Bible Truth Discussion Forum > Forum GuidelinesForum Guidelines
Updated and Review Sections Highlighted
Personal Message and Email Facilities on BTDF
Previous Update 19 July 2005
Board Guidelines reposted after Forum Upgrade to Invision Power Board 2.0.4
Previous Update 18 April 2005
Updated and Reviewed Sections: Guidelines in Numerical Format
Previous Update 06 January 2005
Updated and Reviewed Sections: Personal Message and Email System
Previous Update 09 November 2004
Updated and Reviewed Sections: Various
Previous Update 26 August 2003
Updated and Reviewed Sections: The Warning System
Please remember Colossians 4:6:
1.0 Member Identification
- 1.1 For security reasons we would prefer you not to use free email clients such as yahoo, hotmail, et cetera. Members are therefore requested to use a legitimate email address, preferably the address supplied by your ISP (these addresses will remain private and available only to Administrators).
1.2 If members have subscribed under a free email client we request you change your address through your Personal Control Panel as soon as possible, however, should you only have access to a free email client, then we will send a confirmation email to you when you subscribe to BTDF requesting further information about you and to ensure the application for membership is bona fide and your response will confirm your membership. Upon your membership being accepted we would also appreciate a brief introduction by you in the Forum “Who are You, and What do You Believe?”, this, of course, is optional.
2.0 Language and Posting Style
- 2.1 The BTDF is available for view to the brotherhood, to Christian friends, and any others who happen upon the board in their travels on the web. There is a protocol of behaviour, that rules extend to treatment of other people, therefore, we ask you to remember:
- 2.1.1 Not to “flame” or “inflame”,
2.1.2 Not to make personal attacks or insult one another or others on the board, in emails, personal messages, especially in which other peoples motives are decided or judged.
2.3 Please refrain from direct exchanges of private nature using board facilities.
2.4 Please use language appropriate to a public, Christian forum. This request also extends to the use of PM and email facilities provided with board membership.
2.5 We also ask you to consider ensuring that your board member names and signatures do not contain content or ideas which are possibly or probably offensive to people other than yourself. “The BTDF Team” reserve the right to edit or delete member names or signatures which are deemed to be offensive in the manner referred to.
2.6 This forum exists for the purpose of constructive, thoughtful, and informed discussion. It is not a platform for advertising, airing personal grievances and grudges, making public attacks, or promoting idiosyncratic beliefs, especially to the detriment of the broader discussion or the derailment of a thread. Posts containing such material will be subject to potential deletion, regardless of their other content or merits.
3.0 Privacy and use of emails or Personal Messages sent via the Board
- 3.1 When using Email facilities through this board this notice is highlighted for you:
- IMPORTANT:
To prevent malicious use, all emails sent via this form are logged and the contents recorded and available to the administrators. DO NOT email user names, passwords or any personal details.
3.2 “Snippets” of any Personal Message are also recorded in MySQL section of the board, which comprise the beginning few lines of any message, and indicate the sender and receiver of the message.
3.3 Email logs, for your privacy, are deleted every few days, the emails would only be read in the circumstances above if there is a specific complaint made about any particular mail.
3.4 The Personal Message “snippets” are also available and may be viewed by the administrators, however, the “snippets” are cleared when either an account is deleted or you delete a message from your “storage” sender/receiver.
3.5 The Personal Note Pad in your Control Panel is also available to the administrators and may be viewed, if need be, through the MySQL data base.
3.6 It is not permitted to forward the content of emails or Personal Messages sent between board members to a 3rd party without the author's permission. An exception is when the content of a message is offensive, abusive, or otherwise objectionable (see the following Guideline, 3.7).
3.7 Use of the Personal Message and email facility on BTDF is regarded as an extension of the posting facilities. If you find the contents of a message to be offensive, abusive, or otherwise objectionable try to settle the matter personally with the author. If these attempts to resolve things fail, as a last resort you may report the message to “The BTDF Team”.
3.8 This is to be done by sending a message to one or more moderator’s. This report should contain details of your attempt to resolve the situation, and may also include the contents of the offending message. (Discretion should be taken to not forward content of a sensitive personal nature unless it is essential to the complaint. Ultimately the responsibility for this lies with the sender, and not the recipient, of the offensive email. Therefore, if there is something you do not want potentially forwarded to “The BTDF Team”, don’t write it!)
Once a complaint has been received, it will be presented to the entire “BTDF Team”. The entire “Team”, or one or more delegated individuals will then discuss the matter with the complainant and the accused with a preferred aim to achieve reconciliation. If this fails, depending on the severity of the incident, warnings or other disciplinary action may result.
4.0 Contribution, content and Member Suspension
- 4.1 Please avoid strong criticisms about this board, “The BTDF Team”, or posting such criticism to the BTDF Forum. Should you have any difficulty in regard to the way this board is administered, or any other problem then please Personal Message or email one of “The BTDF Team” who will ensure your complaint receives the proper attention.
4.2 “The BTDF Team” reserve the right to remove anyone from the BTDF for a period, to suspend membership, or suspend privileges such as Personal Messenger, Email Facilities, or place posts by a member on “moderated” status however, such a decision, will be then Diarised and discussed by “The BTDF Team” and reasons for suspension of privileges, and withdrawal of membership will be conveyed to the member either by email or through the warning system.
