Rules & Regulations
1.0. General Instructions
1.1. Please avoid provocative issues, which have the potential of triggering heated exchanges. The dialogue should be for the purpose of promoting religious harmony, not the other way around. Personal abuses, whether directly or indirectly, are prohibited.
1.2. Please don't make it a point to ALWAYS take a jab on ther religions about their faith, or about whatever interpretations that you might have about the religion that you think is abhorrent or despicable. POST IT AS A QUESTION INSTEAD OF A CLAIM.
1.3. You may believe that your religion is the only true faith and the rest are wrong, but keep it as a personal faith. You can express your faith in the community, but do not stir it up in this community.
1.4. Be original in your discussions without blindly copying from any website and asking others to consider them as authentic proof. If you believe it to be valid, pose it as a question first to get the views of others.
1.5. If you do not belong to any religion, please don't create multiple threads declaring it and how religions don't make sense. We are more interested in the point of view of atheists and agnostics in finding solutions to a more tolerant and friendly society, without asking us to shed their faiths.
1.6. If you are a novice in your faith or about other faiths, the approach should be of genuine inquisitiveness, and not of lashing out with your misconceptions. POST QUESTIONS and as far as possible, keep them in a single thread with questions numbers. People will get an opportunity to answer them and clear your doubts. Do not create a single thread for every little question you might have.
1.7. If you are typing something important in a controversial thread, make sure you keep a copy of whatever you type so that when the thread gets deleted for whatever reasons, you don’t feel cheated. Moderators WILL delete threads that are deemed inappropriate without many warnings. It is up to you to back up your comments if you need it for future use.
1.8. This community has been created with an objective in mind and rest assured the owner/mods are very keen on making sure we are steered in that direction and not deviating from it. Any attempts to deviate from the objective of this community, to use it as a place to vent your frustrations or to convert it into a boxing ring, will not be tolerated.
1.9. Each one of you is encouraged to have a friendlier and mature approach. You are encouraged to come up with common grounds that can be used to create a more tolerant and peaceful society.
1.10. Profiles that are seemingly fake are not encouraged. Please do not create such profiles to disturb the tranquility of the community. The members in the profiles friends list may be referred to in case of doubts about such profile. Entry of such profiles may be permitted only after scruitiny. In case such profiles indulge in breaking the rules, they may attract an immediate ban.
1.11. Do not throw false accusations of bias against owner and moderators. You may express your genuine concern, but do not expect results in your favour all the time. Decision making will be done in the larger interest of the community, not in individual’s interest.
1.12. Members who have time and again shown their objectivity have been specifically chosen to become mods by the owner. Questioning the actions of a mod is permitted, but questioning the integrity of the moderator or the owner is not allowed.
1.13. Please do not abuse the Owner/Moderators in the community and/or in their Scrap Book.
1.14. All complaints should be addressed in the "Complaints" thread. If you are complaining about a particular individual or comment, provide a link to that post. Without it, don't expect the moderator to take any action especially if it is hard to find in that particular post in the myriad of topics and posts in this community.
2.0. Rules for Complaining
2.1. All complaints should be addressed in the "Complaints" thread. Please avoid generic complaints.
2.2. Please quote the objectionable post and the link to the thread in which it was posted, along with the rule number (as mentioned in the rules above).
2.3. Once having posted the complaint, please have patience and wait till the complaint is addressed.
2.4. Actions taken by moderators will be available in the action taken thread with the rules flaunted and the action taken. It can be questioned for more explanation in the "Complaints" thread alone.
2.5. Once an explanation is given, please take it at it's face value and move on instead of lashing out at the moderator/s. Plrese refrain from whining, and move on.
2.6. If you do not want to lodge a complaint publicly, you may personally scrap to the owner/moderators.
2.7. Please do post a comment under the thread “Action taken by moderators”.
3.0. Rules for Moderators: To accept Pending Join Requests
3.1. Before accepting the request, please ensure that the profile is reliable and not a fake one. As a thumb rule, the moderators can consider a profile as fake, if it does not mention much about the profile in the profile description and has a few friends. The moderator can use his discretion to ensure that the profile is not fake. In case of even the slightest doubt, it is advised to leave it to the owner to decide.
3.2. Such profiles may need to prove that it is not fake, to the owner or any co-owner or the moderator/s whom the owner may grant the previlege, by giving his details to him and/or reference of other members in the community.
3.3. The owner has the right to allow or disallow such profiles at his discretion.
4.0. Rules for Moderators: To Delete Posts and Threads
4.1. Moderators may advice the poster to delete any post which contains abusive/offensive language. If it is not deleted by the poster, the moderator can delete it. In case it is highly abusive, moderator can delete immediately.
4.2. Moderators may advice the poster to refrain from posting any post which deviates from the original topic. If the advice is not heeded, moderator may delete further such posts.
4.3. If the thread is offensive or started with the intention of provoking heated exchanges, efforts should be made in trying to utilise bad topics and bad/controversial posts as opportunities to convert them to good discussion. If the effort fails, the thread may be moved to the spam folder after notifying in the thread that the thread is marked to be moved to spam folder. Deletion of such threads must be avoided.
4.4. If the thread is not connected with the objectives of the community, in spite of efforts taken to avoid it, the thread may be moved to the spam folder with proper earlier notification. Social and cultural threads should be considered as an exception and should be allowed to continue.
4.5. Promotional threads may be deleted, as and when Owner/Moderators want to.
4.6. Moderators must take the responsibility of the action, and mention it under the Action Taken thread.
5.0. Rules for Moderation: Action against Erring Members
5.1. If a member is not adhering with the community rules framed above, like using provocative and abusive language with the purpose of enticing heated debate, or deliberately insulting any religion and/or individual, may be warned and asked to restrict only to the complaints thread and/or chat thread, until he regrets the error and promises to follows the rules.
5.2. If he explains himself satisfactorily in the complaints thread and promises to follow the rules, the restriction may be removed by any moderator.
5.3. If he participates in other thread, in spite of the restriction, he may be removed from the community, which would keep him away from the community till his request to rejoin is accepted by moderators.
5.4. Moderators may please try to have a discussion with the member, before taking actions and help him/her to see his flaws.
5.5. If sufficient warning has been given to the member for his/her unwanted comments in the community and still continues to disturb the community, he may be banned after at least three mods agree to ban him.
5.6. Banning should be resorted to as the last resort, when the members do not respect the rules of the community.
5.7. Before banning, please confirm from the owner that the member is not an ex-moderator. If he is an ex-moderator then the case should referred to the owner or the co-owners.
6.0. Special Instructions to the moderators
6.1. The Moderators should be extra careful with their passwords, so that the community safety is not compromised.
6.2. Moderators may please be considerate towards the members who err and may rather counsel them before taking any action against them.
6.3. If there is a complaint against a moderator/co-owners or the owner, then it would be reviewed by the rest of the moderators and a decision would be made on the basis of majority vote.
7.0. The Last word
7.1. In case disputes among the members within the community continue to harm the tranquility of the community, the owner will take the final decision in consultation with the co-owners, which should be binding on all members.
