Rules and Guidelines For Forum Posting

[there buster]

Quote:

Challenging the decisions of moderators who are acting in that role in the open forum is not acceptable behaviour.

so much for rules

[messenger]

I have never saw such a rule or any other rules or guidelines here. Also we have been sending personal emails to each other and to the other moderators and admin. And now I want to forgive, forget and move on. If anyone has a problem with that tell the moderator about it by PM! I am done with it! And If I am not welcome here I will leave and stay away, no problem, just let me know! May God's will be done!

[Tom Wetmore]

Why is all this consider to be necessary?

[Neil D]

Why is all this consider to be necessary?

This is a good question.....John...you need to answer this...BEFORE you state that these are the rules....

Also, you never answered this post-

THE CORE RULES OF NETIQUETTE

The Core Rules of Netiquette are excerpted from the book Netiquette by Virginia Shea.

Introduction

Rule 1: Remember the Human

Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life

Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace

Rule 4: Respect other people's time and bandwidth

Rule 5: Make yourself look good online

Rule 6: Share expert knowledge

Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control

Rule 8: Respect other people's privacy

Rule 9: Don't abuse your power

Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people's mistakes

I have a couple of questions....

Are your rules, John, in addition to these rules?

What is the difference between these rules and 'adventist' rules? [or at least the same rules that have been 'retranslated into Adventist', if you get my drift].

[John317]

Are you talking about the guidelines or the "rules" or both?

Yes, the rules for the Forum are somewhat different from the Netiquette rules. I don't have time to go over every individual rule and analyze the difference. Have you read them?

The rules are somewhat different from the ones posted at the beginning of this thread, and they are separate from "suggestion" or "guidelines."

[Neil D]

Ok, now I am confused..I thought that these were the rules-

Rules and Guidelines For Forum Posting:

1) Be loving. Discuss issues with Christ-like love for your brothers and sisters here.

Recognize that others are seeking the truth just like you. And these praying, thinking Christians might come to different conclusions than your own.

These members will feel just as strongly about the "rightness" of their opinion as you feel about yours. Study with them in humility -- seeking the truth, NOT just trying to convice others you are right. Go wherever the Spirit, Bible, and Spirit of Prophecy lead. HIS truth will win in the end.

2) Speak ONLY for yourself. Do not tell anyone what any other person is saying. Do not put words in their mouth. They will do that themselves. Advocate for your own position strongly but with love for others.

3) Don't call names or be negative towards other people... they are Christ's children. Sinners just like ourselves. Only rebut differing issues, NOT the members who write them.

4) No commercial messages, or spamming.

5) If you ever feel justified for being combative toward another member... see rule #1 and DON'T.

6) Listen to, and cooperate with, moderators.

I know that they said "rules and suggestions", but I figured that these were concidered THE Rules...

How do you differenciate the rules and the suggestions?

Are these, for lack of a better term, 'rules' going to become the official rules for this forum and all YOUR forums that you are moderator over?

If so, are you hoping that they become THE rules for the board?

The reason i ask is that these rules don't necessarily apply to my forums...In fact, in the pirates forum, we encourage calling names, such as scallawag and land lubbers...it's part of the pirate talk....And being kind and considerate is being infeminate and is discouraged...Of course, we do insist that one speak pirate when one does speak or thier posts are automatically deleted. the result is rather humorouos when one has a grudge...and then the grudge doesn't become a grudge....It sounds rather silly....

so, maybe if they want to fight, have them come to the pirates forum and fight it out in pirate...it sounds rather foolish when you are having a fight...and that's the idea...

[/end of shameless plug for pirates forum]

[John317]

I posted these earlier:

Rules for posting On Adventistforum:

1) Don't call names or make personal attacks against other members.

2) No belittling of individual members, their character, or their motives.

3) Only rebut issues, NOT the members who write them.

4) Don't put words in other people's mouths that they have never said. (This does not, of course, prohibit quoting their words from previous posts.)

5) Don't denigrate whole groups of people by the use of name-calling or negative stereotypes.

6) Don't post on the public threads personal differences, arguments, or old grudges, etc.

7) No commercial messages, or spamming. Commercial links / messages are only allowed on your own personal profile page.

8) Listen to, and cooperate with, moderators. (If you have a problem with a moderator, who has identified that they are acting in their role as a moderator, take it to PM immediately. Challenging the decisions of moderators who are acting in that role in the open forum is not acceptable behavior.)

The above rules will be enforced by the moderators and administrators. Enforcement may take the form of editing, deleting, warnings, and, as a last resort, suspension or banning. The moderators will apply the rules as they judge to be of benefit to their various threads, according to its tone and conditions.

If you feel that a member is flouting the rules, don't take it public and post on the board. Take it to the PM. Every member can be contacted through PMs.

[John317]

I also posted this earlier today--

The following guidelines-- to be distinguished from the rules-- are given in order to help avoid problems and to make the Forum run more smoothly and encourage healthy, productive exchanges:

1. Be loving. Discuss issues with Christ-like love for your brothers and sisters here. HIS truth will win in the end.

2. Speak for yourself only. Advocate strongly for your position but with love for others.

3. Recognize that others are seeking the truth just like you. And these praying, thinking Christians might come to different conclusions than your own. These members will feel just as strongly about the "rightness" of their opinion as you feel about yours. Study with them in humility -- seeking the truth, NOT just trying to convice others you are right. Go wherever the Spirit, Bible, and Spirit of Prophecy lead. HIS truth will win in the end.

4. Don't be negative towards other people... they are Christ's children. Sinners just like ourselves.

5. When disagreeing with other members, focus on the topic and ideas being discussed and not other members. Avoid addressing them directly, questioning their religious commitment. Abuse is attacking or belittling a person, their character, or their motives. Disagreement is not abuse.

6. Keep your posts to a reasonable length, and if necessary divide what would be a single long post into two or more shorter posts.

7. If you ever feel justified for being combative toward another member... see guideline #1 and DON'T."

8. If you are tempted to write to Stan, we suggest that you consider instead writing to one of the moderators. Stan is very busy with a minimum of 3 other boards to watch over.

9. Believe it or not, the moderators are your advocates. If you should find yourself in a position of needing an advocate, lean heavily upon what s/he says. S/He is showing the other moderators what you are doing, and evidence that you are teachable. If you revolt against the idea of an advocate before the moderatorial board, and your advocate steps aside, the moderators will recommend that you go somewhere else and Stan may gift you with a ban.

THE CORE RULES OF NETIQUETTE

The Core Rules of Netiquette: http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

Galatians 5: 13-15--

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 15But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

[Neil D]

Are these rules going to become the official rules for this forum and all other forums that you moderate over?

Are you hoping that they become THE rules for the board and possibly set the stage for any posting in on the board?

[John317]

Are these rules going to become the official rules for this forum and all other forums that you moderate over?

Are you hoping that they become THE rules for the board and possibly set the stage for any posting in on the board?

Yes, these are the rules. As you will see, the moderators are free to apply these rules as they believe is best for their individual threads or forums:

Rules for posting On Adventistforum:

1) Don't call names or make personal attacks against other members.

2) No belittling of individual members, their character, or their motives.

3) Only rebut issues, NOT the members who write them.

4) Don't put words in other people's mouths that they have never said. (This does not, of course, prohibit quoting their words from previous posts.)

5) Don't denigrate whole groups of people by the use of name-calling or negative stereotypes.

6) Don't post on the public threads personal differences, arguments, or old grudges, etc.

7) No commercial messages, or spamming. Commercial links / messages are only allowed on your own personal profile page.

8) Listen to, and cooperate with, moderators. (If you have a problem with a moderator, who has identified that they are acting in their role as a moderator, take it to PM immediately. Challenging the decisions of moderators who are acting in that role in the open forum is not acceptable behavior.)

The above rules will be enforced by the moderators and administrators. Enforcement may take the form of editing, deleting, warnings, and, as a last resort, suspension or banning. The moderators will apply the rules as they judge to be of benefit to their various threads, according to its tone and conditions.

If you feel that a member is flouting the rules, don't take it public and post on the board. Take it to the PM. Every member can be contacted through PMs.

[there buster]

Quote:

the moderators are free to apply these rules as they believe is best

then there's no need for rules at all. Just say "the rule is what ever the moderator says it is."

The whole purpose of rules in the first place is so that people know what to expect. But we have already seen that "moderators" vary so widely in their "application" of the rules leaves people without practical guidance. Some posters routinely violate these rules without consequence. But since there is no appeal, and the moderators word is final, just say so.

[John317]

You have to allow some freedom for the moderators to apply the rules. In the classroom and on the roads, the rules are never applied or enforced exactly the same. Not everyone's perceptions are exactly the same, and besides, there aren't always the same kinds of interactions and interpersonal relationships. For instance, Bravus may be more concerned about avoiding one kind of problem-- say, the questioning of a poster's faith-- than he is about another. Let's say he is exchanging views with two or three members who are able to discuss issues in a way that might appear heated, yet neither one is raising objections, and they appear to enjoy the exchange of posts in that way.

On some of the threads, a certain member might be bored if he had to follow rules that made him feel unable to express himself in whatever way he chooses, within reason. The moderator may allow this to happen for a while, depending on circumstances. Yet if a moderator saw this getting out of hand or beginning to cause problems with other posters who had objections to a poster's behavior, the moderator would ask him to stop, and if he didn't stop, there would then be consequences, as outlined in the rules.

The rules are really for your own protection because if you object to certain kinds of misbehavior on the threads, you will be able to PM a moderator and point out a violation, after which the violation is more likely to stop on the basis of these rules than they would have before.

As far as the appeal that posters have is concerned, we are working on a solution to that problem, so I would just ask you to be patient and give us time to resolve that issue.

I know that certain objectionable behavior happened on the Forum seemingly without any consequences, but that is in the past, and I'm hopeful that you'll see an improvement.

Just because not all the moderators apply the rules precisely the same way shouldn't mean members will have no idea what to expect. The rules will be posted where everyone can readily see them and therefore everyone will know what the norms are. As Bravus pointed out, it is usually only about 15% who need the rules and the moderators. For most people, as far as their own posting is concerned, they will be able to continue writing the same way as before, because these rules don't ask them do anything different from what they've always done anyway. For them the rules may mean they will be able to post without being called names or having their faith called into question. Let's see how it goes.

[phkrause]

John317 I think all the rules are very fair and Christ would probably approve.

pk

[there buster]

Quote:

The rules are really for your own protection because if you object to certain kinds of misbehavior on the threads, you will be able to PM a moderator and point out a violation, after which the violation is more likely to stop on the basis of these rules than they would have before.

Uh, right. Ooops. Wrong. QED.

[Liz]

I have a question. Say for instance the mod deletes a post, are you going to say something to the effect that the post was deleted? If I read something and then it gets deleted, I start to think I am going crazy; so please could you say "post deleted by mod" or something so that I won't think I am crazy? Thanks so much.

Ichabod, what does "QED" stand for?

[there buster]

Quote:

Q.E.D. is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase "quod erat demonstrandum" which means literally, "that which was to be demonstrated". The phrase is written in its abbreviated form at the end of a mathematical proof or philosophical argument, to signify that the last statement deduced was the one to be demonstrated, so the proof is complete.

[Neil D]

Would like to ask, and have EVERYONE watching this thread ANSWER THIS

A- Do YOU make unacceptable posts? AND if you have, who, what, when, where and why?

[list of people, among whom NEIL D is listed]

This was done in order of those who posted on here, very few females, perhaps only 3-4 in the history of this forum, have done posts that irritated people enough to leave, and NONE of the above females, that I am aware of.

there are two times when I get into trouble...Usually, it is something to do with my cultural experiences not meshing within the Adventist framework. Usually my sense of humor can get me into trouble...Good blonde jokes gets me into trouble with Cricket. She hate them...I happen to like the good clever ones..not the gross, crude or nasty ones.

the only time I get into trouble is when the cyber-bully, who can be a religious zealot, or just a manipulative person, starts bullying people. Then I jump in when I sense someone is getting beat up upon. Currently, there is a cyber bully back on ClubAdventist. Lately, adminstration has been siding with him...I wonder why I continue to support a fairly good BBS when he isn't here. I think it's the people that are here. But when he gets here, that forum changes in tenor...you can feel it...And when I speak out against the injustice, I feel like I don't belong here...

Stan, are you hearing me?

[Woody]

Perhaps some of this would better be solved in a private message. I am not sure ... but I think that Stan's question can easily lead to a breaking of the rules. Tell me if I am wrong.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Stan asked the question. All answers should be exempt from the rules. IMHO.

[Woody]

Stan asked the question. All answers should be exempt from the rules. IMHO.

Hey ... COOL. An opportunity to break the rules. I love it. I've been waiting for a long time to do that .... Being a 'goodie goodie' is just not what it is cracked up to be.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I'm not proposing a free-for-all breaking of the rules.

My statement meant that since Stan asked the question, he wants honest answers. If the honest answers collide with the rules, then the answer(s) should take precedence over the rule(s). IMHO

[Tom Wetmore]

Quote:

the moderators are free to apply these rules as they believe is best

then there's no need for rules at all. Just say "the rule is what ever the moderator says it is."

The whole purpose of rules in the first place is so that people know what to expect. But we have already seen that "moderators" vary so widely in their "application" of the rules leaves people without practical guidance. Some posters routinely violate these rules without consequence. But since there is no appeal, and the moderators word is final, just say so.

TU Exactly! Which brings me back to my question of why is all this necessary.

Tom

[Woody]

This is correct Tom. Rules or no rules ... the moderators will apply what they feel is best in whatever situation. So, why is it necessary? I see no advantage except to create a larger gulf between 'them and us'. But the bottom line is that if they want them ... then it is necessary or expedient at the moment.

If you will recall ... it was not that long ago when you would have been strongly criticized for suggesting any rules in excess to the 'common sense' rule. But times change.

Now with the amount of extensive rules that are being proposed ... most ANYone posting could be in violation and subject to discipline at any one time. Yep. It creates a 'them' and 'us' because 'they' cannot be held in violation of the rules because they are moderators.

[Woody]

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I thought I better not write that....