How to use the Online Community FAQs

User

Posted 06 Oct 2026 at 14:47

We've updated our How to use the Online Community FAQs and shared them below. You can also access them on our website via the 'Help' tab in the top menu.

Signing up

You can sign up to the Online Community on our registration page. Don’t use your email address or real name as your username because this will be visible to the whole of the community.

Do I need to include my age?

No, but the Community is for people older than 18. If you are under 18, we recommend that you check out Teen Macmillan for information and support.

What do you do with my information?

Prostate Cancer UK are committed to protecting your privacy online. To find out more about this, read our Privacy Policy.

Will I get a verification email?

Yes, once you’ve completed the registration, we will send you a verification email within one hour containing details of how to login to your new account. If you don't receive your verification email, please contact us.

How do I change my email address?

Click on ‘My Account’ in the Community menu and you will be able to click ‘Edit Profile’ to change your email address.

How do I change my password?

Click on ‘My Account’ in the Community menu and go to ‘Change Password’.

How do I change my username?

Please contact us to request this.

Forgotten password

If you forget your password, you can click on the retrieve password link and enter your username or email address. An email will be sent to your registered address shortly with instructions for resetting your password. Passwords are encrypted for security so cannot be resent, only reset.

If you were a member of the Online Community before May 2014 your username and profile information have been moved in to the new community, but your password will have been reset. To get your new password you should also use the retrieve password link.

Editing your profile and homepage

Your profile is a place to tell the community who you are and why you have joined. Our members include details of their treatment history in this section to find other people in the same situation or check up on each other’s test results.

It's up to you what you write, but please don't include your address, email address, phone number or anything that can be used to identify you offline.

Can I include a profile picture?

Yes, you can upload a photo (or ‘avatar’) which will appear on your profile and next to all comments you make. It doesn't have to be a photo – it can be anything you want as long as you own the copyright and abide by our Terms and Conditions and Community Rules.

How do I upload a picture?

To upload your profile photo, click on 'My Account', then 'Modify Avatar'.

Find the photo that you want to use from your own computer by using the ‘browse’ button, and then select ‘Update’.

How do I update my profile?

There are a couple of ways to update your profile details.

From the community home page you can click on the button which says ‘Update my profile’ which you will find underneath your avatar.

Or you can go to ‘My Account’ and ‘Edit profile’

Remember to click save afterwards.

How do I see someone else’s profile?

If you’re reading a conversation, you can see any user’s profile simply by clicking their username or profile picture. A mini profile will appear on top of the conversation, so you don’t have to leave the conversation to find out more about the user. Clicking ‘View profile’ will take you to their full profile page.

You can also search for a particular user by clicking ‘Members’ and entering their username into the search box, or finding it by using the A – Z buttons. Just click their username in the list to view their profile.

How do I follow a user?

In the community it is possible to follow users so that you can see what updates they have made to their profiles. To do this simply click on the user to view their mini profile and then click “follow”.

When they update their profile, you will get a message on the community home page which says, “User x, user y and user z have updated their profiles.” with a link directly to it so you can see what the new update is.

How do I edit my homepage?

You can personalise what you see on your home page by going to “My Account” and clicking ‘Edit profile’.

Choose whether you want to see the ‘Popular conversations’, ‘Most thanked’, or ‘All topics’ modules on the homepage by ticking the boxes and click save when you are finished.

Getting involved in a conversation

You can go to ‘Topic areas’ tab to see a full list of conversation topics or ‘Recent conversations’ to see what people have been talking about in the last few hours, days, or weeks.

How do I start a conversation?

If there aren’t any conversations already going on the subject you want to talk about, then you can create one yourself by clicking ‘Start a conversation’.

New conversations must be approved by a moderator before they appear on the website, so please be patient. If your conversation isn’t appropriate for the community (see Terms and Conditions and Community Rules for more information) then the moderator will usually contact you to explain why it has been edited or not been approved.

How do I know if anyone has replied to my post?

You can return to your discussion at any time to see if anyone has replied, and you can choose to be notified about all replies to conversations you have created or posted on by selecting ‘Follow conversation’.

Why would I follow something?

