GROUP RULES (Active as from May 5, 2014): PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

POSTING

1) All members may post, but some posts may need approval from a member of the Admin

Team.

2) Posts must fall within the general remit of the page title. Using the page to promote your

personal business or that of others is not allowed.

3) Posts may take the nature of propositions, questions, responses, rebuttals, comments,

opinions or criticisms. Posters may also post information or links to items of interest.

ETTIQUETTE FOR POSTING

4) Posters should try wherever possible to post in English (UK English, American English,

Australian English, etc).

5) The Admin Team understands that many posters do not use English as their first language,

and obviously allowances will be made for this. However, posters are asked to refrain from

using “text speak” for quickness, as this can make it far more difficult for readers to

understand, not less. Examples: “n” instead of “and”, “xo” instead of “so”, “wts” instead of

“what’s”, “ur” instead of “your”, “pls” instead of “please”, “dey” instead of “they”, etc.

6) Please try to spell your words correctly wherever possible. We don’t expect you to be perfect,

but please try to get some basic things right. The correct spelling is “Christian”, not Christain”,

“Muslim”, not “Muslin”, etc. Out of respect, please capitalise the first letter of personal names.

Type “Jesus” not “jesus”, and “Mohammed”, not “mohammed”. Also, please refrain from

abbreviating names as this is disrespectful. Do not type “Jeez” when you mean “Jesus”, and

do not type “Mo” for Mohammed.

7) Try to be respectful when addressing other posters. You might think it’s fun to begin a critical

post with a sarcastic, “Hey, Salim! If Islam is such a cool religion then how come...” or, “If

Jesus really died for us, Mr. “expert” Jones...”, but it isn’t.

8) When trying to make a point, posters sometimes add multiple exclamation marks after each

sentence, like this!!!!! Or, when asking what they believe to be a question of great importance,

have you ever seen posters do this????? You only need to put one exclamation or question

mark at the end of each sentence if you really feel you need to. Putting more than one can

imply that the person you are addressing is stupid and that they won’t get the point otherwise.

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TROLLING

9) Trolling is, quite simply, the deliberate act of upsetting, irritating and insulting others for no

other reason than you can. There are so many forms of trolling it would be impossible to list

them all, and the members of the Admin Team will make the final decision regarding when

trolling is occurring, who the offender is and what action will be taken. Some common

examples of trolling are:

Repeatedly asking questions of others but refusing to answer those put to you.

Asking questions that are impossible to answer.

Deliberately misspelling people’s names even after being warned not to.

Taunting posters.

Repeatedly accusing posters of avoiding your questions when they aren’t.

Repeatedly making posts claiming you’ve “won the argument”.

If someone asks you a question, answer it or tell them that you can’t or won’t. Don’t fudge and

dodge, running away from questions while pretending not to. If you do this, and start time-

wasting, the Admin Team reserves the right to point this out and ask you to desist. If you

persist, you will be removed from the page or the thread will be closed.

Try not answer questions with other questions unless they are for clarification.

PUT-DOWNS

10) Put-downs can be light-hearted and funny in the right context and should not be taken too

seriously, but they can easily cause offence. Nasty put-downs will be treated very seriously.

Do not use phrases like, “Lol! You Muslims are so ignorant...” or “Stupid Christians...”

Another form of put-down is to ask a person an absurd question to which you already know

the answer. Examples: Saying to a Muslim, “I do suppose you’ve heard of the Qur’an, have

you?” Saying to a Christian: “Why do you worship a god with three heads?” Sometimes,

when discussions get a little heated, we may let loose a put-down or two before we realise it,

so we’re all going to make mistakes. Sometimes one may even be acceptable (within limits) if

you’ve been on the receiving end of a particularly vicious comment. However, put-downs that

are nasty, mocking or insensitive will not be tolerated.

11) Refrain from finishing your posts with juvenile endings such as, “Tweeeeeeeah!”, and

distasteful acronyms such as “LMAOYSP!” (Laughing My Ass Off You Stupid Prick!)

ABUSE

12) The following will not be tolerated in any manner or under any circumstances:

Personal and/or collective discrimination on the grounds of racism, disability, skin colour,

ethnicity, religion, etc. The Admin Team members will determine what is acceptable or

unacceptable on a case-by-case basis whenever necessary. Hopefully it won’t be.

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13) Posters who are aggressive, threatening or harassing towards others will be permanently

blocked.

GOING OFF-TOPIC

14) Everyone can stray off-topic from time-to-time, and no one should get upset when people add

the odd aside, humorous remark or personal comment. However, these should be kept to a

minimum and the topic of the thread in question should be adhered to as much as possible.

Sometimes the topic of a thread may be diverted unintentionally, and as long as no one minds

or cares then there shouldn’t be a problem. However, if anyone complains that a thread has

gone off-topic then they have the right to demand that the situation be rectified.

CLOSED THREADS

15) Sometimes posters may wish to debate with other, specific posters without having those not

invited join in the discussion. If you wish to start a closed thread for a limited, selected number

of posters then you must give the thread a title and the title must begin with the prefix,

“CLOSED THREAD:” You should also detail which members of the group have been invited

to comment in your first post or under the title. Members of the Admin Team have the right to

shut down a Closed Thread if there seems to be no good reason for it to be restricted, or

open it up to the other members. Members of the admin Team reserve the right to post on a

Closed Thread at any time without restriction. You should try to avoid using Closed Threads

whenever possible.

INFRACTIONS

16) The members of the Admin Team will be responsible for dealing with all complaints and

infractions of the rules, real or perceived. Posters who have a complaint or feel that an

infraction of the rules has occurred should message a member of the Admin Team. Your

complaint will be investigated, and if upheld the appropriate action, as determined by the

Admin Team, will be carried out. Posters who repeatedly make mischievous or unfounded

complaints may be warned or blocked from the page. Mild infractions will get you a warning or

maybe a temporary ban. Severe infractions will get you removed permanently.

BLOCKING

17) The Admin Team reserves the right to remove anyone from the page who expresses views

that we believe will upset other posters, no matter how sincerely they are held. Those who

directly or indirectly use the page to promote their own personal agendas will be removed

without explanation or comment. The Admin team’s decisions regarding removal or blocking

will be final. Blocking may be temporary or permanent.

18) It may seem to some that we are being overly-restrictive with these rules, or that they are

unnecessary detailed, but there is a reason for them. Too many pages allow people who have

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no idea how to debate properly to post. When challenged, many resort to abuse or trolling.

That isn’t going to happen here. We want the atmosphere here to be relaxed, light-hearted

and uplifting. Witty comments are welcome! But we will NOT allow any form of acerbic

chatter, nastiness, backbiting or abuse. NO ONE should join this page if they can’t control

their tongue – or rather, their typing. If you don’t feel you can adhere to these rules, then there

are other pages out there which may suit you better.

But if you stay, you will find yourself in a positive environment in which interesting (and

sometimes controversial) topics will be discussed.

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