Atheist Forums reserves the right to enforce the following rules as the staff see fit. This is so that people cannot use the literal meaning of the rules to defeat the spirit of the rules. These rules have been updated and re-worded many times to minimize the number of instances of mis-interpretation. Discussion of possible alterations to these rules is encouraged.
The purpose of these forums.
These forums were created for the purpose of providing friendly discussion and debate between atheists and other
like minded individuals, as well as theists. Theists are more than welcome to join and enter into discussion but please bear in mind the nature of this
community and take a few moments to read the 'Important Information for Theists' thread before contributing.
Rules for posting
The following rules will be enforced to maintain a civilised and congenial atmosphere within the forums.
- No Spamming
This not only refers to blatant attempts to advertise but to any post that is not an attempt at discussion. Depending on the severity of the spam, a warning or a ban will be administered. We consider spam to be any of the following:
- Multiple postings of the same topic.
- Threads which are posted to advertise products / links unrelated to this forum.
- Responses to existing topics which are completely unrelated to the subject.
- Hit and run postings of a trollish or otherwise inappropriate nature.
- No Advertising
Any advertisements in posts will be removed immediately. If you want to promote a product or service then please contact one of the administrators or moderators by private message first. If you are a new member and want to post your website, please introduce yourself first and participate in active discussion before you do so.
- No Personal Attacks
As a discussion based forum, the ability to interact civilly is very important. Members are not allowed to personally attack other members directly (i.e. You are a moron) or indirectly (i.e. If you have that opinion, you are stupid). This rule does not cover attacking someone's argument. It's perfectly reasonable to say "That argument is stupid", but it is recommended to back it up with sound reasoning. Attacks made in jest (with the understanding of both/all parties - tacit or otherwise) are allowed. In the first instance, staff will attempt to ascertain if an attack was in jest. Staff will discuss the attack with both parties where possible and then decide what action to take.
This also means trolling, flame wars, and intentionally harassing other members with offensive material is strictly prohibited. Offensive language, images, or jokes are not specifically covered by this rule, unless it is done with the intent of attacking another member. If something is posted that is generally offensive to many members of the board, it may be removed pending staff discussion and disciplinary action may be taken.
Penalties for breaking this rule will include verbal warnings, official warnings, post moderation, and potential banning based on the severity of the infraction. No ban will be made without staff discussion first, unless the infraction involves deliberate trolling.
- No Preaching
To advocate, especially to urge acceptance of or compliance with your own theology, philosophy or point of view is not permitted. If you want to preach, get yourself a soapbox in hyde park and don't do it here. You are welcome to discuss your own beliefs, why you believe them, etc. Just don't expect or demand anyone to agree with them.
- No Pornography
Any pornographic content will be deleted immediately. This includes pictures, videos and links. Discussion of pornography is fine, but for legal reasons we cannot display pornographic material, even if it is hosted on another site.
- Each member is allowed one login account. Registering with multiple accounts is not allowed.
- Trying to disrupt or disable forum activity, through any means possible (e.g. blanking posts, attempting hacks, threatening members), is strictly forbidden. This activity will very quickly attract the attention of the forum staff and will almost certainly result in a warning and possibly a ban.
- Access to the Admin Control Panel is strictly for Staff Members only. Attempting to gain access is strictly forbidden.
- The upload of illegal or dangerous material to the site is strictly forbidden.
- Members are not permitted to add any member of staff to their ban or ignore list. Doing so will result in a warning and persistent offenders will be banned.
General rules and guidelines
The following are more generalised rules intended for the smooth running of the forum and as such are not so strictly enforced.
- Quoting large posts.
Creating long posts is absolutely fine (as long as they are your own work), but when you are replying to one try to avoid the temptation to quote the whole thing. Instead, simply quote small sections that you are replying to, as otherwise it tends to make the thread quite difficult to read. An alternative might be to wrap up large sections using the hide tag, such as:
Code:
[hide]Large section of text[/hide]
- Pasting from other web sites.
This is a common forum problem and can be quite annoying for other members. By all means copy and paste the odd piece of text or small paragraph if it adds weight to your post, but for anything larger, please provide a link to the material instead by using the url tag:
Code:
[url]http://www.someplace.com/somesite.html[/url]
[url=http://www.someplace.com/somesite.html]Click Here[/url]
- Do not necropost.
Necroposting is the act of posting a new reply to a thread that hasn't seen activity for a long period of time. Our specified limit in terms of necroposts is 30 days. That means if you post a reply to a thread that hasn't had any replies for more than 30 days, you are necroposting. We appreciate that checking the last reply date is hard, so you will see a warning notice whenever you try to reply. If you think you can make a new thread out of your reply, please try to do that instead.
- Do not plagiarize.
When quoting from a source other than yourself give credit where credit is due. Use citations, links, names, etc. when possible.
Academic integrity is important to a lot of the members here and it's only fair to give credit where it is due. Adding your opinion alongside cited text will not only improve the quality of your post but is encouraged.
- Right to privacy.
Although we cannot be responsible for private information you choose to reveal in your posts. Members, moderators, and administrators are not allowed to make public the personal information of other member either on this forum or elsewhere. Anyone caught posting another person's private information without proper consent will be banned immediately.
Reporting Posts
It is not appropriate to make a public thread to complain about another user.
If you feel a user has violated the rules, the best thing to do is to report the post in which they have done so. Doing so brings the matter to the attention of the moderators/admins almost immediately and action, if deemed necessary, is taken soon after.
Another method of dealing with complaints is to PM a moderator/admin. While it is still private and acceptable, the report system is better since it makes every moderator/admin aware and permits a quicker response time if the person you PM is not online.
In either case, it's important that these matters be dealt with privately and no longer in public threads. If you create a public thread complaining about another member, it will be removed.
Copyright
Whilst you own the copyright to your posts, by posting them here on the forums, you agree to allow the site owner to publish these posts, and to edit or delete them in any way we see fit.
The standard legal stuff
You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-orientated or any other material that may violate any laws be it of your country, the country where “Atheist Forums” is hosted (France) or International Law.
Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned, with notification of your Internet Service Provider if deemed required by us.
The IP address of all posts are recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions.
You agree that “Atheist Forums” have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time should we see fit.
As a user you agree to any information you have entered to being stored in a database.
While this information will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent “Atheist Forums” shall not be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.
Finally...
These rules and guidelines are still a work in progress, so, any suggestions please feel free to contribute in the Questions & Feedback forum.
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a specific amount?