With it being the spring time here in the United States, we thought it worthwhile to begin to take another look at our Christianity Board forum rules to see what we can do to help bring clarity and God-honoring conduct to the community.
The team, myself included, noted that we had one area in particular where yours truly did not fully understand what rules were needed to ensure a robust yet fun and safe environment for our forum members. With that in mind, I would like to submit a change to the Christianity Board forum rules that will seek to clarify team member thoughts and actions. In particular, we are addressing the sometimes nasty spirit of insults and goading that takes place from time to time on this forum.
Without further adieu, here is the change to the rules:
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No Flaming, Goading or Harassment
[*]Do not attack another member's character in any way. Address the post content, not the member's character, family, denominational affiliation or any other subject that may be perceived as a personal attack by the Christianity Board team and is not germane to the topic or post at hand.
[*]Do not state or imply that another member or group of members who have identified themselves as Christian are not Christians. If there is an issue where a member seems to have circumvented the basic tenants of the faith in order to join the community, please privately contact the Christianity Board Team to voice your concern.
[*]If a member requests the cessation of all personal contact, then please respect that member's wish.
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This will replace these current rules:
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In all honesty, these rule changes will not affect the vast majority of current members one bit. However, upon examining past encounters, we feel that these new rules will address some cracks that certain previous members were able to slip through. Team members will no longer be in a position where they must wait for a rowdy member to break an existing rule, all the while acting or posting in ways that damage the great atmosphere here in the forums.
Obviously, this grows the rules a good bit, as we are replacing two bullet points with five plus two sub-bullets. We hope the added words seek to clarify what constitutes a violation of the rules a bit more clearly. As always, I expect questions, so please feel free to drop me a PM or respond here if you need further understanding.
30 Day Grace Period
In light of such a substantial change to the rules, we will be enacting a 30 day grace period for all violations of the new rules. What this means is that we will add an additional written warning prior to a violation resulting in warning points or any sort of ban. We know change can be a little touchy at times, so we are ready to forgive a slip up because we do believe in the grace of a loving God!
Again, if you have any questions, please feel free to direct them to me or a team member. We hope the rule change will clarify things for our members and help to further foster an environment of friendly yet serious discussions. We look forward to the future here at Christianity Board, and I am personally of the mindset that our best days are in front of us!
We give God the glory and praise him for what he's given us already!
The team, myself included, noted that we had one area in particular where yours truly did not fully understand what rules were needed to ensure a robust yet fun and safe environment for our forum members. With that in mind, I would like to submit a change to the Christianity Board forum rules that will seek to clarify team member thoughts and actions. In particular, we are addressing the sometimes nasty spirit of insults and goading that takes place from time to time on this forum.
Without further adieu, here is the change to the rules:
========================================
No Flaming, Goading or Harassment
- All members should be treated with the utmost respect and courtesy at all times following the rules of civil discourse, this includes heated debate discussions or even in daily discussion in the shoutbox.
- No insults are allowed.
Included in this are all forms of flaming, harassment, and trolling/goading as determined at the discretion of the Christianity Board Team. Trolling/Goading is defined as repeated attempts through the use of images, cartoons, smileys or text that is designed to be explicitly demeaning, patronizing, embarrassing, or otherwise upsetting to a member or group of members in the community. - This further includes making false statements or accusations about a member.
- Sarcasm is not included under this rule.
[*]Do not attack another member's character in any way. Address the post content, not the member's character, family, denominational affiliation or any other subject that may be perceived as a personal attack by the Christianity Board team and is not germane to the topic or post at hand.
[*]Do not state or imply that another member or group of members who have identified themselves as Christian are not Christians. If there is an issue where a member seems to have circumvented the basic tenants of the faith in order to join the community, please privately contact the Christianity Board Team to voice your concern.
[*]If a member requests the cessation of all personal contact, then please respect that member's wish.
========================================
This will replace these current rules:
========================================
- No insults allowed. This rule will be strictly enforced. This community has a core set of beliefs that we clearly state at multiple locations on this website. However, we recognize that unity is Christ is the ultimate aim and this can be achieved even when there is disagreement on doctrinal issues. A good way to avoid this issue is to focus on the doctrine and not the person. This, of course, includes any kind of insults based on race or beliefs.
- No flaming, harassing, or trolling. We recognize that these terms may be unfamiliar to some, but they are a virtual extension of the insults prohibition. Flaming is when a member or members follow another member around the forum by making rude and inflammatory posts verbally attacking another member. Harassment is similar to flaming, but may be carried out through other means such as private message (PM) or email. Last but not least, trolling is the practice of making posts only meant to annoy, offend, or simply disrupt. Simply do not do any of them.
In all honesty, these rule changes will not affect the vast majority of current members one bit. However, upon examining past encounters, we feel that these new rules will address some cracks that certain previous members were able to slip through. Team members will no longer be in a position where they must wait for a rowdy member to break an existing rule, all the while acting or posting in ways that damage the great atmosphere here in the forums.
Obviously, this grows the rules a good bit, as we are replacing two bullet points with five plus two sub-bullets. We hope the added words seek to clarify what constitutes a violation of the rules a bit more clearly. As always, I expect questions, so please feel free to drop me a PM or respond here if you need further understanding.
30 Day Grace Period
In light of such a substantial change to the rules, we will be enacting a 30 day grace period for all violations of the new rules. What this means is that we will add an additional written warning prior to a violation resulting in warning points or any sort of ban. We know change can be a little touchy at times, so we are ready to forgive a slip up because we do believe in the grace of a loving God!
Again, if you have any questions, please feel free to direct them to me or a team member. We hope the rule change will clarify things for our members and help to further foster an environment of friendly yet serious discussions. We look forward to the future here at Christianity Board, and I am personally of the mindset that our best days are in front of us!
We give God the glory and praise him for what he's given us already!
