Talking Point Help

Advertising is not permitted on Talking Point. We do not accept posts from commercial organisations, their employees or families, which advertise or promote products or services. The promotion of commercial organisations, products or services via member usernames or profile listings is also prohibited, and may be subject to editing or deletion. This is a support forum, so please do not use it to try to sell things to other members.

Alternative and complementary therapies are a broad range of treatments that are outside of conventional medicine and are used to treat or prevent illness and promote health and well-being. Practitioners of alternative and complementary therapies are not trained to diagnose disease.

A therapy is considered to be 'alternative' when it is used instead of conventional medical treatment to try and treat a disease or symptom. If a therapy is used alongside conventional medical treatment, it is considered 'complementary'.

When discussing alternative or complementary therapies, please do not:

• Advocate the use of any alternative or complementary therapy
• Claim that any alternative or complementary therapy can cure dementia, control associated symptoms or reduce the risk of developing it
• Advise anyone to ignore medical experts’ advice on the use of any treatment
• Encourage members to attend practitioners of alternative or complementary medicine instead of attending a medical expert
• Advertise any alternative or complementary therapy for commercial gain (we do not permit advertising on this site).

You can share your experience of taking or receiving an alternative or complementary therapy on Talking Point, but please do not make claims about their effects or encourage other members to follow suit.

More information about alternative and complementary therapies can be found in our factsheet:

Complementary therapies and dementia

Forum members may at times wish to use Talking Point to highlight a dementia-related campaigning issue.

Members who would like to post in relation to a campaigning issue should contact the Talking Point Manager in the first instance, to seek permission to post.

Once such requests have been approved, posts should be made in the Raising Awareness and Campaigning forum.

The Talking Point forum, by its nature, contains content that is adult.

A parent agreeing for their child to view and perhaps contribute to Talking Point must do so in the knowledge of the forums and their content.

Talking Point is a public site on the Internet, so anyone - including a child - who has the means to browse the Web can explore parts of this forum.

While anyone can view Talking Point, registration is necessary to be able to contribute to it. The registration process asks prospective members to confirm that they are 13 years of age or older. If a prospective member is under the age of 13, then permission from their parent or guardian will be sought, before their account can be activated.

As part of the registration process for a child who is under 13, a parent or guardian's email address has to be provided. Notification of the child's intention to register on the Talking Point forum is then sent out by email to that address.

The email asks the child's parent or guardian to complete and sign the following form, before returning it to the Talking Point Manager at Alzheimer's Society. When the form has been received by the Talking Point Manager, the child's Talking Point account will be activated.

The following recommendations and information may also be helpful for parents:

• Turn Private Messaging off.
• Discuss general Internet privacy issues with your child. For example, do not disclose any personal information including your surname.
• Supervise younger children when using Talking Point, as some children may find certain content disturbing. This has the added advantage of giving children the opportunity to discuss any subject that they may have issues with.
• Encourage your child to discuss any issues that worry or concern them before searching for the information on a public forum or the Internet.

There is a very helpful resource called Wisekids, which contains a host of materials that might also be usefully read by adults, who are often less up to speed on Internet matters than children.

Netiquette is a particular topic in that category.

A quote from the How to use the Internet Safely (a Guide for Parents) guidelines from this site is:

"Talk to your children about the things that they may encounter online. Without scaring them, make them aware of chat room danger, web sites with inaccurate information, unsuitable material online and email from strangers. They should understand that people online are not always who they say they are."

If you register on the Talking Point forum, you will need to select a name to use that has not been registered already, as the forum will not permit multiple users with the same name, for obvious reasons.

What not to use

Because Talking Point is a fully public web forum, a username should never be selected that can identify the person using it. The username shouldn't be a variation of your real first and family name, for example. Neither should the name give any indication of the e-mail address of the person, or the telephone number, or the postal address.

The promotion of commercial organisations, products or services via a member username or profile listing is prohibited, and may be subject to editing or deletion.

The use of profane or offensive language in your username is also prohibited.

What to use

The main thing about deciding on a username is that you have to be able to remember it yourself! Apart from that, anything that has not been used before and that is acceptable under the Talking Point rules [that is, should not be offensive, for example] should be ok.

