Online community guidelines

Scope’s online community is a safe and friendly space for:

• disabled people
• parents and carers
• those who work with disabled children and adults

Here you can:

• ask questions
• share your experiences
• and get support with any aspect of disability

Visit the online community.

How to join Scope's online community

To post comments and discussions, you need to sign up.

1. Go to our registration page.
2. Enter your email address.
3. Choose your username and make a note of it.
4. Choose a memorable password at least 7 characters long. Try to use a capital letter and a number. This makes it harder for someone to guess.
5. Agree the terms of service.
6. Click the ‘Sign up’ button. All done!

Using our online community

Searching the discussions

Check the ‘Categories page’.

Click on a category that interests you.

Click on a discussion title to read it.

Posting a comment

When logged into your account, scroll to the bottom of a discussion to leave a comment. Type your comment into the white box and click ‘Post comment’ to send.

Starting a new discussion

While logged in, click the button marked ‘New discussion’ at the top-right corner of the screen. This will take you to a new page.

Choose a category for your post from the menu.

In the box below, give your post a title.

Type your post in the larger box. You can add formatting such as bold or italic by using the icons at the top of the box.

You can add website links by selecting some text and clicking the icon above that looks like a chain link.

When finished, click the ‘Post discussion’ button to publish it.

If you want to see what your post will look like before you publish it, click the ‘Preview’ button.

Removing a comment or discussion

You can edit your post for up to 1 hour.

If you wish to edit or delete something after 1 hour, email community@scope.org.uk

Customising your profile

You can customise your profile by clicking on your username or profile picture at the top-right of the screen.

Click ‘Edit profile’.

On the edit profile screen, you can upload a picture. This can be a picture of you, your pet or another way to identify yourself on the community.

Notifications

From the edit profile screen, you can also change your notification preferences. This can notify you of new posts in the community if you wish.

Click the purple button near the bottom of the screen to ‘Save preferences’.

Changing passwords

To change your password, click your username and edit profile.

Click ‘Change my password’.

If you have any problems accessing your account, email community@scope.org.uk

Reporting offensive posts and spam

If you see anything that goes against our community guidelines, please report it but do not reply.

Click the flag icon at the bottom of the post or comment.

Type your reason for reporting the post.

Click the ‘send report’ button.

We take all reports seriously.

Sharing posts

You can also share discussions by clicking the Facebook and Twitter icons.

Liking posts

You can use 'Insightful', ‘Like’ and ‘Awesome’ to express your agreement or show appreciation for a post. The poster will receive 1 community point for each positive reaction.

Badges and ranks

As a community user, you can earn badges for:

• making comments
• being on the community for a year or more
• receiving positive reactions
• contributing in a positive way

Badges and ranks are a fun way of showing how much members contribute to the community.

Once you reach 25 points, you can send private messages.

You can view your current rank, points and badges on your profile page.

Unanswered posts

Many people join Scope’s community because they have a question or an issue that they need help with.

Check our ‘unanswered posts’ page to see if there are any posts that you can help to answer.

The role of the community team

The community team's role is to oversee the daily running of the Scope community.

We do our best to promote a friendly, supportive environment for all. So we remove spam and other messages that upset others.

Please help us to do this. If you ever want to contact us about anything, email community@scope.org.uk

Volunteer hosts

A host is a volunteer who:

• helps welcome new members
• responds to posts
• helps make sure the community is safe and supportive

We’re always looking for new volunteer hosts. If you’re interested in helping, email community@scope.org.uk

Volunteer advisers

We also have specialist advisers on the Scope community. You can find them by scrolling to the bottom of the categories page.

They will do their best to answer your questions, but they are volunteers, so response times can vary.