Hi all,
I wanted to make some things clear about privacy on this forum, given the sensitive nature of some of the discussions that could occur in some threads (e.g. regarding personal health data, stories of discrimination, not wanting your status made public, etc.)
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Your posts are searchable. Anyone can see your post in the main forum. We allow this so that anyone who needs to can get information about Hep B easily; we want this community to be as accessible as possible.
Posts may also be indexed by search engines, but they will link only your post to your user name. Your Email address will neve be made public (see point 3). -
You do not have to put your full name in your profile. This is optional and it is completely understandable if you do not want to link your name to this forum.
The user name you choose is up to you (does not have to be anything to do with your actual name). We recommend you do not use your actual name as your user name if you have privacy concerns. -
Your email is never made public to other users. Admin and moderator staff also do not see your email by default, but in the process of moderating we may need to access this information. We will not make this public, ever.
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You can choose to anonymously post. Users of trust level 1 (more information on trust levels here) can post from an newly generated anonymous account. You can access this function by pressing on your profile picture in the top right hand corner, click your account name and then “enter anonymous mode”. Feel free to test this by replying to this thread (moderators will delete these posts). This will mean your post cannot be linked to your original account, even by moderators (though they can still edit and remove the posts).
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We won’t sell or knowingly distribute your information. We’re not looking to make money out of you. We are not-for-profit and work hard to maintain our independence. Also, the data stored by the forum (including the encrypted back-ups) are governed under European Union GDPR data protection laws.
We hope these features will allow people to talk about sensitive issues that could help others affected by Hep B. We take your right to privacy seriously!
TT