Shift.ms is a community. Like any community it relies on a few shared values to ensure it remains a welcoming and safe place where people feel they can express their opinions without fear of personal attack.
We don’t police or moderate every post. We believe this encourages more people to contribute. As a member of Shift.ms, your comment or post will be published straight away. It will only be removed if others find it offensive.
Here are our house rules for using Shift.ms:
We’ve all been the newbie and it can be scary. If you’re new, please introduce yourself. If you’re not so new, be sure to welcome the newcomers. You can 'follow' people to grow your network and keep in touch more easily. If you’d like to directly message another member, you’ll first need to introduce yourself. You’re more likely to get a reply if you’ve explained who you are first.
You’ll probably meet people with different opinions to you. If you disagree with someone, do so in a calm and respectful manner. Shift.ms is a supportive space, if you don’t have anything to say which is productive or supportive, please don’t say it. Try to listen and connect with what they are saying.
Shift.ms is a global community and that diversity is what makes it special. We’re proud of the diversity of our members and we explicitly stand to support every person in our community regardless of gender identity, race, ethnicity, age or sexuality. Help us to ensure that Shift.ms is a safe, supportive and inclusive space.
Please don’t promote products, services or personal funding pages which you will make money from. By all means, tell other MSers about a great ice pack which you feel has relieved your symptoms. But if you’re the person who invented the ice pack, that’s not so great.
We expect people to talk about medical experiences and drug choices, however we will not tolerate promotion of one drug or therapy over another. Feel free to provide information/sources and talk about your own experiences, but let people come to their own conclusions. Don’t tell people they have chosen the wrong treatment, or that yours is best.
You don’t have to use your real name as your username and you don’t have to have a photo of yourself as your profile picture (although we’d love to see your face). But don’t deliberately imitate someone else, either real or imaginary. That could get you into a lot of trouble.
We get that MS can be shit, and we understand that cursing can help release or emphasise challenging emotions. Be aware, the community is so big it’s likely there are members who find excessive cursing or poor humour distasteful or insulting, so try to keep the language you use in check. Posts can contain links, but please don’t link to websites you wouldn’t show to your grandma.
Please respect people’s privacy. Make sure you have the consent of all the people you feature in any video or image you share. Don’t post personal details of others or yourself (this includes telephone numbers and email addresses).
If you come across anything which you think is going against what we believe in, please flag it to us using the report function which you can find by clicking on the three dots on any post or comment.
We’ll remove any member who is harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening or aggressive. There’s no place for that here. Persistent rule breakers will be banned. We reserve the right to use our discretion on who is banned.
Please read the Terms of Use for more detailed information.
