Policing Your OWN Communities

WebMD message boards are wonderful forums where members find friendship and share ideas. However, there are occasions when a post that is made violates WebMD's Terms and Conditions.

While using our boards you may come across a flame war (a series of insulting posts) or simply a disrupter (called a "troll" in internet-speak because they "troll" message boards or chat rooms simply to cause trouble) or someone trying to sell their products. None of these behaviors are allowed at WebMD, and if any of these things appear on our boards, we want to know about it right away. We rely on our members to help WebMD maintain a safe and comfortable environment where everyone feels at home.

Here are some of the other T&C violations you will want to report:

Spam

Advertising

Personal Attacks

Copyright Infringement

Inappropriate Member Nicknames

Use of inappropriate slang (especially on our sexuality boards) and/or masked/veiled profanity

Members discussing their personal physicians by name or recommending physicians

Members who identify themselves as under 13 year of age

Too much personally identifying information (phone numbers, home addresses, etc)

Posts containing links to inappropriate sites (pornography, etc.)

Posts which are nothing more than erotica or soliciting cyber sex

The best way to handle any board problem is to not reply. Instead, you can help your community by alerting the WebMD Community Moderator staff.

To empower our members with more control in "policing" their own communities here at WebMD, we've recently added a wonderful, new tool which allows members to send alerts simply by clicking on the "report a post" button found on the bottom right corner below each message. The moderator staff will receive a report and will review the post to determine whether or not it violates the WebMD Terms and Conditions. If the message is in violation of our rules, it will be removed along with any replies.



Please keep in mind that you should only report posts that you feel are violations of WebMD's Terms and Condition. Do not report posts simply because you disagree with the information contained within another member's post. Misuse of this tool is detectable.

Thank you for helping WebMD message boards stay on track. It really does "take a village," and we appreciate everyone who helps us to keep our communities a great place to gather together in our quest to stay happy and healthy.

Welcome to the Drug Insights FAQ Center

The Drug Insights service is a great way to share personal experiences with medications that you, your family or loved ones are taking. At this help center, you'll find information about the service and answers to your top questions. Your contributions will help us build the Web's most valuable drug and treatments information resource.

• What are Drug Insights?
• Who can review their experiences with various medications?
• How do I review my medications?
• Why do you ask what particular condition I'm taking a medication for?
• How is the optional background information used?
• You ask for a description of my experience with the treatment. What would you like me to write there?
• Is a real name or email address required?
• After I review a medication, how soon will it show up?
• My rating was deleted. What comments are okay?
• What should I do when I see posts that are not appropriate?
• What if I rethink my review on a particular drug and want to change it?
• I'd like to describe my experience with a drug that is not in your database. How can I add it?
• Is it possible to rate treatments other than by medication?
• I have additional questions about a medication. Where can I ask them?

What are Drug Insights?

WebMD's Drugs & Treatments database contains overviews on more than 3000 prescribed and over-the-counter drugs. Now we're asking our users to provide their personal ratings, reviews, and recommendations for medications they've tried, which will make this database even more valuable for people who are facing a medication choice. To get started, visit our Drug and Treatments home page.

Back To Top

Who can review their experiences with medications?

You should review drugs that you have a first-hand experience with. In some cases, you might also rate a drug that is for a loved one. An example of this would be rating a medication that your elderly parent is using for Alzheimer's, or giving a review for a pediatric decongestant for your young child.

Back To Top

How do I review my medications?

We ask three questions around the treatment - Did the medication work for you? Was it easy for you to use? Were you overall satisfied? One star means that you weren't happy with the results. Five stars means that you were very satisfied.

Back To Top

Why do you ask what particular condition I'm using the drug for?

Some drugs treat multiple conditions. For example, Wellbutrin is a popular antidepressant but is also sometimes used for ADD and for smoking cessation. By telling us the specific reason you've taken a medication, that information will be much more helpful for users who are looking for information about a prescribed medication for their specific condition.

Back To Top

How is the optional background information used?

The more other users know about the users rating the drugs, the more valuable those ratings become. An 18-year-old college student might have a different experience with a particular medication than a post-menopausal woman of 60 on the same drug. Once we have a good sampling of this data, we'll begin letting you search the effectiveness of a drug in individuals similar to you.

Back To Top

You ask for a description of my experience with the treatment. What would you like me to write there?

Whatever you think would be useful to others. For example, maybe it's not easy to rate your particular medication just using a star system. There could have been complications with using the medication at first that later disappeared. Or, there could have been other circumstances when you were taking the drug (for example, perhaps you were treating two conditions at one time) that you'd like to explain in more detail. Anything that you think would be helpful to other readers; we would love to know about it.

Back To Top

Are real names or email addresses required?

You won't need to log-in or enter your real name or email address before reviewing. You're welcome to use your regular WebMD community name or you can create a user-name just for this one rating. What we do ask is that you not use a real name or any other personally identifying information features about yourself. We request this for your own privacy. Read our Privacy Policy to understand how we treat your information.


Back To Top

After I review a medication, how soon will it show up?

Immediately!

Back To Top

What should I do when I see posts that are not appropriate?

Report them right away. Every review has a "report this post" button right below the content. If you see a post that you don't think is appropriate for our site (it might be spam. Or a user bothering another user. ), then click that button and the system will send us an automatic email. If we find it violates our Terms & Conditions, then we'll remove it permanently.

Back To Top

My review was deleted. What comments are okay?

When you comment to rate your drugs and treatments, you must still abide by WebMD's Terms and Conditions, to which you agreed when you joined our site. Some reasons a comment may be deleted are use of profanity, using personally identifying information (such as your real name or someone else's real name), violating copyright, spam, or personal attacks. If you have specific questions about your removed comment, please write to our staff at webmdcommunity@webmd.net.

Back To Top

What if I rethink my rating on a particular drug and want to change it?

Once you've reviewed your experience with a particular medication, that review goes live (so be careful before you click the submit button) within a few minutes. There may be cases, however, where your experience with a particular medication changes over time. In those cases, you're free to submit a new review that better reflects your current situation.

Back To Top

I'd like to describe my experience with a drug that is not in your database. How can I add it?

While our database covers thousands of drugs, there's always the chance that we may have missed one (or may have named it in a different fashion) Send your medication name to webmdcommunity@webmd.net and we'll come back an answer for you.

Back To Top

Is it possible to rate treatments other than medication?

Rating treatments that are common for a particular condition that are not medication-based - psychotherapy, diet changes, prayer, family| friend support - is in our plans for future releases and we'll keep everyone posted when they go live!

Back To Top

I have additional questions about a medication. Where can I ask them?

Right here at WebMD! We have scores of support groups online with thousands of users talking about their treatment options, along with top physicians available for questions. Go to our Message Board index to look up the right group for you.

Back To Top