BaptistLife.Com Discussion Forum Policies
| The BaptistLife.Com Forums are open forums, meaning that anyone is free to read them. We encourage anyone and everyone to peruse the forums freely and openly, and we recognize the value of varied viewpoints. It is our hope that the Forums will serve to give Baptists everywhere a free and friendly public forum to express themselves and their beliefs. In addition, BaptistLife.Com may host some private forums for other Baptist organizations. In such cases, the organization(s) involved will determine the rules and decorum of their own forum(s). There are minimal guidelines that we ask of all users of BaptistLife.Com Forums to honor. For most users, these issues will never even arise, but we do feel a need to spell them out regardless: 1) No foul or crude language is allowed. 2) No hate language or speech is allowed. Although pointed exchanges are to be expected, malicious attitudes towards other users will not be tolerated. Persons of varied ethnic and religious backgrounds participate in and/or browse the forums. Christ makes it clear that we are to love one another; accordingly, please do not speak derogatorily of individuals or people groups. 3) Full-length quoting of previously printed material, with the exception of news stories, is not recommended. If a story or source is quote verbatim, credit must be given to the author and news source in order to avoid the appearance of plagiarism. However, news stories from websites which expressly prohibit copying and online distribution may not be copied in full on the BaptistLife.Com site. In addition, any URLs posted by forum participants do not necessarily reflect the endorsement or opinions of the website administrators. Also, blatant advertisements contained within posts are not acceptable. 4) In the spirit of openness, registration is not required in order to read forum posts. However, users are required to register in order to make posts. Registration requires your name, or a derivation of your name, as your UserID. This is both courteous and a sign of legitimacy. One’s full name is certainly not necessary; first name alone, first name and last initial, first initial and last name, will work just fine. This is not an anonymous forum; the site owners and moderators reserve the right to ask for verification that a UserID is legitimate. The site owner and moderators also reserve, at their discretion, the right to delete posts from individuals who consistently refuse to use their name in their UserID. However, if a user has a valid reason for not using his or her name, please contact the site owner and we will be glad to make an exception if the request is appropriate. These guidelines may be revised from time to time as deemed necessary by the site owner and forum moderators. The site owner and moderators reserve the right to revoke any users privileges from the Discussion Forums for any behavior deemed inappropriate. Please note that the views expressed by forum users do not necessarily reflect the views of the BaptistLife.Com editorial team, nor is BaptistLife.Com responsible for any views or content which forum users may post. We always welcome your feedback, and we thank you for participating in the BaptistLife.Com Discussion Forums! -- Bruce Gourley |