Shift.ms is a community. Like any community it relies on a few shared values to ensure it remains a nice place to visit.
We don’t police or moderate every post. We believe this encourages more people to contribute. This means that as a registered member of Shift.ms, your comment or post will be published directly to the site without moderation. It will only be removed if we or others find it offensive.
This self-moderation means that we may need to be made aware of any content which is breaking our house rules. If you come across anything which you think is going against what we believe in, please get in touch or flagging the post using the reporting mechanism.
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’ll probably meet people with different opinions to you. If you disagree with someone, please 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 and instead try to listen and connect with what they are saying. We will remove any member who we feel is being harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening or aggressive. There’s no place for that here.
Shift.ms is a global community and that diversity is what makes it special. We’re proud of the diversity of our members, it helps ensure the posts and replies reflect wider society and allow MSers to see others who have similar lifestyles to them. We explicitly stand to support every person in our community regardless of gender identity, race, ethnicity, age or sexuality. We understand and acknowledge that on the most basic level these groups are often discriminated against purely because their identity does not match the majority. Help us to ensure that Shift.ms is a safe, supportive and inclusive space.
It’s nice to be nice, right? If you’d like to directly message another member, don’t forget to introduce yourself first. You’re more likely to get a reply if you’ve explained who you are first.
Please don’t use our website to promote products or services which you will make money from. By all means, tell other MSers about a great icepack which you feel has relieved your symptoms. But if you’re the person who invented the icepack, 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 and talk about your own experiences, but please let people come to their own conclusions. Please don’t tell people that 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. But please 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 sometimes you just need to vent, and we want to give you that power. Try to keep the language you use in check, people get it and because the community is so big it’s likely that there are members who find cursing or poor humour insulting. 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, and don’t post other people’s personal details.
These house rules are designed to keep Shift.ms a welcoming space where you can talk about whatever you want. With over 40,000 members, you can be sure someone out there will understand.
We want to develop a friendly, safe and vibrant social network where people feel they can express their opinions without fear of personal attack. We have a warning system in place for anyone breaking the ground rules above. Persistent rule breakers will be banned. We reserve the right to use our discretion on who is banned.
