Royal Osteoporosis Society Community Guidelines

Welcome to the ROS community. This is a welcoming and safe space where you can share experiences, find support, and connect with others who understand.

These guidelines explain how we expect everyone to participate and help our moderation team keep the community safe and welcoming. Content that goes against these guidelines or our Terms of Use may be edited or removed. If you see anything concerning in our community or over private message, please use the flag button to report the content, which alerts our moderation team.

Community Guidelines

Be respectful and kind

  • Treat everyone with kindness and respect others’ experiences and viewpoints—everyone’s bone health journey is different

  • Be mindful of your tone — written messages can come across as more negative or judgmental than intended, please avoid using ALL CAPS as this can seem like shouting

  • No name-calling, swearing, offensive, discriminatory, or otherwise disrespectful language- this includes comments about other community members or anyone outside the community

  • Avoid comments that are likely to upset others, create conflict, or are deliberately provocative

  • Avoid content that may be damaging, unhelpful or distressing to others

  • Respect moderators and moderation decisions, which are made to keep the community safe and supportive; any public discussion of these decisions will be removed.

Share experiences, not medical advice

  • This community is for peer support, not medical advice

  • What you read here should never replace your relationship with healthcare professionals – do not ask for or expect medical diagnoses or medical advice from the community

  • Share your own experiences but please avoid giving direct medical advice or telling others what they should do. Comments like “In my experience…” or “For me, what worked well was…” can help make it clear you are sharing your personal experience rather than instructing others.

  • Remember that what works for one person may not work for another

Stay on-topic and supportive

  • Keep discussions about bone health or related wellbeing topics

  • When replying to threads, keep comments relevant to the original post

  • Avoid political and religious discussions, and unrelated controversial or provocative subjects

  • Focus on bone health experiences and practical support rather than broader issues beyond individual control

  • Avoid sweeping negative statements about medicines or healthcare professionals

  • Avoid using extreme or alarming language about treatment options (e.g., describing medicines as “poison” or “toxic”). This can be distressing and unhelpful for others who are exploring their treatment options.

Protect privacy and safety

  • Don’t share personal details such as phone numbers, addresses, or full names, or ask other members to share these

  • Do not name individual healthcare professionals or specific healthcare providers in a negative way

  • If sharing pictures, please avoid posting images of injuries, or images that may cause distress to others

  • If posting screenshots, make sure any personally identifiable information (such as names, emails, phone numbers, NHS number) is removed before sharing

Keep it trustworthy

  • Try to be clear when sharing personal opinion and experiences versus established facts or evidence-based information

  • Avoid presenting personal beliefs, ideas or suspicions as fact, as this may mislead others or cause unnecessary distress.

  • Share information from reliable sources where possible (e.g., NHS, ROS)

  • Avoid misinformation that contradicts established medical advice and health information or poses risks to health

  • Sales, marketing or promotion of products isn’t permitted, but you may share products or services that have personally helped you live well with osteoporosis.

  • Links and recommendations shared by users are not endorsed by ROS - always use your own judgment before purchasing products based on community suggestions

Support

Your safety and wellbeing are very important. This community is for peer support and shared experiences but cannot offer crisis support and is not a substitute for specialised help.

  • Self-harm, suicide, and unsafe behaviours: Posts mentioning suicide or self-harm will always be handled with care and may be escalated if necessary. Descriptions and details will be removed to protect the community.

  • UK support:

    • Samaritans: 116 123

    • SHOUT (text): 85258

    • Emergencies: 999

    • Non-urgent medical advice: NHS 111

  • Outside the UK: Please contact your local emergency or crisis support services.

These guidelines are here to keep our forum safe and supportive for everyone. For more details on how we moderate, please see the full Terms of Use.