Please make sure that you are happy with the name you have chosen before you actually register it, as it cannot be changed afterwards.

Alzheimer's Society Central Office contact details are:

Address:
Alzheimer's Society
Devon House
58 St Katharine's Way
London E1W 1JX

Tel: 0207 423 3500

Email: enquiries@alzheimers.org.uk

To contact the Talking Point Manager, click on the 'Contact' tab at the bottom of this page, or email talkingpoint@alzheimers.org.uk

Members of Talking Point are welcome to post their original written work (e.g. poems) and images on the forum. However, please note that written work, photographs taken or images produced by other people cannot be reproduced without the permission of the copyright holder (usually the author). Copyright applies to printed and recorded material, such as:

• Articles, books, magazines and poems
• Recorded music, CDs, vinyl records, tapes
• Recorded video, films, TV programmes
• Images (e.g. brand logos, cartoon characters), photographs, album covers.

Such materials should not be reproduced in full, or in part, on Talking Point.

Messages found to be in breach of copyright legislation will be edited as appropriate.

You may find the following information about copyright useful:

The Intellectual Property Office's website provides general information about copyright: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/c-about.htm

The UK Copyright Service's website includes some useful and accessible information, including:

Common copyright questions

Top 10 Copyright Myths

For health and safety reasons, members are not permitted to advertise items on Talking Point, whether for sale or donation.

This includes offers of second-hand equipment.

Members interested in fundraising for the Society by auctioning items on Talking Point, should contact the Talking Point Manager to seek advice before posting.

Alzheimer's Society factsheets provide information on a wide variety of topics relating to dementia:

www.alzheimers.org.uk/factsheets

Once you have registered a username and password with Talking Point, you can post messages and send private messages, and you can also see areas of the forum that are not available to guests.

Should you forget your password, you will not be able to log in, and you will be able to use the forum only as a guest.

If you forget your password, please email talkingpoint@alzheimers.org.uk, using the same email address as you did to register originally. In your email, sign off with your Talking Point username.

The username, together with the email address, give a level of security to your request.

When your password has been re-set, you will receive an email from Talking Point informing you of your new password. You will be able to change your password back to one of your own choosing via 'Your Account', once you are logged back in to the forum.

Talking Point supports and thanks people who are fundraising for Alzheimer's Society in the UK.

Fundraisers for Alzheimer's Society are encouraged to use the JustGiving website: www.justgiving.com/alzheimerssoc/ to raise funds online.

Supporters donating or pledging money through JustGiving can be assured that their money is going to help Alzheimer's Society in the UK.

Talking Point members are not encouraged to donate to Alzheimer's Society online via any other site.

Posts raising funds for causes other than Alzheimer's Society in the UK may be removed.

Charity Auctions on Talking Point

There will be restrictions on the types of goods that can be auctioned for charity, for Health & Safety reasons. For those people interested in fundraising for Alzheimer’s Society in this way, please contact the Talking Point Manager to seek advice before posting.

Please do not create multiple accounts on Talking Point or imitate another forum user. We may remove any content, delete accounts and ban users who do this.

To ensure that Talking Point is as effectively supported and protected as possible, we have a structured ‘Infraction System’, to be used when the forum’s rules are broken.

What is the Infraction System?

The infraction system is an automated way for moderators and Alzheimer’s Society to issue warnings or bans (infractions) to users who do not follow the terms and conditions of Talking Point.

The system that we will be using is based on ‘yellow cards’, which can culminate in a ban being issued. These are generated by the forum software.

The following may be issued by a moderator or Alzheimer's Society, when Talking Point’s rules are broken:

1. ‘Yellow Card Warning’

This is a friendly reminder of the forum rules. This warning will last for 10 days on the user’s profile. Note that this will only be visible to moderators.

2. First ‘Yellow Card’

If the user contravenes the forum rules again within this 10 day period, they will be issued with their first yellow card. This will last for a further 10 days.

3. Second ‘Yellow Card’ & 1 day ban

If the user further contravenes Talking Point`s rules, during the 10 days, they will be issued with a second yellow card which will result in a 1 day ban.

