This post contains basic guidelines of conduct that you should be aware of before you post. While most people are courteous and polite; there are some individuals that may choose to behave in a disrespectful and irresponsible manner. FaithDialog.org will take appropriate steps to keep our discussion in line with these guidelines and with its ethos.
In general we expect you, the community, to police yourselves. Treat others with respect. Keep in mind that this forum will be read publicly by many different kinds of people, both members of FaithDialog.org, and non-members. If you think a post breaks these guidelines, or is otherwise inappropriate or offensive, please click the 'Report This Post’ button in the top right hand corner of the post. It looks something like this:
It is not our goal to censor any posted messages or opinions. However, this is a moderated discussion forum. Therefore, we will do what is necessary to maintain the spirit of an open, interactive discussion without offending participants. We reserve the right to edit or remove inappropriate messages, or to lock a discussion thread. A Moderator may attempt to handle problem threads or posts by less heavy-handed means, if possible. Moderators will only edit posts in specific appropriate circumstances without changing the meaning of any post. Such changes will be noted in the post itself, by the Moderator. If we edit a post and you do not like the changes please feel free to notify us and we will take appropriate actions. Examples of posts that may be edited or deleted include posts containing profanity, spam postings, or posts that contain private information about another person. Other examples are discussed in the guidelines below.
Keep these things in mind while posting:
Show respect. Respect these guidelines. Respect FaithDialog.org, its employees, volunteers, yourself, and fellow FaithDialog.org members. Above all, respect God, the faiths of other members, their Holy Books, and their Prophets. This does not mean that you have to agree with each other, but here at FaithDialog.org, relationship comes first. If you want to criticize, there are plenty of other online forums where you can criticize ad nauseum. FaithDialog.org is not the place to do it.
Foul language will not be tolerated. This site strives to be family friendly.
Obscene, suggestive, or immodest images will absolutely not be tolerated. Posting pornography will get you permanently banned, without warning. Keep in mind that this site is used by people from many different cultural backgrounds, with varying concepts of modesty. If you're not sure about an image, privately message a Moderator or Admin, or don't post it.
Personal attacks are bad. If you want to praise or critique, talk specifically about what you think is good or bad. General attacks on another member are not appropriate for this forum.
Try to post new topics in the forum that is most appropriate to that topic. There is an Off-Topic forum for posts that have nothing to do with the normal topics of FaithDialog.org. Don't abuse that forum. Just because it's in the Off-Topic forum doesn't mean we'll be willing to post it. If a thread is posted in the wrong forum, a Moderator will move it, so don't worry about it too much. Don't post the same message to multiple topics or forums. This is known as "cross-posting" and is not considered good etiquette. Redundant messages will likely be consolidated or deleted by our Moderators.
Try to keep threads on topic. If you want to take a discussion in a new direction, feel free to create a new thread and link to the old one. Moderators may close threads that they feel have gone too far off-topic.
Posting advertisements is not allowed. However, if there is an event, product, or website that fits with the topics and ethos of FaithDialog.org, please message a Moderator or Admin about it. If the Moderator approves, you can post the advertisement. FaithDialog.org may choose to promote some things itself.
Posting copyrighted material is not allowed, unless you have permission from the copyright holder, or are making Fair Use of that material. If someone has posted copyrighted material or otherwise illegal material, please notify a Moderator or Admin and it will be removed.
Forum Moderators are appointed members of FaithDialog.org that are trusted with enforcing our guidelines and promoting our ethos within the forums. They have the ability in one or more forums to edit or delete posts; move, close, or delete topics; and to temporarily moderate users’ posts. If you think that a Moderator is abusing his or her power, please either privately message an Administrator or email "administrator (at) faithdialog (dot) com". Forum Admins are just like Moderators, but have even more power and oversee the Moderators. They also hold additional responsibilities.
DISCLAIMER: Messages you post will probably stay available to the public for as long as the FaithDialog.org forums are online. Please post carefully, once you have posted your message, you can edit it during the next three hours. After that, you will no longer be able to change it. We will only edit the content of your posts if it doesn't conform to these guidelines. If we edit a post and you do not like the changes, we are willing to delete the message at your request.
These guidelines are subject to change without notice, so review them occasionally.
The FaithDialog.org Forums are further governed by the FaithDialog.org Terms of Use Agreement. The Terms of Use Agreement may be found here: ucp.php?mode=terms
