Message Boards provide a space for people to discuss things in an open
manner; peer support can be of great benefit to people living with self-injury.
Message Boards can also be places where extreme events could be talked
about; that's why the FirstSigns Message Board has Moderators and strict
Rules to adhere to. The Rules endeavour to make the Board a safe and
pleasant environment for all members, and the Moderators are experienced
'posters' and will ensure the Rules are upheld.
Only a couple of the forums are open to 'guests', you will need to
register to become a member, so as to read and create posts.
Please note the Message Board is an English language community.
Hotmail
Currently, people who use hotmail for their email cannot register with us; this is because Hotmail have implemented some 'email rules' that are so incredibly strict that our emails cannot be delivered at all. We can only ask you to register using a non-hotmail account; if you do not have a secondary email account to use, perhaps you could try Gmail.
We welcome new members who care for people who self-injure. Our members, the majority of whom have direct, personal experience of self-injury, can help you understand the complex issues that surround self-injury and let you know that you're not alone. We have a specific forum for 'Friends and Family' members.
FirstSigns provides the Message Board service as part of our aim to
raise awareness about the syndrome of self harm and to provide support
to our members.
To maintain a moderated, supportive community;
To provide an online message board available worldwide, full time;
To endeavour to ensure the emotional safety of each member, while
guaranteeing the overall satisfaction (with the service) of the
whole community;
To provide a space where people of all ages, races, genders, preferred
genders, sexualities, abilities and creed may express themselves;
To provide a space for mutual peer support and positive inspiration;
To provide suggestions and information regarding the reduction
of self harming behaviours;
To create a stable and growing community;
To present the FirstSigns Voluntary Organisation in the best possible way.
To support these objectives:
Rules
have been set, with member involvement.
[Objectives 1, 3, 4, 8]
Moderator
Rules have been set, with member involvement.
[Objectives 1, 3, 4, 8]
A Websites and Awareness Forum exists. [Objectives 5, 6]
The Message Board is hosted on Wedge’s Server, kilobox.net
[Objective 2]
Unused accounts are deleted periodically, and the Message Board
is promoted in the Newsletter. [Objective 7]
There are a few reasons why your FirstSigns Message Board account might not be working for you right now, you will definitely be able to find the reason below.
If you have only recently registered, it can take 24 hours for us to activate your account; on a good day, it's less than 4 hours!
If you have changed your email address within the 'User Control Panel' then your account is automatically deactivated, but will be re-activated very quickly! You can email admin <at> FirstSigns.org.uk if you like, but in all likelihood your account will be re-activated before we read your email so, just be patient please.
If you use hotmail or MSN as your email provider then it's quite likely that you won't receive any emails from FirstSigns, but that your account is active. Please log in to your User Control Panel and change your email address to something else, not hotmail or MSN, our board just doesn't work well with those addresses. If you need help, you can email admin <at> FirstSigns.org.uk from a non-hotmail / non-msn address.
It's possible that we've asked you to take some time away from the Board so that you can reflect on any recent behaviour that has upset our community (Consider our Rules) – in general we will have discussed this 'suspension' with you.
It's possible that your account has been permanently deactivated due to abusive behaviour on your part, such as sending harassing 'Private Messages' to our members, or forwarding private communications to your friends, or taking part in gossip or hate-filled discussions that undermine the work the FirstSigns Voluntary Organisation performs. Just as each and every member has the right to end their association with FirstSigns, so FirstSigns has the right to end our association with certain members.
It's possible that your account has been suspended or permanently deactivated due to abusive behaviour on your part against the volunteers who help run the FirstSigns Message Board. We value the people who give up their time freely to help FirstSigns provide our services, and we have no interest in associating with people who do not value our volunteers. Just as each and every member has the right to end their association with FirstSigns, so FirstSigns has the right to end our association with certain members.
If you do not wish to be part of the FirstSigns community, or you intend harm against our organisation and communuty then we choose to end our association with you. These matters are final.
FirstSigns frequently assists researchers and journalists, and you can contact FirstSigns to discuss your request.
Our Message Board must not be used for ad-hoc requests; we will contact our members through our Message Board and large mailing list on your behalf; please contact us, do not post requests yourself on our Board.
Why Delete Accounts?
We believe that it's important to build and active and involved
community; people who do not post are not contributing to the community
as a whole.
For people who do not wish to be involved with a community, we
offer the FirstSigns website and all our online and hardcopy publications
to read.
Help Contribute 
Blog & RSS News 
FirstSigns in WAP 
Services Offered 
Message Boards provide a space for people to discuss things in an open
manner; peer support can be of great benefit to people living with self-injury.
Discuss this article on the FirstSigns Message Board now