4. Temporary Ban

If the user seriously contravenes Talking Point’s rules they may be banned until Alzheimer’s Society has been able to review the situation.

Any decision made in relation to an infraction is final. No correspondence will be entered into nor will moderators be obliged to further discuss the reason for the infraction with the user concerned. Please note that a log of users' infractions may be kept to assist with forum moderation.

We ask journalists and writers who are researching material for books, articles or media stories to contact Alzheimer's Society's press office on press@alzheimers.org.uk.

The media should not contact members of Talking Point directly. If a member receives a direct personal contact from anyone in the media, please refer them to Alzheimer's Society.

When a member registers on Talking Point, they must agree to Talking Point's 'terms and conditions of use' before they can post anything.

In brief, here are the main conditions:

General conditions

• Acknowledgement that there are no experts on Talking Point, and that content is the sole responsibility of the person posting it.
• Agreement to undertake to indemnify and hold harmless Alzheimer's Society against all costs and expenses from any such actions by the member.
• Agreement that, by submitting information to the discussion boards, the member grants Alzheimer's Society a non-exclusive worldwide royalty-free perpetual non-revocable licence to use, distribute, adapt, modify, display, reproduce and transmit such information in any and all media in the manner in whole or in part without any duty to account to the member.

Using the forum

• Agreement not to behave mischievously or maliciously to the detriment of Alzheimer's Society
• Agreement not to post obscene, defamatory or libellous, inflammatory, vulgar, sexually orientated, racial, political, hateful, personally abusive or threatening messages, or any in violation of any laws or good morals and practice.
• Agreement that if a member posts anything that the moderators or groups of members consider detrimental to the working of Talking Point, then they may be penalised via the forum’s infraction system: http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?t=16239
• Agreement that messages must not infringe or violate another party's rights (including, but not limited to, copyright and/or intellectual property rights, and rights of privacy and publicity).

Products and services

• Agreement that advertisement of any product or service by anyone related in any way to the producer or service provider is not permitted.
• Personal endorsement of a product or service that may be of benefit to our users may be permitted.
• Named reference should not made to any health or care providers, or to members of staff involved in providing such services.
• Agreement that any reference to third party organisations, their product/s or service/s does not imply endorsement by Alzheimer's Society.

Interpretation of the Terms and Conditions of Use

Frequently, interpretation of Talking Point's 'Terms and Conditions of Use' requires judgement on the part of moderators and the administrator, as few situations are truly clear cut.

As far as is reasonably possible, Talking Point will maintain a consistent stance in applying the 'Terms and Conditions of Use'.

For example, individual members, including moderators, may have differing views on what constitutes something that is offensive, and a post that is offensive to one person, may not be to another.

The responsibility for a final decision on interpreting the 'Terms and Conditions of Use' rests with the Talking Point Manager at Alzheimer's Society.

All volunteer moderators have personal experience of dementia, and as such, they may post into the forum exactly as other members do.

When a moderator does so, their contribution carries the same weight as that of any other experienced member, no more - unless they make clear that their post is one of a moderating nature.

Moderators have two main parts to their public moderating role:

• To greet new members of the forum and provide guidance and support to all members, as appropriate
• When necessary, to step in to ensure that the forum’s Terms & Conditions of Use are adhered to and that forum etiquette is observed (See: Protecting our community).

Keeping it legal

Alzheimer’s Society has a responsibility to protect the privacy and interests of members of the Talking Point forum. This includes ensuring compliance with libel and copyright law.

Posting comments that are considered damaging to others’ reputations could leave both you and Alzheimer’s Society at risk of legal action. Therefore you are not permitted to say anything that might lower or damage the reputation of an identified person or organisation.

Even if you do not name the individual or organisation explicitly, please bear in mind that other contextual information you post may achieve the same result. While such comments may or may not be true, the Society is not in a position to verify the facts and therefore will always err on the side of caution.

Negative comments about an individual or organisation that could be interpreted as libellous or breaching copyright will be edited or removed by the moderating team.

Naming of individuals and organisations

Alzheimer’s Society encourages members to share their personal experiences on Talking Point, although you are asked to comply with the following requirements for the good of the forum.

