Community Moderation Policy

What this page is for

“Ask the HS Community” is a moderated knowledge base, not a forum. Questions are submitted anonymously, editorially reviewed, and answered in a fixed structure that keeps community experience, current evidence, and questions for your clinician clearly separated.

The goal is that people can ask practical everyday questions without revealing their identity — and be guided towards reviewed information.

What happens to a submission

• Published with an editorial summary.
• Merged with an existing question that means the same thing.
• Declined if it requests individual diagnosis or treatment advice.

What we do not publish

• Requests for individual diagnosis or personal treatment advice
• Requests to interpret laboratory results or medical findings
• Comparisons of prescription medicines or dosing instructions
• Cure promises, guarantees, and unsupported treatment claims
• Commercial recommendations, product endorsements, and affiliate content
• Identifiable details about patients, relatives, or clinicians
• Offensive, demeaning, or discriminatory content
• Reassurance that rules out medical assessment (“that's normal”, “you don't need to get that looked at”)

Comments

People living with HS can comment on published questions with their own experience. Comments never appear immediately: they are editorially reviewed before publication to rule out harmful content, identifying details, and statements written as treatment advice.

This applies in both directions: neither a remote diagnosis nor an all-clear is allowed. Comments may describe personal experience, but must not judge whether someone else's symptoms need medical assessment.

Comments may be shortened or declined. There is no entitlement to publication. Approved comments are labelled as personal experience and are never presented as medical statements.

Anonymity and privacy

• No user account and no email address required.
• No public usernames; an optional display name can be anything you choose.
• Please do not submit names, addresses, contact details, or photographs — such content is declined.
• Submissions are processed solely for moderation and deleted after the GDPR retention period.

Emergencies

This page is not suitable for emergencies. With severe pain, high fever, rapidly spreading inflammation, or in a mental health crisis, please seek medical help or contact emergency services immediately.