As long as you know how to use the “ Reply” and “ New Topic” buttons you know enough to use the forum!

You need to sign up to get the most out of the form (even if only reading).

If you want to know more then read on…

How do I sign up?

• After using the Create New Account form you will be emailed a link to validate your email address.

• The username and (if you use one) password for the forum are separate from any other aspect of Mental Health Law Online.

How do I log in?

• Use your username and password; or

• Click “with email” to receive a login link (no need for password).

What is the forum structure?

• There are four categories:

  1. Law and practice.
  2. MHLO updates.
  3. Miscellaneous.

• Categories contain topics, and each topic has an original post and usually some replies.

How do I reply to a topic?

• When you are reading a topic, either:

  • Just click “ Reply”; or
  • To quote someone, select the relevant text and select the “ Quote” button that pops up.

• You can use the button if you like a post, as an alternative to replying.

• Consider starting a new topic (instead of replying) if your point is not directly relevant.

• See also “Can I reply to a topic by email?” below.

How do I start a new topic?

• Click “ New Topic”.

• Choose a relevant category.

• You can add tags (e.g. “mha” or “mca”) in the “Law and practice” category.

What are the numbers beside topic names

• A number in a blue circle represents new posts (since you last visited the topic).

• A number in a grey circle represents unread posts (which were there when you last visited).

• Otherwise, the number just means the total number of posts in the topic.

What forum notifications will I receive?

• You don’t need to understand this part… it works very intuitively in practice, and I only realised how complicated it is when writing this

• The notification levels affect various things, including:

  • Notification: What is added to your “Notification” page (click on the number beside your initial/avatar on the top right to see new ones)
  • Count: Which topics have a count of “new” messages beside them in a blue circle.

• You can apply the following levels to categories, tags or topics:

  • Watching — Notified: new topics and replies. Counted: new topics and replies.
  • Tracking — Notified: only if someone replies to you. Counted: new topics and replies.
  • Watching first post (category only) — Notified: new topics in category, but not replies. Counted: new topics.
  • Normal — Notified: only if someone replies to you. Counted: nothing.
  • Muted — Notified: nothing. Counted: nothing.

• By default, you will be:

  • Watching a topic when you have added a reply to it.
  • Tracking any topic after you’ve read it for 4 minutes.
  •  Watching first post in the “Law and practice” category.
  • Normal for everything else.

• You can change your notification preferences, and in particular your category notification preferences.

What emails will I receive?

• By default, if you are away from the forum, you will be sent an email for anything you are  Watching or  Watching first post.

• You can change your email preferences to receive more or fewer emails.

Can I reply to a topic by email?

• When you receive an email notification, you can reply by visiting the forum or alternatively by replying to the email.

How can I change other preferences?

• You can change any of your preferences on your preferences page.

What are these badges?

• The badges come as part of the forum software, e.g. you will get a “Read guidelines” badge for reading this page.

• It’s a bit of fun and you can just ignore it.

Any other questions?

• This page is a work in progress. It will be added to as time goes on, and based on any points raised in the Feedback category.

Disclaimer

• Please read the Terms of Service page.