#bipolarreddit is a place to be yourself, whether you're up, down, mixed, stable or somewhere in between. Our community is generally intended for people with bipolar disorder, but others (SOs, etc) are welcome. Talk about your feelings, thoughts, your meds or just how work went today; it all belongs! We offer support, camaraderie and friendship.
Keep in mind that none of us are trained professionals. Anything said in the channel should not be taken as medical advice beyond "that's bad you should see a doctor" or similar.
We want to create a positive, supportive experience for all participants regardless of mental state, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion or anything else. As such, we don't tolerate harrassment of participants in any form, and implement a number of other rules designed to keep discussion healthy and supportive.
While this isn't by any means an exhaustive list of what constitutes harrassment, this includes:
- Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, mental and physical disabilities (bipolar or not), physical appearance, race or religion
- Gratuitous and/or off-topic sexual images/behavior (please don't link us porn)
- Threats of violence
- Encouraging or otherwise triggering self-harm or suicide (don't share self-harm videos, please)
- Encouraging (or otherwise playing off) a user's delusions, hallucinations, paranoid beliefs or manic (bad) ideas
- Deliberate intimidation
- Stalking
- Using logs for harrassment purposes
- Sustained disruption of discussion
- Unwanted sexual attention
- PMing people in the community after they have requested that you stop
- Deliberate "outing" of any aspect of a person's identity without their consent
- Publication of PMs and chat logs
Other rules which are important because of the nature of this group:
- Do not give medical advice, self-diagnose, encourage others to self-diagnose, or encourage others to ignore or not seek medical advice. You are of course allowed to talk about your own personal experiences with drugs, prescribed or otherwise, but please please make it clear that what you're doing is not recommended. You are not a doctor and the use of therapy and psychiatry as-prescribed is part of a balanced treatment plan.
- A lot of us drink or smoke cannabis, and if you're drunk and need support we're here for you, but many of us are trying to stay clean and healthy; as such we would like to avoid extended discussions of hard drug use.
- Do not try to contact or "friend" people outside the context of this chat without their express permission. We might not be able to guarantee anonymity, but the illusion of such is very important and intruding on other parts of peoples' online lives constitutes a huge breach of boundaries. Don't do it.
- Be very careful about sharing triggering content, such as self-harm pics. Ideally, don't share self-harm pics. If you must, include an explicit twigger warning with the link.
- No spam. This includes promoting other IRC channels, etc., without permission
- If you don't have bipolar disorder and are just joining the channel for lulz and/or voyeurism: Don't.
The moderators reserve the right to exclude people from #bipolarreddit based on past behavior either inside or outside #bipolarreddit.
The moderators also reserve the right to change these rules at any time. These rules will be posted in a timely fashion.
People asked to stop any of these behaviors must comply immediately. While the moderators are generally kind and understanding and will most likely give you multiple warnings, they may kick or ban you at their discretion with or without a warning.
Remember: If [we] notice you repeatedly nudging the table, you won't get to play anymore.
If you are being harrassed by a user of #bipolarreddit, notice that someone else is being harrassed, see one of the other rules is being blatantly broken, or have any other concerns whatsoever, PM one of your moderators:
jhizzlesofterkessagenon
Share with this moderator your troubles. Logs help. We have lives outside the context of moderation; however, we will try to be prompt. We will take your complaint seriously, and work with you to decide on a correct course of action.
We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims. We however reserve the right to call out people with a history of complaints.
You may run into somebody that is suicidal or otherwise needs a hand. You may find the following helpful:
https://mhfa.com.au/resources/mental-health-first-aid-guidelines
Much of this content is heavily influenced by: