Purpose: The Social Group area provides a place for women with common interests to connect with each other about those interests. We find that so many women want to continue to connect with each other past their hysterectomy recoveries, and this gives them a place to do just that.

1. In the purple HysterSisters menu bar, click on Community.
2. Click on Social Groups.
3. You’ll see several categories of groups, including Favorite Activities and Professionals. You can click on a category to browse the available groups, or you can do a search.
4. Click on the name of a group you’re interested in. You’ll see current group members and a Join Group option (right above the picture).
5. Toward the bottom of the screen, you’ll see an area for Social Group Discussions. Feel free to respond to messages or share what’s on your mind about this common interest.

• Use the CONTACT US form found in a link at the bottom of every page of the website to request a new group.

Purpose: Visitor Messages are messages you post on someone’s profile page. They are public (can be read by anyone) and are similar to the Friends’ Comments on MySpace and the Wall on Facebook. It’s a place to post a quick wave or “I’ve been thinking of you” message

1. Visit the profile where you want to write a message. There are two ways to do this:
2. Click on the member’s username in any message she has posted in a forum. Click on View Public Profile.
3. Click on Community in the purple HysterSisters menu bar and select Members list. Click on Search Members and enter the member’s name. After you see her name listed, click on the name and you’ll get to her profile.
4. You’ll see a small window for Visitor Messages. Type in your message and click on Post Message.

• Go to your own profile. (Click on User CP in the purple HysterSisters menu bar and then click on Your Profile.)

Purpose: Although you can communicate with any member and easily tell who’s online at any time, when you have Contacts and Friends, you have quicker access to the members you most want to stay in touch with. You’ll be able to tell when your friends are online and will be able to quickly link to their profiles and send them messages.

1. From your Control Panel, click on Contacts & Friends (in the Networking section). Scroll down a bit and type in a member’s name in the Add a Member… box and click on Add Contact or Add Friend.
2. When you are reading a message posted in one of the forums, click on the username of the member you want to add. One of the options is to add the member to your Contacts. You’ll just need to click to confirm.

• You will get an email from the website telling you that you have a friend request. You will then return to your control panel/profile to approve or deny the friend request.

1. Click on Quick Links in the purple HysterSisters menu bar and then select Open Contacts Popup. You’ll see a little popup window that lists your contacts. You can tell at a glance who is online. If you click on the box next to a friend’s username, you can scroll to the bottom and click on PM Users to quickly get to the PM screen.
2. From your Control Panel, click on Contacts & Friends. Click on the name of a friend and you’ll go straight to her profile. From there, you can post a Visitor Message or use the Send Message dropdown to send a PM or an email.
3. Click on Community in the purple HysterSisters menu bar and select Contacts & Friends. Click on the name of a friend and you’ll go straight to her profile. From there, you can post a Visitor Message or use the Send Message dropdown to send a PM or an email.

• Do I have any control over who can see my groups, friends, and messages?

1. Yes! In your Control Panel, select Profile Privacy. For each option, you can choose whether everyone can see the information (which means even non-member visitors to the website), only registered HysterSisters members, or only your contacts and friends. Hostesses and websites administrators will see these areas as well.
2. You can restrict these features even further if you like by going to your Control Panel and selecting Settings and Options. You can limit the use of Visitor Messages to your contacts and to moderators (members of the Hostess Team).

• Prefix option for thread

1. Several of our forums now have a prefix option when you are creating a thread. These are for the times when your question is very specific to a particular procedure or condition. In the Pre-op forum, for instance, you may have a question about how long you can expect to be on your pain medication, and it’s probably best to have no prefix. However, if you have a question about whether you’ll be able to climb two flights of stairs two days after your total vaginal hysterectomy, it’s probably more important to have a prefix (Scheduled TVH) that will grab the attention of women with this particular experience. When in doubt, it is better to go with no prefix.
2. Not all of our forums have the prefix option. At this point, it is available only in Pre-Op and Cancer Concerns.

• How do I ask for support?

Purpose: Whenever you have your own question, it is best to start your own thread. Although it is tempting to add your question into a reply to someone else, each woman deserves her own support. Replies should respond to the original poster and her needs. If your question gets tacked on, not only can this keep the original poster from getting the support she needs, it can mean that your own question will get lost and you won’t get the support you deserve.

• How do I start my own thread?

1. Go to the forum that best matches the kind of support you need. If you click on the Forums tab at the top right of the HysterSisters screen, you can scroll down and see a brief description for each forum to help you decide where to go. Just click on the forum name to go there.
2. Toward the top of the screen (or directly below any sub-forums), you’ll see a New Topic button. Just click on this button to make your own thread.
3. You’ll be able to type in your subject or question (and in some forums you’ll be able to select a prefix as well). Type your message in the big box and then click on Submit New Thread.

• How do I reply to someone else’s thread?

1. To read the thread, just click on the thread title.
2. If you have experience that might be helpful, or if you even just want to sympathize with the original poster, you can reply by scrolling to the bottom, typing your response in the message window, and clicking on Post Quick Reply.

• How do I get those cute little smilies I see all over the place?

1. To the right of the message box, you’ll see a few of our basic smilies. If you click on More, you’ll have a window pop up. You can maximize the window and scroll down and choose the smilies you want.
2. Regular members can have up to 5 smilies in each message.
3. Crown Jewel members can have up to 10 smilies per message and have access to even more smilie options. Click here to become a Crown Jewel.

• What is meant by “hysterectomy support,” and what does it mean to “keep the support in the forums”?

1. Hysterectomy support is HysterSisters’ reason for being. Anything related to deciding to have a hysterectomy or not, preparing for surgery, having the surgery, or recovering from surgery is hysterectomy support. Many women (and their partners) visit our website without becoming members. They are looking for information, even when they aren’t posting their own questions. By keeping all hysterectomy support in the hysterectomy forums, this information stays easily available and accessible for all visitors. If hysterectomy conversations crop up in some of our other forums, then good and helpful information gets lost to people who are looking for it.
2. Still, we think it is wonderful when women discover that they relate to each other in ways beyond the hysterectomy that brought them here. We therefore have opportunities for them to communicate as well. Our Friends Without Faces and Hysteritaville etc. forums are place for women to chat about non-hysterectomy subjects. Respond to an existing thread, play some games, or start your own thread—but please keep it on-topic and use the hysterectomy forums for the hysterectomy conversations.

• What if I want to send someone an individual message?

We have several ways you can communicate with each other individually. You can access each of these options by clicking on a member’s using name and selecting the option you want.

1. Private Messages (PM): These messages are sort of an internal email system. You have an inbox that you can access from any screen (right below the purple HysterSisters menu bar). You may have up to 50 messages (including sent messages) in your message folder. If your message folder is getting full, you can download the messages you want to save (scroll to the bottom of the message listing for the links) and then delete the messages.
2. Email: You can send a message that will go to the member’s personal email account rather than into the HysterSisters private message inbox quota.
3. Visitor Message: This is a message that can be read by all, not just by the recipient of the message.
4. Note: Each member has the option of restricting who can send her messages and through what formats. There may be times when you are unable to send a message to someone.
5. Ack! I don’t understand any of this! What if I can’t figure out how to do something or if I follow the instructions and it still doesn’t work? What do I do?

• Post a message in our Tech Help Forum. Someone will be along soon to help you out.
• Read through our FAQ, the “New Here?” tutorial or contact us using the contact link found at the bottom of every page of the website.

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