Civilized Political Debate Vision Statement & Forum Policy
Vision Statement
This forum was created to provide an environment for civilized
political discussion and debate. To this end we promote open and
honest and discussion. Our aim is to create a community of
participants who can discuss political and philosophical questions in
an environment of mutual respect. All viewpoints are encouraged and welcome.
Forum Guide lines
It is expected that posters will engage in discussion in a civil
manner. Passionate viewpoints are welcome but should be channeled in
a constructive and adult manner. If you as a poster are unable to do
this, we encourage you to post elsewhere.
Forum Policy
1. Forum policy will not be discussed online unless requested by
Admin looking for specific feedback. Such discussions serve to
distract from the overall purpose of the forum. Any questions
concerning forum policy or concerns about treatment by the monitors
are to be directed to the Hall Monitor via e-mail. The e-mail address
is provided in the forum header.
2. The purpose of this forum, as stated above, is to provide an environment for civilized political debate. Any deviation from this stated purpose will result in scrutiny by the monitors and certain actions taken.
3. This forum welcomes viewpoints from all parts of the political spectrum in accordance with the above. Troll posts whose intent is to neither promote new discussion nor engage in ongoing discussion are considered graffiti and will be deleted.
4. Depending on the nature of the offense(s), the following guidelines are employed in awarding bans and shorter time outs. Both situations will result in your IP being blocked and/or will be added to the monitor watch list.
1a. Repeated offenses per above policies usually result in a warning. Sometimes the warning is specifically directed. However, it will usually be preceded by a general non-personal admonition for first time or infrequent offenders.
1b. Re-posting of deleted posts will result in a time out.
1c. Permanent banishment will result if a posters consistent behavior has been determined to work counter to the overall purpose of the board.
1d. Stalking another poster or otherwise trying to personally intimidate another poster will result in permanent banishment.
1e. Any malicious real life personal information about another poster, posted without that posters consent, or any malicious information which may cause another poster damage in their real lives, personal or professional, will result in immediate, permanent banishment.
5. Running the board type posts (excessive posting while adding little or nothing to developing a meaningful thread) will be deleted.
6. Personal attacks will be deleted. Even if the personal attack is within an otherwise well structured post it will not be tolerated.
7. Racist, sexist and hate-talk type posts will be deleted.
8. Posts about other posters, unless complimentary in nature or is directly related, in a positive manner, to the point of a post, will be deleted.
9. All replies to an offending post, or an offending reply in a thread, will also be deleted. Do not respond to posts that violate the TOS.
Other considerations
Admin tries to allow for those bad hair days we all endure from time
to time. However, repeated bad behavior will be dealt with accordingly.
Admin looks at the content of a post as well as behavior of the poster. In order to foster meaningful discussion any post that looks like a troll or graffiti post, per above, will be considered and deleted at the discretion of the monitor on duty.
As you prepare to initiate a post or compose a response, consider the following:
1. Is it vulgar or unnecessarily graphic without warnings in the title?
2. Does it attack the messenger rather than addressing the topic? Is it a post about another poster?
3. Does it address the general topic of the thread without hi-jacking?
4. Is it clearly trolling for trouble in nature? Or is it provocative & likely to elicit some bad behavior from some less mature posters that we will watch carefully and perhaps (but infrequently) edit, but otherwise let the thread stand (IOW censor the misbehavior, not the topic)
5. Is it blatantly racist or sexist in nature? Or, is the post hate-talk against certain groups vs. carefully presented opinion of certain behaviors by certain groups?
About the Monitors
We currently have several monitors who watch this forum. They come
from all parts of the US, all time zones, male and female,
Conservative and Liberal alike. With the exception of me, Donatello,
all monitors will remain anonymous to avoid altercations over who
deleted what & why. They are encouraged to participate as regular
posters themselves .
This team has gone to great lengths to depersonalize themselves from their points of view as posters as they monitor the board. The monitors strive for objectivity and separating their personal biases from their tasks monitoring civil behaviors.
For what it's worth this team of monitors also monitor themselves. There is no hesitation to point out to one another when one has not followed forum policy, acted subjectively, or stepped beyond the policy we try to adhere to. We each act as a sounding board to the other mopnitors as we discuss offensive posts off line Including our own) which we see occurring on the board. The team communicates with each other frequently by way of e-mail and in some instances by phone.
They volunteer their time and effort to serve you and the forum.
Summary
While this forum welcomes viewpoints from all parts of the political
spectrum in accordance with the above guidelines, we are not
interested in furthering any political or religious/philosophical
point of view. We are interested in providing an environment where
civil behavior brings out the best in any discussion. Common sense
prevails on the part of both the monitors and the participants in this respect.
As with all forums on the Internet thereare education and social gaps between posters. This is manifest not only in Points of View and geography but also in levels of experience and debating skills etc. From many years of personal experience I try to keep in mind that we really know very little about one another compared to real life acquaintances. In this milieu we lack all the visual and audio cues which generally inform us in real life friendships and encounters. Do not assume the worst about another poster. Do not demonize or otherwise objectify another poster. You never know, you may want their support in another thread or in the event that you decide to change or modify your own point of view. Keep in mind that we all can learn a lot from one another.
Most of all, remember that these forums are intended as entertainment. Nobody is writing or re-writing sacred literature here. Stay calm, smile as much as you can, and otherwise enjoy the company of others.
With best wishes.
donatello (Admin)