If you are interested in a particular topic, you can click ‘Follow topic’ to be notified when new conversations are added to the topic. You can click the same button to unfollow a topic you’re already following.

If you're interested in just one conversation, click on ‘Follow this conversation’ to be notified whenever people add replies to a particular conversation.

You can follow conversations you reply to by ticking the ‘Follow this conversation - get email notifications’ box when you post your reply.

Where can I see everything that I follow?

You can see five of the conversations you follow on the community homepage and you can click the 'view all my conversations' link to see the full list.

You can also view this list by clicking ‘View all my conversations’ or going to ‘My conversations’ in the navigation bar. This view will also show you the conversations you have commented on.

How do I stop getting email notifications?

Click on ‘My account’ to visit your profile, then click on the ‘Email preferences’ tab. Here you can see all conversations you are subscribed to email notifications for, and you can unsubscribe from each group individually.

You can also change the types of notification that you receive emails for. Your options are to get no email; to get email about all conversations you have started, posted on or follow, or to get email about only the conversations and topics that you have specifically selected to follow.

Can I visit the Online Community on my mobile?

Yes, the Online Community has been specially designed so that it will work as well on mobile phones and tablets as on desktop computers.

How can I reply to a post?

You can select ‘reply’, ‘quote’ or ‘show quick reply’ to reply to a conversation.

Using the ‘show quick reply’ button, is a way to quickly reply to a message without adding any formatting. This will just display your text (and your signature, if you have enabled it). Selecting ‘reply’ will allow you to write a response with formatting options. Selecting ‘quote’ allows you to include a previous message in your reply.

How do I format my reply?

When posting messages, you may wish to include some formatting such as bold, italic or underlined text to add emphasis or to make sections of your reply stand out.

To post a reply with formatting press the 'Post a reply' button under the heading or press the 'Reply' button to the right of any of the conversation's replies.

To use formatting, simply press the button (for example, the 'B') and then type to get bold text. Click the button again to stop using that formatting.

You can also format text that you have already typed into the editor by highlighting the selection and clicking the formatting button (for example the 'I' button for Italics).

How do I quote another user?

If you want to reply to a specific post in a conversation you can use the quote functionality.

Simply click on the quotation mark in the post that you want to reference, and you will be taken to an editor with space to write a comment below the original. When you submit the post, it will appear within the conversation with special formatting around the original text.

Why would I ‘thank’ someone?

The 'Thank' button lets you give another user positive feedback, without having to compose a reply.

If you want to 'Thank' a user, simply click the thumbs-up button to the right of the post. You can remove your 'Thank' at any time by clicking the button again.

If you want to view all the posts you have thanked or show the list of posts you received thanks on, you can go to 'My Account' and select 'View Thanks'.

Where has the search box gone?

Our search box is currently disabled as we undertake important technical work on the Online Community forum, however, in the meantime you can use the method below to search and find conversations that you might be interested in:

In a search engine, type site:community.prostatecanceruk.org followed by keywords or phrases to find any relevant results. As an example, you could type:

site:community.prostatecanceruk.org travel insurance

Direct messages

A direct message is a communication between two people which no one but those two people can read. Please note that administrators can access all communications on the site in order to prevent abuse.

Where do I find them?

You can find all of the messages which people have sent to you and which you have sent to others from the ‘Inbox’ tab.

How do I know when I have a new one?

When you have a new direct message, you will see a notification in your home page telling you how many unread messages you have.

You will also see a number next to your inbox when you have unread messages, and you can choose to select notifications to your email. These settings can be updated at any time in your Account notifications settings.

Direct message folders

The inbox contains messages you receive, who they are from, the subject of the message, and when it was sent

The sent folder contains copies of all the direct messages you have sent

The archive folder contains only messages you move to that folder

There is a limit on the mail folders, so you may have to delete or export some of them from time to time. If you do not keep some space in the mailbox then you will not be able to receive new messages. Near the bottom of the inbox page, you’ll see your total private messages and what percentage of your inbox is filled.

There is a tick box next to each message which allows you to select one or more messages and archive, export, or delete them. If you choose to export, you can select which format you want (XML/CSV/Text-File) and save them to your computer.