Community rules
Talk about cooking, food and the practical side of living with a health condition. Share what has happened to you. Be kind. Leave medical decisions to the people who know your history.
1. Share your experience, not instructions
This is the rule that matters most here. Nobody on the forum, including health professionals and CERNERE staff, knows another member’s history, medicines or other conditions. So nobody gives the advice a doctor, dietitian or someone who knows the person would give.
| Welcome | Not allowed |
|---|---|
| “I’m in a wheelchair now. How do I get back into the kitchen?” | “Take X, it will cure you.” |
| “I’ve been getting some sun and it’s helped mine. It’s painful, I know.” | “A Mediterranean diet will cure psoriasis.” |
| “My flares have improved a lot since I started cooking Mediterranean-style.” | “Stop taking your medication, it’s poison.” |
| “My dietitian suggested smaller meals for me. This is how I plan them.” | “You should take 5000 IU of vitamin D.” |
- Say what happened to you, and what you were told for you. Do not tell anyone else to start, stop or change a medicine, supplement, dose or treatment.
- Do not say that a food, diet, product or practice cures, reverses or prevents a condition.
- Do not diagnose anyone, and do not discourage anyone from seeing a health professional.
- Usernames and profile tags cannot claim a qualification, because nobody can check it. If you are a health professional you are welcome here as a member, not as anyone’s clinician.
- CERNERE’s own recipes and guides are general information too. Talk to your own doctor, dietitian or care team before changing your diet or treatment.
If something could be an emergency, stop reading and call your local emergency number: 000 (Australia), 111 (New Zealand), 999 (UK), 911 (US and Canada). If you are in crisis: Lifeline 13 11 14 (Australia), 1737 (New Zealand), Samaritans 116 123 (UK and Ireland), 988 (US and Canada).
2. No selling
- No advertising, affiliate links, discount codes, supplement or “detox” promotion, multi-level marketing, fundraising or requests for money.
3. Privacy and safety
- Posts are public and can appear in search engines. Do not post your full name, address, phone number, test results or anything else that identifies you.
- Never post someone else’s health information or personal details.
- Links to other websites open through a warning page. CERNERE does not check or control other sites. Never enter passwords, payment or health details on a site you reached from a forum link.
- Recipes and tips shared by members have not been checked by CERNERE. Check them against your own allergies, intolerances and instructions, and follow normal food safety.
4. No harmful eating content
- Nothing that promotes disordered eating, extreme restriction or fasting as a treatment, and no body or weight shaming. If food has become frightening or controlling, talk to your doctor. In Australia the Butterfly Foundation helpline is 1800 33 4673.
5. Be decent
- Disagree with ideas, not people. No harassment, threats, hate speech, spam, scams, automated posting, or anything illegal.
How moderation works
- Some posts may wait for a quick check before they appear, for example a new member’s first post, or a post that looks like a cure claim, a medicine or dose instruction, or selling. Most are approved within a day.
- You are always told. If a moderator removes, edits, locks or moves your post, you get a notification naming the rule and the reason. Hidden posts leave a visible note in the discussion naming the rule. Who reported something is never shown.
- The steps: a note or edit, then a warning, then a temporary suspension, then a ban. Spam, scams, threats and illegal content can skip straight to a ban. Accounts used for spam, scams or abuse may be restricted without notice.
- Appeals: you can appeal any decision once, within 30 days, from the notification. A moderator who did not make the original decision decides it.
- Reporting: use the Report link on any post or member. Choose “Someone may be in crisis” if you are worried about someone, and staff are alerted straight away. The forum is not an emergency service and staff may not see it at once: if someone is in danger now, call your local emergency number.
- Pauses: if the forum is flooded with spam, staff can pause registrations or posting for a while. A banner explains why.
Your posts
You keep ownership of what you write. By posting you give CERNERE a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to host, display, reproduce and moderate it, and to keep it after your account is closed (shown as “Deleted member”). CERNERE is not responsible for anything members post or any advice given, and you use what you read here at your own risk. The terms of use, medical disclaimer, privacy policy and cookie policy apply.