Maggie's

About Maggie's Online Centre

The development of the Maggie's Online Centre has been made possible with funding provided by Walk the Walk.

Welcome to Maggie's Online Centre - a place to get advice, support and information about living with cancer. Maggie's welcomes everyone whether you have a cancer diagnosis, or are the carer, friend or relative of someone with cancer.

There are conversations, blogs, Specialist Groups and Online Support Groups. You can create your own profile and meet people in a similar situation.

Find out more about what you can do in the Online Centre.

Opening Hours

Maggie's Online Centre is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The site is moderated from Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

Our Online Support Groups meet each week for an hour at a time. Find out more about how you can join.

Registering, creating and updating profiles

You can read the information, blogs and conversations without registering.

If you want to create a profile and join in, add to the conversations, send and receive personal messages or join an Online Support Group you need to register - this is a simple two step process and will only take a couple of minutes.

Your username is very important. This is what you will be known as online so you should avoid offensive words and phrases or anything that might identify you. Your profile will be available to anyone over the internet so consider this before you choose your username. Please limit yourself to one profile on Maggie's Online Centre.

Keep your password and account details private at all times. If you forget your password use the 'forgotten password' link on the log-in page and we will send a new password to the e-mail account you registered with.

What information you add to your profile is entirely up to you - it can be as detailed or as simple as you like. Just a username is fine. You can update your profile at any time.

Please think carefully before putting any information about yourself that may be used to identify you in your profile or in a personal message to another member. Please ensure you have set the appropriate privacy settings on your profile. For more information about internet safety go to www.getsafeonline.org

Site content rules and regulations

Maggie's Online Centre aims to give advice and support to anyone affected by cancer. We ask you to abide by the following site rules and be considerate of other members at all times and with any content you put on the site.

• Don't post any content that treats anyone unfairly because of their sex, sexual orientation, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or philosophical belief, disability, gender identity/reassignment, marital status, family circumstance or age; or anything that is threatening, obscene or in any way offensive.
• Only post your own content - posting other people's content as your own can infringe copyright. This includes poetry and songs written by other people. If you do mention someone else's work make sure you state it is not yours.
• Keep your conversations and comments relevant to the discussion.
• Be aware of internet safety, anonymity and confidentiality - be wary of giving out personal details and don't name another person so that they are identifiable.
• Don't give medical advice, detailed feedback about your treatment or identify any staff involved in your treatment.
• Be mindful of suggesting products or services that are not based on evidence-based practice.
• Treat other members with respect - it is fine to disagree with a point of view but please be constructive and not personal in your reply.
• Don't impersonate anyone or let anyone else post content or messages through your account.
• If you know of a site you think would be helpful to others please send details to the Online Manager and, if appropriate, we will add the link to the 'Members Recommend' links section.
• Please post in English as we currently don't have the facility to check other languages.

The conversations, your personal messages and content in your profiles will be moderated by sample and reactive moderation - this means your conversations, blogs and content will go live instantly so please think before you post. Maggie's moderators will remove any content that is deemed unacceptable.

If you find any content offensive or believe it breaks site rules use the 'Alert a Moderator' button to report the post to the moderator or contact the Online Manager if there is no button available. Please think carefully about complaining about any content as using the 'Alert a Moderator' button will remove it immediately from the website until the moderator can check it.

If you persistently break site rules we reserve the right to pre-moderate your posts or remove your profile from this website.

Information and advice given in Maggie's Online Centre is in no way a substitute for medical advice.

Disclaimer

Opinions expressed in the conversations, blogs, profiles and personal messages are the opinions of members, not of Maggie Keswick Jencks Cancer Caring Centres Trust. Maggie's does not endorse any medical treatment, alternative therapy or complementary therapy discussed or mentioned in the Online Centre.

By posting content you agree that we can use all or part of the conversations or profile content for fundraising, research or promotion purposes. Any content we use will be fully anonymous and handled sensitively.

Internet safety

Please be mindful of giving out personal information online - you can remain anonymous on Maggie's Online Centre if you so wish. Please ensure you have set the appropriate privacy settings on your profile and don't write or post anything about yourself or people you know that you wouldn't want a stranger to know. If you arrange to meet anyone you know from this website ensure you meet in a public place. For more information about internet safety go to www.getsafeonline.com

Policy created: May 2008.
Policy reviewed: June 2009.
Review date: December 2009.