Linking to resources/websites

Hey guys!

I thought I'd make a post which explains our guidelines around linking to resources and websites (thanks @annabethxchase for raising the issue!). The guidelines, which you can read here, cover the basics but don't really explain this in a huge amount of detail.

Anything that's published here on the ReachOut site has been reviewed by staff and experts in the field, and so we encourage you to link to RO content! 😄 😄

If the link is to somewhere that isn't ReachOut it can be a bit tricker. As a general guide, though, the external site needs to not break our guidelines. For example:

What is NOT appropriate to link to:

• Anything commercial (such as a link to buy a product)
• Anything which breaks anonymity (such as a personal blog)
• Anything with a heavily political/religious bias, or which is defamatory
• Anything that references specific medications, self-harm methods, weight loss methods etc.
• Surveys or research studies which haven't been approved by RO staff

Stuff that generally IS okay:

• Links to one of our partner organisations such as Kids Helpline, Lifeline etc
• Self-help resources
• Government websites

There are other contextual factors which influence how appropriate link-sharing is:

• How long you've been a member (if you signed up 20 minutes ago this is potentially a red flag, as you may not be familiar with the guidelines yet)
• How many posts you've made (if you've never posted before this is another potential red flag)
• Whether it's relevant to the discussion (for example, linking to articles on cricket scores for the latest India vs Sri Lanka test match, on a thread about someone being bullied, is not appropriate... Yes, this has actually happened :P)