• We ask members not to identify individuals by name, including health and social care professionals.
• Similarly, you must not identify or comment on a specific hospital, local authority, legal provider, health and social care service or other organisation.
• Naming of specific companies and charitable organisations is permitted, when referring to personal experience and in passing reference. For example, it is fine to say “I popped into town and bought a lovely skirt from Marks & Spencer” or “the staff at my local Crossroads service were brilliant today”.
• Comments that provide explicit promotion of companies or other organisations are, however, not allowed. (As the host of Talking Point, this does not apply to Alzheimer’s Society.)
• Please avoid making generalisations about companies, other organisations or professions. For example, you can say “My social worker doesn’t seem to understand my situation” but must NOT SAY “Social workers don’t know what they are doing”. This way you have the opportunity to express your feelings about your personal situation, while making it clear that it does not apply to every situation or circumstance.

Alzheimer's Society's factsheet, 'Voluntary Organisations', provides information on other sources of support: http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/factsheet/412

Personal endorsements of products or services that may be of benefit to our users may be permitted on this forum, but if you have any commercial interest please declare this openly and refer to our Help section on Advertising.

Alzheimer's Society does not endorse in any way, and expressly disclaims liability for any product, manufacturer, distributor, service or service provider mentioned or any opinion expressed in answers or comments in this area of the forum.

We ask you to keep any links that you post on Talking Point relevant to the discussion. Links which are not judged to be appropriate for this forum, or which contravene forum rules, may be removed.

To help keep Talking Point secure, and to reduce nuisance or ‘SPAM’ posts, new members may not post external links on the forum until they have posted ten bona fide messages. New members who wish to post links for legitimate purposes, e.g. fundraising or campaigning, should contact a member of the moderating team, or email talkingpoint@alzheimers.org.uk.

Alzheimer's Society is not responsible for the content of external websites. All members wishing to post content held on external sites are reminded of our guidance re. copyright.

Talking Point is a publicly visible online forum, which means that most of the information posted here can be viewed by anyone browsing the internet. For example, Talking Point threads often come up in Google searches on specific topics.

To help maintain the privacy and safety of forum members, we strongly advise that you register on the forum with a nickname (please see our Help section on choosing a username).

We advise you not to include any information that might identify you when you post on Talking Point, unless you have no concerns about your identity being recognised. The more detail that you post about your circumstances, the greater the chance that you, and/or the people you are writing about, may be recognisable to others viewing the forum (this can of course include family members, care home staff, and health and social care professionals). Please be aware that we may not be able to retrospectively edit or remove posts in the event of difficulty.

Contact details and personal information

We do not permit our members to share contact details on the public forum (address, telephone number, email address, etc). Identity information can be communicated using the Private Messaging system, but it is not generally recommended.

Please do not post messages encouraging others to disclose contact details about themselves. When such details appear, they will be removed by the Talking Point team.

Please do not post messages with the sole intent of urging others to post personal information (e.g. images, stories) on other websites which may not have the same safeguards as Talking Point.

Members are expected to use the private messaging system responsibly, respecting the rights and wishes of other members. Members who receive private messages that they believe are inappropriate or abusive are encouraged to report these to the forum moderators or administrators, who will investigate the matter. Disciplinary action will be taken if it is found the Talking Point terms and conditions have been infringed.

Talking Point is a caring and supportive community, and we have forum rules in place to keep it that way. We understand that we are all human and make mistakes. We seldom ban first offences unless they are particularly severe. However, if it becomes clear someone is unwilling to follow our forum rules, they will be banned permanently. We issue permanent bans only as a last resort to protect our community.

Before you can contribute anything to Talking Point you will need to register as a member.

Once you have registered, your basic membership details will be available for other members to see.

Nothing that can identify you is visible, unless you have used real personal information when registering - something that is strongly not recommended.

Please do not enter personal contact details into your public profile listing (email address, telephone number, etc); such details will be removed.

Some messages posted on Talking Point might cause concern to some people, for example:

• the tone of a message
• the content of a message
• the person posting.

