Posting Tips

PatientsLikeMe was designed to enable you to share health information with other patients. It is important to remember that anyone can join PLM and while you may form strong relationships with other PatientsLikeMe members, you should still be thoughtful about what you post.

1. Never share your email address in the discussions, newsfeed, or other text areas of the site. We provide a Private Messaging service to give you a way to safely communicate with other patients without revealing your email address.

2. Also, avoid sharing your real name, physical address, phone numbers, or any other personally identifying information. You don’t know who is reading posts now, or who might read them in the future.

3. If you see another member making this mistake, gently warn them of the dangers and advise them to edit their post or reach out to a community moderator to help guide them on what kinds of information they should and shouldn't post.

4. If somebody asks you for your private information, notify a community moderator immediately.

Here are a few more tips to help you stay safe:

1. If you use the Facebook or Google log in options, you don’t need a password on PatientsLikeMe – but you must have strong passwords on those services. Note that if you have trouble logging in via one of those services, you will need to reach out to that service for help resolving the problem.

2. Keep your email address up to date here, so we can contact you in the event of security issues.

3. Use an anti-malware (also known as anti-virus) package from one of the major vendors on your computer. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_antivirus_software.) A compromised desktop makes your information vulnerable and can be used to attack other people. It’s up to all of us to keep our computers safe.