Posted on 04/23/2006 8:01:06 AM PDT by Religion Moderator
Hello everyone. Pleased to meet you. I am your Religion Moderator.
I have been asked by several posters to let you know any special guidelines which apply to posting in the Religion Forum on Free Republic. Here goes…
First, you should know that all moderators have authority on the Religion Forum and we are individuals and therefore what is tolerable to one may not be tolerable to another. However, I have general responsibility for this particular forum and spend most of my time reading your posts and moderating the conversations. And I do hold Religion Forum posts to a higher standard.
The previous Religion Moderator is still with us and other moderators who have served as Religion Moderator may also appear on thread with this handle. In other words, you cannot be sure that I am the person who posted with the handle. However, most of the time, it will be me simply because I’m reading all of your posts.
A few guidelines:
Threads which are devotional or church-like in nature (such as daily mass readings) will be protected from challenges to doctrine, etc. Reported challenges will be pulled. The titles of the threads should be clearly designated so other posters and the moderators will know.
Threads which are not clearly designated are open to challenges, like a public square.
Posters should remember they are not “preaching to the choir” on open threads – and take care to be respectful, clear and concise in their arguments. Passers-by will value your demeanor as much – or more than – the actual substance of your post.
This is very important: meet the offensive challenge to your doctrine on the open thread, do not mash the abuse button. I will not remove a challenge simply because it is offensive to your beliefs. If you cannot defend your own confession, then you are better off avoiding the open threads and leaving the reply to someone else of your confession.
Always argue the issues – theology, philosophy, history, etc. – and never make it personal.
If I see the conversation turn personal, I will intervene by pulling posts and/or posting a warning. If the misbehavior continues, posters may find themselves having to log back in – or they may be given a time-out to cool down.
In the extreme, the threads may be banished to the smoky backroom, locked or pulled. And a hot-headed or defiant poster may be banned.
Banned posters who try to sneak back onto the forum using a different handle are nuked. Trolls are nuked.
I have no tolerance for potty language simply because it inflames other posters and results in unnecessary abuse reports that moderators then have to process. It is a waste of everyone’s time and doesn’t help the poster’s image either.
Whenever I see a profanity – or a reference or acronym for a profanity – I will remove the post. If your post was pulled and you remember using such a word, just rephrase and repost and everything will be fine.
As with all threads on the forum – hatred and any suggestion of racism or violence will be pulled. Posts which are just plain tacky may also be pulled.
Calling an author a liar is permitted – calling another poster a liar is not.
Attributing motive to an author is permitted – reading the mind of another poster is not.
Poking fun at a confession is permitted, but be careful when poking fun at another poster. If he doesn’t think it is funny, I won’t either.
Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it. It all boils down to being respectful – phrase your challenges as if you were the recipient, i.e. think Golden Rule.
So the question becomes, how do we mark a thread to be a Catholic Discussion thread? In other words, how do we have the ability to discuss current events in our religion without having to defend our dogma?
Point in fact, someone posted an article on clear walls in confessionals. By the third post, someone came in to slam confession. The article wasn't about confession but rather the openess of the confessional to the rest of the church. Is there any time that we can discuss amongst ourselves without having to defend what we believe? I haven't found a way to do this up until now.
** For example, a Catholic should be able to discuss aspects of veneration of a particular saint without having to field basic questions about veneration of saints in general, that are certain to come form the Protestants. Likewise, a Protestant should be able to post something about a Protestant thinker, or Protestant eschatology without others piling on Protestantism in general. What would be your recommendation? I see three possibilities about such "threads of limited debate"? **
Excellent question. It seems to me that Catholics take more bashings on threads than Protestants do. Is my observation mistaken?
And then I must ask myself -- What difference does it make in the end? Will I hurt or hinder the other poster, or help or have mercy on them and cease posting?
I agree. I think it is the responsibility of the poster to seek out your feedback. The Religion Moderator has enough to do.
I just saw it and will ping my list after I read the entire thread. Thanks for the ping!
**or help or have mercy on them and cease posting?**
Rephrase and clarify -----
Or will I help or have mercy on another poster and cease posting to that thread.
FYI Ping
If so, who (or what group) removed the "plain and precious" truths. ~ colorcountry
So are you saying that the "opposition," darkness, or Satan had a hand in the compiling of the Bible? ~ colorcountry
No! I did NOT say that colorcountry those are your words!
colorcountry You asked "removed from" NOT compiling!
I would call what you are doing is putting words in my mouth!
There is no need to continue our coversation!
maybe we only need this rule:
post light
in love
Nice set of guidelines.
Any changes involving the menu for topics would require a software change.
By compile, I meant to add or remove something. Since you said the opposition had removed "plain and precious truths," I assumed that is what you meant. I'm sorry if that isn't the case. Can you clairify your position?
Your example - "clear walls in confessionals?" - is like a business topic for a church meeting. Therefore you could have used the phrase "Catholic caucus" or "Catholic business" to identify the thread as a closed-door "church-like" thread and I would have made sure the assembly was not disturbed.
But any confession or belief system is subject to "bashing" on open threads. That is why we should all be prepared to "give reason for the hope that is within us" when we venture into the open threads.
Posters, however, are never to be personally bashed.
Jumping in, if what you post sounds like Epicetus or even Lucretius, it should not offend anyone. In all these matters, tone is what counts, right?
P.S. pardon the misspellings.
What I find amazing is that everyday all around us in every area it seems people are rearranging or revising truth!
And you come along thinking that no such thing took place in Ancient of Days!
We have the first 5 books of Moses which is a Digest of all the events that took place up to the time of Moses!
We have a gap between Malachi and Matthew of the written word!
The LDS has a record going back 600 BC which fill in much of the gaps!
The LDS is also promised that another 2/3rds of the Book of Mormon records will also come forth in the Lord time!
In the Jewish religion they have a promise that their concept of the Messiah will come and they do not believe the NT is valid which should offend them and I am sure the mainstream believe they don't have all the word!
Try being consistant in your thinking!
Good. A point of inquiry - does that mean no personal attacks on the author of the article rather than a discussion of the contents?
You can attack the author (as long as it is not a Freeper) - and the content of the article, ideology, philosophy, history, doctrine etc. But personal attacks of other Freepers are not tolerable.
To me a personal attack is when you call the person an unkind name, but asking one to be fair, or try to be consistant in ones reasoning or the scheme of things is not an attack!
But than I never did have a secure handle on my use of the language!
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