If you are concerned about any of the above, you can either contact the moderators via PM, or contact the Talking Point Manager at talkingpoint@alzheimers.org.uk  

You can report an offending post directly through the forum system

To do this, you need to first find the warning symbol. In the bottom right hand corner of every post there is a warning symbol:

Click the warning symbol and the message editor will appear.

Type in your complaint about the other person's post and press 'Send Report'.

When you press 'Send Report', an e-mail message is sent to the Talking Point moderators. That e-mail will contain your own e-mail [not Private Message] address, although no reply will normally be sent there.

Upon receiving your alert, the moderators will review the post in question and, if appropriate, take action.

What will happen after I have reported my concerns?

Your concerns will be considered by either the Talking Point Manager, by all moderators, or by all the moderators together with the Talking Point Manager, according to the nature of the concern.

The concerns may be noted and the particular area more closely monitored for a while to learn more.

You may receive a reply saying that your concern has been noted but that it is not considered necessary to take action or you may receive a reply that says your concern is being acted upon.

If you feel that your concerns have not been addressed appropriately, or if your concerns relate to an area for which Alzheimer's Society is responsible, then you may wish to refer to Alzheimer's Society's complaints procedure.

If you are seeking to post on Talking Point in relation to a research project:

We are responsible for ensuring that Talking Point is used in an appropriate way by researchers.

We can only ensure this if we are provided with information confirming that a research project has received ethics consent from the National Research Ethics Service (NRES).

We cannot allow the forum to be used to recruit participants for any studies without prior permission from Alzheimer's Society.

Anyone interested in posting a message about a research project should contact the Talking Point Manager before they post. This will help to avoid confusion, and assure forum members that all invitations to be involved in research which are posted, have been approved by Alzheimer's Society.

If you are seeking general information about dementia, or canvassing for opinions:

Students, researchers and professionals who are looking for general information about dementia, or who wish to canvass for opinions via the forum, are welcome to do so, provided they post publicly, and in the relevant section, Researchers, students and professionals.

Please do not ask questions which may lead to forum members posting personal or contact information, and please do not post your own personal or contact details.

Researchers and students may also find it helpful to contact Alzheimer's Society's library, the Dementia Knowledge Centre, at knowledgecentre@alzheimers.org.uk.

Sharing real life experience through the media is a crucial part of raising awareness of dementia. A single story can achieve more than a thousand facts or figures: it can give personal insight and achieve lasting change.

This is why you can help. If you are living with dementia or caring for a person with dementia and are interested in sharing your story with the media, then Alzheimer's Society would like to hear from you.

To find out more, please contact our press team at press@alzheimers.org.uk.

Introduction

These online forums are meant as a support group for peer-to-peer discussions, and are not an official channel for Alzheimer's Society.

The moderator hosts are all volunteers, who are selected and recruited by Alzheimer's Society.

1. Purpose of Talking Point

• 1.1 The purpose of this site is to provide a safe forum for people to share experiences and help each other cope with the challenges of living with or caring for people with dementia.
• 1.2 The moderators of this site cannot be expected to pre-check the content posted via the discussion system and therefore we make no claims as to the accuracy, integrity, timeliness or quality of such content.
• 1.3 This site facilitates peer support; it should not be used as a substitute for professional advice. You should consult your doctor, or other relevant professional, before making any decisions that could affect you or others.

2. Conduct Expected of Users

• 2.1 Participation in, and use of this site is at the user's own risk.
• 2.2 All views and information, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted are individual and not the views, policy or advice of Alzheimer's Society. You understand and acknowledge that content is the sole responsibility of the person from which such content originated.
• 2.3 The naming of health or care providers, legal services and/or their individual staff is prohibited, with the exception of posters who have sought prior permission to do so from Alzheimer’s Society. In all other circumstances, Alzheimer's Society aims to remove such references, but has no obligation to do so.
• 2.4 The use of the message boards for gathering information for surveys, articles and research studies, or similar, is prohibited unless prior permission has been given by Alzheimer's Society.
• 2.5 All users under the age of 13 must seek permission from their parent or guardian in order to gain membership of this site. While we welcome participation from members under 13, we require that a parent or guardian fax or mail back a signed permission form before we grant membership.
• 2.6 You agree not to participate in mischievous or malicious behaviour which causes damage or may cause damage to Alzheimer's Society or this site or any of the computer systems on which this site resides.
• 2.7 By using this site you agree to these terms and conditions. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions Alzheimer's Society reserves the right to prohibit you from using this site.

