ConversationsWhat are conversations?Our conversations rooms allow members to really get to know each other by starting or participating in public discussions with each other. How do I read the conversations?To read the conversations, do this:
You can sort the conversations in a room in various ways, to make it easier to find interesting conversations.
How do I participate in conversations?To participate in the conversations, do this:
If you want to start your own conversation, click the "Start a new conversation" link. New conversations are always pre-reviewed before publication, so they do not go online straight away. Why does my reply not appear where I thought it would in the conversation?Where your reply appears depends on which message you replied to. If you replied to the very first message in the thread, it would appear under that message, but after all the previous replies to that message. If you replied to a message in the middle of the thread, your reply will appear after that message and after and previous replies. This technique is called threading. How can I see all the conversations I have contributed to?You can get a list of all the conversations you've taken part in. To do this:
How can I see only conversations I am interested in?You can bookmark a conversation so you can easily get back to it later, even if you haven't taken part in the conversation. To do this:
To see a list of your bookmarked conversations, click "My conversations" on your left-hand menu when logged in. To remove a bookmark from a conversation, do this:
What do some of the terms people use in the conversations rooms mean?Sometimes it can be hard to understand what people are saying in the conversations rooms, because they may use acronyms or jargon. Here is a short list of very common jargon you might see:
Can I remove something I said in the conversations?Because your contribution forms a part of the conversation, it does not make sense to remove individual contributions to the conversations after publication. So we regret we are unable to remove messages unless they go against our conversations guidelines. I just found something I wrote in the conversations on a search engine! Why is this?Anything you publish on the Internet in a public web site (such as this) can be picked up by search engines, and kept for all to see, pretty much forever. You should never commit anything to writing on the Internet, including this site, if you don't want your friends, your neighbours, your employer, your employees, your husbands/wives/girlfriends/boyfriends, ex-lovers, parents, grandparents, children or anybody else to see. This applies to both forum contributions, profile details, photographs and everything else you publish online. If you don't want others to see it on the Internet, please don't publish it on the Internet. If it does appear in a search engine, please don't write in asking us to remove it because we do not own the search engines and we cannot control what they index and republish. We ask all members to take responsibility for what they publish to this public web site. What are the rules for conversations?We don't have any rules over the subject matter of what can be discussed. However, we do have firm rules over how subjects can be discussed. In short, all conversations must be friendly and must obey our terms and conditions. Additionally we have the following guidelines:
Please note that if you say anything unfriendly in the conversations your account may be removed without notice and you would not be entitled to any refunds. How are the conversations moderated?Conversations are moderated by members with backup from staff. All new messages are scanned for obviously offensive content, and those which contain such material are held back for review prior to publication. Messages which receive a high number of "Inappropriate" ratings from other members will be manually reviewed by the moderators and compared with the guidelines. If they break the guidelines they may be removed. Why has my contribution not been posted?If your contribution has not been immediately posted it has been held back for reviewing by our staff. It probably contains words or phrases which are frequently used in an unfriendly context. Please wait whilst we review your contribution. Why do I see 'Cannot display conversation' when I click on a conversation?There are three main reasons why you may see this message:
How do I report an unfriendly message?If you find a message which offends you or you think breaks our guidelines, you must tell us straight away. Click the "Rate: Inappopriate" link by each message to make your report. If a particular message receives a large number of inappropriate report we will manually review it and take the necessary action. You can only rate each message once, and you cannot rate your own messages. This system works well because it is a distributed system - no one person can get your postings removed, so the potential for bullying or one on one grudges is minimised. How do I report an excellent message?If you find a message which is particularly insightful, informative, interesting or just extremely well written, we encourage you to rate it "Excellent". Click the "Rate: Excellent" link by the message to make your report. This will enable us to flag up particularly brilliant messages and give membership points to those who write them. You can only rate each message once, and you cannot rate your own messages.
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