New Statement of Purpose For Political Forums

Hi everyone,

I have been discussing with the other admins about how we can keep the Political discussions here going and how we can improve the quality and friendliness of the debates. As a few of you know, we also own Christian Forums. That forum gets between 4000-7000 new posts each day, depending on the day. The politics forum there is very large and in order to keep it under control and allow those that wish to have quality and productive discussions, we have rolled out a set of guidelines and rules that are heavily enforced.

While it may seem excessive to some, considering the anonymity of the internet and the ability for political discussions to be deeply personal, we have had to take the steps we have to insure that everyone is treated fairly.

Below I will post the Politics Statement of Purpose that we will be implementing here on Baptist Board. This was approved by the admins here and we hope it will help improve the discussions not only to day but further down the line as we continue to grow. You can find the official link tot he Statement of Purpose here: Politics Guidelines | Baptist Christian Forums as well as our general rule guidelines here: Terms of Service and Rules | Baptist Christian Forums

Full Statement of Purpose:

On Baptist Board we have the following Statement of Purpose for users of the political areas:

General Politics Forum Statement of Purpose
The Politics forum in the Discussion & Debate Category for Christians is for our Christian members to discuss and debate all political topics with other Christians. Political topics include American politics as well as International politics.


All member's who participate in this forum are self-identified Christians. It is expected that everyone who posts in this forum will respect all members of the Christian faith, regardless of their denominational differences. Discussions may at times become heated, so please remember to keep your emotions in check and your responses in line with our site wide rules. We expect our Christian members to show courtesy and respect to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, and staff will moderate the Christians only forums with this expectation in mind.

When you Disagree

• Members who participate in the General Politics forum are expected to treat one another with courtesy and respect at all times, ESPECIALLY when you disagree with each other. Always remember that you are first and foremost brothers and sisters in Christ, regardless of your personal political ideology.
• When you disagree, address the context of the post and not the poster.
• When you disagree with someone's position, you should post evidence and supporting statements for your position. This policy, sometimes referred to as "X means Y because of Z", must be followed especially when posting claims that are widely considered to be controversial.
• When you disagree and you find yourself becoming frustrated and angry, step away from the computer and give yourself time to cool down.
• Always proofread your post before hitting the "Reply" button to make sure you have responded with courtesy and respect.

Guidelines for Reporting Posts

• Only the member to whom the post is addressed, or referred to, may report the post for violations of flaming, goading, or harassment.
• Any member may report a post for flaming or goading a group of members.
• Goading posts are intentionally or unintentionally baiting other members into responding with a flame.
• Depending on context, the use of smilies may come across as flaming or goading.
• It is not a flame for a member to disagree with another member's argument or opinion on a specific topic.
• If you would be offended by a word or phrase applied to your political viewpoint, then someone of the opposing viewpoint would be offended as well.

Members who continue to violate the flaming or goading rules may be banned from this forum.

Additional Guidelines
The minor children (under 18) of public figures are off limits for negative comments on BB.

Do not use the rating system to goad other members.

Nicknames: Derogatory and inflammatory nicknames directed toward another member or group of members are a violation of the no flaming rule.

Terms like "birther" and "Obamacare" are names used by the majority of the media and some of those who espouse the ideology. Use of these terms is permissible as long as the intention is not to flame. For example, if a member is not a birther, and another member calls them a birther as an insult, it would be a violation. Terms such as "pro-death" or "anti-poor" would be violations if directed toward a member personally, but not if directed toward a piece of legislation.

Examples of inflammatory words/phrases (including but not limited to): teahadist, Obamabot, Obamatron, commie, leftist, Demoncrat, Bush basher, feminazi, tree hugger, wing nut, repugnican, facist, racist bigot, Reaganite, hatemonger, snowflakes etc.

Tea Bagger: BB considers the term "tea bagger" to be a violation of the vulgarity rule. The predominant use of the term is one of insult to members that identify with tea parties. Please discontinue using this term.

Thread Tags: Thread tags are relevant keywords or terms that relate to the topic and/or content of a thread. Tags enable you to find other threads which address the same topic as tagged by other members. Tags are not for flaming or rude comments. The BB site wide rules apply to tags and tags which violate the rules may receive staff actions. Staff are able to see who posted a thread tag. While we want to encourage everyone to tag threads and contribute to the system, please think before you tag.

BB staff reserves the right to edit, remove, move or close any thread when deemed necessary.

If you have issues with another member and can't work it out or are disgruntled about a staff decision, please contact staff member who issued the staff action or go to Member Services and start a thread. Discussion of members or staff actions in the forums is considered disruptive and can result in additional staff actions.

 

Hi everyone,

We will be enforcing the below part of the Statement of Purpose strictly from here on out.

 

Anyone that abuses the rating system to goad other members will be issued warnings. Petty actions like this are not conducive to productive conversation.