3. Postings and Messages

• 3.1 Content that is posted to this site or otherwise included in its private messaging systems, including your choice of public name or id, must follow these conditions.
• 3.2 Messages must not be obscene, defamatory or libellous, inflammatory, vulgar, sexually orientated, racial, political, hateful, threatening, in violation of any laws or good morals and practice or personally abusive. You hereby undertake to indemnify and hold harmless Alzheimer's Society against all costs and expenses from any such actions by you.
• 3.3 Messages containing personal contact details (full names, email addresses/links, phone numbers, fax numbers or postal addresses) are not allowed except with the prior written consent of Alzheimer's Society.
• 3.4 Messages containing personal endorsement of products and services that may be of benefit to our users, may be permitted. Messages, usernames and profile information deemed to contain commercial advertising, and unsolicited messages for the purpose of advertising a product or service, are not permitted on this site.
• 3.5 Posts raising funds for causes other than Alzheimer's Society in the UK may be removed. People wishing to fundraise for causes other than Alzheimer's Society should consult the Talking Point Manager before posting on this forum.
• 3.6 Messages advertising items, whether for sale or donation, are not permitted on this site. This includes offers of second-hand equipment.
• 3.7 Messages must not be excessively repeated intentionally.
• 3.8 Messages must not infringe or violate another party's rights (including, but not limited to, copyright and/or intellectual property rights, and rights of privacy and publicity).
• 3.9 Please do not post medical, legal or financial information in an advisory capacity. Alzheimer's Society aims to remove such content, but has no obligation to do so.
• 3.10 Please do not promote, advocate or post unsubstantiated claims about alternative or complementary therapies on this site.
• 3.11 Please keep any links that you post relevant to the discussion. Alzheimer's Society is not responsible for the content of external websites and may remove external links without further notice.
• 3.12 Links to videos may be posted when relevant to the discussion, but users are not permitted to embed videos on this site. Alzheimer's Society will remove embedded videos posted by users.
• 3.13 By submitting information to the discussion boards, you grant Alzheimer's Society a non-exclusive worldwide royalty-free perpetual non-revocable licence to use, distribute, adapt, modify, display, reproduce and transmit such information in any and all media in the manner in whole or in part without any duty to account to you. You also grant Alzheimer's Society the right to grant licences to users of the Website to view and copy such information for personal use.
• 3.14 Alzheimer's Society may from time to time edit or remove posts that are contrary to these terms and conditions or not constructive to the overall purpose and mission of Talking Point and/or Alzheimer's Society.
• 3.15 You agree not to transmit any chain letters, spam, or junk messages to other users.
• 3.16 You agree to respect the privacy and wishes of those users who you have been privately messaging. You must not pass on details to third parties (except Alzheimer's Society) without permission.
• 3.17 By sending or receiving a private message you consent to them being viewed by Alzheimer's Society or its representatives, where Alzheimer's Society have been notified of a problem or a breach of these terms and conditions.

4. Moderation and Banning

• 4.1 Alzheimer's Society has the right, but no obligation, to remove, edit, move or close any message or group of messages for any reason.
• 4.2 Alzheimer's Society is not obliged to enter into any correspondence regarding the moderation of content on the Talking Point discussion system.
• 4.3 Alzheimer's Society has the right to modify or delete any or all information relating to a user, including closure of that user's account, without prior notice or reason.
• 4.4 Any removal or banning of a visitor from anywhere within Talking Point is binding and the decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into, nor will forum managers or moderators be obliged to explain such banning.
• 4.5 Posts discussing moderator actions are not permitted on this forum. Members who wish to take issue with any decision made by a moderator should either contact the moderating team or the Talking Point Manager privately. Posts discussing moderators' decisions on Talking Point will be removed without notice, and may result in further moderator action.
• 4.6 In cases of dispute, the decision of the Talking Point Manager at Alzheimer's Society shall be final.

