.1.12  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;

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

3.1.14  post messages which contain discussion of any illegal activity or threats of violence (e.g. illicit drug use including medicinal marijuana, fraud, etc); 

3.1.15  post messages of an overtly political or religious nature OR posts promoting advocacy of particular political or religious causes. The forum is intended for offering mutual personal support. Limited religious references are allowed (e.g. "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;

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

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

3.1.18  upload, post or email any content that infringes any intellectual property rights of any party;

3.1.19  violate any applicable national or international laws or regulations.

3.2   You acknowledge that we do not pre-screen content but we shall have the right to remove, edit, move or close any posts when in breach of the forum terms and conditions. 

3.3   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.

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

4   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.

5   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. 

6   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.

7   Sanctions

7.1   As soon as we are made aware of activities that breach these rules, our terms and conditions or our privacy policy, 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.

7.2   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.

7.3   We reserve the right to take whatever action we deem necessary to prevent such breaches including the following:

7.3.1   breaches we deem minor may result simply in a receipt of a warning from forum@parkinsons.org.uk; or

7.3.2   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.

7.4   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.

7.5   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.

 8   Disclaimer

8.1   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.

8.2   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.

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

8.4   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.

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

 

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