4.3 It may also be necessary from time to time, for an individual Administrator or Guardian to “suspend” an account and suspend privileges pending Diary discussions with other members of “The BTDF Team”.
4.4 In the event of this happening, details will be provided in your “Warning Panel” and outcome of discussions will be advised.
4.5 BTDF uses the Invision Power Board warning system for the moderation of members' behaviour. Members who breach forum rules will receive an official warning, with five (5) warnings, the sixth (6) resulting in a permanent ban.
4.6 Notification will usually be provided by Personal Message or Email at the time of the warning. In time, if a members' behaviour improves and remains consistent, it is possible for their warnings to be cancelled out by positive recommendations and their status upgraded.
4.7 “The BTDF Team” reserve the right to edit, move, or delete any post that “The BTDF Team” or “members” regard as offensive and is in breach of the forum “Guidelines”, “negatism begets deletism.”
We will usually advise the member, but, if you are not advised then please ask.
4.8 Please respect the anonymity of others. If a member is using a pseudonym on the boards, we request that you honour that pseudonym. Real names may only be used with permission of the individual or, if they have listed their real name in their Member Profile.
Real names may be deleted by “The BTDF Team” with authority to do so.
4.9 Please avoid anything that would breach Copyright Laws. If in doubt, just include the link and a brief description. Plagiarism will not be tolerated, so please acknowledge the work of others when using it in your posts.
4.10 If an article is copied and pasted from another source, that source must be attributed in the post, preferably at the top or bottom, to indicate it is not the poster's original work.
Likewise, if an article is to be used from this site, BTDF, other than link, then the source must be attributed in the post, and the author's permission obtained.
Please seek advice from any member of “The BTDF Team” in the matter of linkage or utilisation of posts from non public areas of the forums.
4.11 If you post material on the site, regardless of whether it's yours or a referenced work copied and pasted, you must be prepared to either defend it or point out the parts you agree with or disagree with (in the case of a referenced work). “Hit and run” posts (i.e. posts with no supporting reasons for statements made or contents pasted or links provided) will be removed.
With regard to discussion and debate, we make the following requests:
i. When presenting material, please identify your own work so that people can distinguish it from the work of others which you may be using.
ii. Please do not simply copy/paste large amounts of material. Instead, summarize your argument, and use your own words if possible. You can post a link to an article online if you think it is relevant to the issue.
iii. When posting an argument against the Bible, it is important to show that (a) you have thought about the issue carefully, (b) you have researched and/or examined the issue, and © you genuinely seek an answer. You can do this by quoting or referring to the material which seeks to address the issue, and explaining why you find the answer unconvincing or inadequate.
For example: "I believe there is a problem in (book/chapter/verse). It appears to me (describe the issue). I have read (tell us your source), which says (quote your source). I find this unconvincing/inadequate for the following reasons: (give your reasons). I am seeking a more complete answer to this issue".
These recommendations will be enforced at the discretion of “The BTDF Team”.
4.12 Failure to properly respond to people's posts in a debate will be moderated by editing or deletion of posts, and may extend to a warning.
4.13 Debating on the board, in areas specified only, is allowed and is not viewed as attacking a member. However, if you engage in debate, and disagree with someone, then please do so in a neutral and preferably pleasant manner.
Statements made which attribute motives, make general or irrelevant or disparaging statements about a persons actions or character, or show disrespect for their right to voice an opinion, will result in the editing or deletion of part of all of the post, and if continued on more than one post or occasion may lead “the BTDF Team” to place the offending member on post-by-post moderation, or lead to warnings being issued. (Refer also Section 2 above)
4.14 Please keep topics in the appropriate sections. (“The BTDF Team” may choose to move a thread or post at any time.)
4.15 Please try to avoid starting too many threads on the same topic.
4.16 Please endeavour to stay “on-topic.”
4.17 Please try to avoid duplicate topics.
5.0 Post Appearance, Formatting and Reminder
- 5.1 One of the requirements of having a discussion forum is the ability to make yourself understood.
With the recent trend of text messaging, text messaging shorthand has at times spilled into Forum discussions, however, just a timely reminder, that BTDF being a Public Forum is not a place for phonetic language use; text messaging is difficult to understand for most people, especially those that don't have English as their first language.
So please, as a gesture of politeness and respect, we ask that you write in a way that members and guests will understand.
5.2 Please avoid using large signatures.
5.3 We also will at various times “edit posts” to fix problems such as overly large text size, signatures, pictures, blank spaces etcetera.
5.4 Please avoid using animated avatars and signatures.
On a final note:
A brother once spoke of a visitor who had attended one of his lectures, and not all that many years ago. He spoke to the visitor after the meeting and his lament was that the visitor was not willing to listen to his reasoning.
Who was right?
The brother also failed to listen and was not willing to discuss or listen to the visitors beliefs and reasoning. Therefore, remember, always to listen to others as you would like others to listen to you about your certain beliefs.
We are all here to learn, and learn from one another, and seek to know more about God and our Lord Jesus Christ and of Bible Truth, and, as in the beginning so in the end:
“The BTDF Team”
5th of April 2009
| Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 9th February 2010 - 01:58 PM |