5. Privacy and Data Protection

• 5.1 We do not share any personal information about you, except where you have given permission.
• 5.2 Cookies are used to assist the functionality of the website only; personal data is not collected via cookies.
• 5.3 From time to time Alzheimer's Society may contact you for administration purposes.

6. Notice of Action and Changes to Terms & Conditions

• 6.1 Where a breach of these terms and conditions occurs Alzheimer's Society reserves the right to take such action as it sees fit.
• 6.2 Any reference to third party organisations, their product/s, service/s or staff does not imply endorsement by Alzheimer's Society.
• 6.3 This agreement shall be governed in accordance with the laws of England.
• 6.4 The terms and conditions of this agreement are subject to change by Alzheimer's Society at any time. Any user's usage of this site following changes shall indicate the user's acceptance of the new agreement.

7. Exclusion of Liability

• 7.1 Alzheimer's Society hereby excludes all and any losses, liabilities, claims, damages, expenses or costs (whether as a consequence of its negligence or otherwise) arising in connection with:
• your use or inability to use Talking Point;
• any unauthorised access to or alterations of information provided by you;
• your use of any third party websites (including without limitation those that may be connected by hyperlink to this site);
• any arrangements entered into with any third party in connection with any information provided by or in connection with this site;
• the inaccuracy, incompleteness or tardiness of any information supplied through the service other than, in each case, any liability in respect of death or personal injury.

8. Definitions

• 8.1 'this site' refers to all Talking Point Forum Internet pages in the forum.alzheimers.org.uk sub-domain.
• 8.2 'Alzheimer's Society' includes to any person or organisation involved in any part of the design, development, operation, marketing, promotion or other similar aspects of this site.
• 8.3 'user' and 'you' refer to any person viewing or interacting with this site.
• 8.4 'content' refers to any text, photograph or other image presented on this site to users by either Alzheimer's Society or users.
• 8.5 'messages' includes all private messages, posts on the main forum and in social groups, blog entries and user profile listings.

If you have any comments or complaints about Talking Point or any of its members, please write to talkingpoint@alzheimers.org.uk.

Terms and Conditions of Use: Last updated April 2012

Don't reply unknowingly to an old thread: Before you reply to any post, always check the date of the last message that was posted there. You will find the date and time of each post at the top left.

Remember that Talking Point is a public forum: Whilst Talking Point is a supportive community, remember that anything you post in the public forum can be viewed by anyone with access to the Internet. Never post information that might help someone identify you or where you live.

Ensure you abide by the forum rules: i.e. please don't use foul language or insults; don't name care providers or individual staff associated with them; don't promote a product with which you are associated; and don't 'hijack' a thread by taking it off-topic.

Remember that Talking Point members often post at times of stress: This can lead to mis-understandings and sometimes, conflict.

Talking Point is an online support and discussion forum, for anyone affected by dementia. It's a place to ask for advice, share information, join in discussions and - most of all - feel supported.

Anyone can visit the forum as a guest, and browse its content.

If you would like to communicate with others and ask your own questions, you will need to register as a member.

The forum is managed by Alzheimer's Society and supported by volunteer moderators.

Talking Point is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Talking Point is not:

• manned by professional advisers. Help is provided through shared experience and peer support
• able to help diagnose dementia, or advise on treatments
• able to recommend care homes, doctors or other care providers.

The main purpose of Talking Point is to support people affected by dementia. Other matters, such as active campaigning and soap-boxing, are welcome as long as:

• members wishing to post about a campaigning issue have sought prior permission from Alzheimer’s Society to post (please see our guidelines on Campaigning)
• messages are placed appropriately - e.g. the 'Tea room', 'Resources' area or 'Raising Awareness and Campaigning'
• messages do not divert the forum from its main purpose
• messages do not prove to cause upset to the majority of members.

Moderators will move or delete contributions that disrupt the benefits that the majority of members gain from Talking Point.

Talking Point is here for anyone who is affected by dementia.

The forum is public, and thus most content may be viewed by anyone who has an Internet connection and a browser.

Some content is able to be viewed only by registered members, and only registered members may contribute to the content of the forum.