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Forum Rules

Started by Whitney, January 11, 2009, 05:00:54 AM

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Whitney

Rules last revised on 7th April 2020.  Please read.

Welcome to HAF. Since we'd like to get to know you better before jumping into debates please introduce yourself.

RULES

1.   CIVILITY:  To maintain a happy and productive forum atmosphere, members are to remember the importance of civility by striving to comply with the forums conduct guidelines.

In direct language:

If you want to be an abusive arse, you won't be doing it here for long. There are other rules, but that's the first one.

2.   RIGHT TO PRIVACY:  Unless required by law, the personal information of forum members shall not be revealed by any registered or administrative member.  The HAF administrative staff cannot be held responsible for private information a member chooses to make public.

CONDUCT GUIDELINES

TIME OUT: All members should take time to think and cool down before responding to posts in an angry, disrespectful, or otherwise inappropriate tone (including intoxication). This approach will help to maintain a civil tone and allow members to avoid making posts they will later regret.

INTERNATIONAL:  This forum has membership from various parts of the world.  People of many ethnicities, cultures, religions, lack of religions, etc. do not always understand slang, sarcasm, or attitudes.   Members should keep this in mind when posting in debates or discussions in order to avoid unnecessary turmoil.''

NO RACISM:  Racism and other forms of hate speech will simply not be tolerated by the administrators of this forum.

NO PREACHING:  While everyone is welcome to discuss their views in a civil manner, this forum is not a podium for those that only wish to preach.  This rule applies to atheists and theists alike. Preaching means stating your beliefs without providing evidence.  If directly asked what you believe you may answer but it would then become against the rules if you were to then refuse to back up your views objectively when honestly challenged.  This means that if you want to use your religious text to prove your deity, for instance, you will also need to be prepared to prove that your religious text is an objective source of evidence.

NO SPAM: If in your first post on the forum you include a link, copy paste text, etc it will be considered spam and may be removed or partially removed by a moderator at their own discretion without notice. Spam is everything from unwanted advertisements to posting the same thread or comment on many different forums. If you would like to bring attention to a project of yours (youtube channel, ask for people to take a survey, want feedback on your blog, etc.) just send one of the moderators a heads up private message first so we don't think you're just here to self-promote but are interested in being a contributing member.

NO PLAGIARISM: 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 the members of HAF.  Adding your opinion alongside cited text will not only improve the quality of your post but is encouraged.

COPYRIGHTED CONTENT--QUOTE/SUMMARIZE, AND LINK: Please do not post entire contents of articles or posts from other sites, as this may run afoul of copyright laws. Quote a relevant section and summarize the rest if you wish, and always post a link to the original.

WORK FRIENDLY:  Keep forum content work friendly. For instance, if an image you want to post is not appropriate for a work environment then link to the image rather than placing the image in your post.

DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS:  Although we realize this can be difficult, please try very hard not to feed the trolls.  It also should go without saying that trolling is not allowed on this forum.  For more information please see Trolling 101.

NO MALICIOUS SOCK PUPPETS:  If you create a sock-puppet for purposes of trolling or sowing vexation and discord you and your sock puppet will be sanctioned, up to and including summary banning.  If you are going to be sharing a computer/IP with a friend you must notify an admin upon sign up.

QUOTES:  To avoid confusion and maintain readability, members are expected to use the quote feature.  Surround quote and /quote in square brackets to wrap text in a quote rectangle, as well as the quote button (the one that looks like a dialog box from a cartoon).

SIGNATURES:  To maintain easy readability of forum threads, signatures should be non-obstructive.  Links to outside sites are allowed as long as their content does not promote hate or violate national/international law.  Members shall limit the size of their signature images to no larger than 470 pixels wide by 60 pixels tall. 


HOW TO BEHAVE ON AN INTERNET FORUM (VIDEO) Just click here to watch it.  It's funny and informative if you are new to forums.

[March 21, 2018: Updated link to video - R]

Whitney

Last edited by Whitney on Sat 22 Jan, 2011 12:16 pm, edited 19 times in total.
Reason: expanding on preaching section, removing broken image

Whitney

Rules updated; added:
Welcome to HAF. Since we'd like to get to know you better before jumping into debates please introduce yourself. Users who comply with forum rules will graduate to full membership after 50 posts. Till that time your ability to post is limited to the "Getting to Know You" section of the forum. It is our hope that this small restriction increases the overall atmosphere of HAF.

Whitney

Rules updated, added: "No Junk Posts" section.

Whitney

50 post rule is now the 10 post rule

Tank

Tweaked the first post Spam rule as below.

Originally

NO SPAM:  If this is your first visit to the forum and you post a link, copy paste text, etc it will be considered spam and may be removed or partially removed by a moderator at their own discretion without notice. Spam is everything from unwanted advertisements to posting the same thread or comment on many different forums. If you would like to bring attention to a project of yours (youtube channel, ask for people to take a survey, want feedback on your blog, etc.) just send one of the moderators a heads up private message first so we don't think you're just here to self-promote but are interested in being a contributing member.


Currently

NO SPAM: If in your first post on the forum you include a link, copy paste text, etc it will be considered spam and may be removed or partially removed by a moderator at their own discretion without notice. Spam is everything from unwanted advertisements to posting the same thread or comment on many different forums. If you would like to bring attention to a project of yours (youtube channel, ask for people to take a survey, want feedback on your blog, etc.) just send one of the moderators a heads up private message first so we don't think you're just here to self-promote but are interested in being a contributing member.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

McQ

Very good. Thanks for the clarification of that rule, Chris.
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

Tank

The following rule has been added.

COPYRIGHTED CONTENT--QUOTE/SUMMARIZE, AND LINK: Please do not post entire contents of articles or posts from other sites, as this may run afoul of copyright laws. Quote a relevant section and summarize the rest if you wish, and always post a link to the original.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

xSilverPhinx

Update: The 10 post restriction has been dropped. New members are now able to post in all subforums.
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


OldGit


Recusant

The civility rule has been amended for clarity.
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Dark Lightning

All it takes is a shit-house lawyer to help cause a little clarity to appear. Not, you Recusant.  ;)

It reminds me of the guy who got in trouble with the IRS complaining, "I checked with my lawyer every step of the way!".

xSilverPhinx

A much needed and to-the-point amendment for people who have some issues interpreting the civility rule :bravo:
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Tom62

The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein

billyportne

Would someone please explain why it's SPAM to use the copy-paste-text feature on a first post. I was going to copy the text from the introduction I wrote in my text editor but stopped when I saw the rules that stated... "If in your first post on the forum you include a link, copy paste text, etc. it will be considered spam and may be removed or partially removed by a moderator at their own discretion without notice." Since this is my first post, maybe it no longer applies to me, but I'd sure like to understand it more clearly than I do now. Thanks!
Happiness is like moonshine. Make your own and you'll never run out. But keep in mind that life is not a playground. It's a classroom where you get the test first and the lesson after.