POSAA - POSAA Forum changes

Hello POSAA Forum Members,
As many forum members may be aware, the POSAA website and associated forum has had a few security concerns over the past few months. In particular, due to its very nature, the forum has had an increasing number of spammers and, sad to say, stalkers. The posts generated by these have caused distress to members and are of great concern to the POSAA Committee.

At recent brainstorming workshops that have been held in NSW and Victoria, suggestions have been made to the committee on how to handle these occurrences. A popular suggestion has been to restrict the forum to Financial Members only, the reasoning being spammers and stalkers alike are unlikely to want to pay an annual fee just for the opportunity to post.

After much discussion and investigation into other possible solutions, the committee have decided to go ahead with this idea. The POSAA forum has always been an important place of support for many cysters and the committee takes the safety and security of all its members most seriously. It is important that we can all post and share our journeys in a safe and welcoming environment. With the forum as it is, if you google search your user name, your profile can be accessed and then things you have written can be read. Taking this step to restrict to Financial Members will help ensure that your privacy and personal information is kept secure.

The committee is aware that not all forum members have yet signed up to be Financial Members – to ensure that everyone has ample opportunity, the change will not occur until Saturday 22nd August 2009. This allows 6 weeks for everyone to sign up. We will be posting reminders here on the forum and via email to ensure no one is left behind

The POSAA website itself will still be freely available to all public – after all, POSAA is here to provide important information to all cysters It is only the Forum that will be restricted to Financial Members only.

After 22nd August, you will start to see other exciting changes – new forum status levels and a new look website are all in the pipe work in the coming months!

If you are an existing Financial Member, you do not need to do anything prior to the 22nd August. If you are not yet a Financial Member, you can sign up here Join POSAA Now

POSAA is the leading Australian advocacy group for women with PCOS, so becoming a Financial Member means you will be apart of the exciting new changes for POSAA this year. On top of having access to the Forum, you also get our new look and highly informative quarterly newsletter, discount entry to the annual conference, free entry to support group meetings, and soon, a membership discount/loyalty card. Your membership with POSAA also goes a long way in making a difference to the lives of women with PCOS, with us getting one step closer to the National Guidelines.

If you have any questions regarding this decision, please either pm me or email the committee via my email veryan@posaa.asn.au

Kind Regards,

POSAA Committee