To be a helpful and appreciated participant in comments on HAPF.org, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- If you are commenting for the first time, the website will hold your comment for moderation. Once your initial comment has been approved, your subsequent comments will post immediately.
- Aim to be consistently respectful.
- Try to stay on topic. This is a famously subjective call. Do your best. If you think your comment might be seen as unrelated, include something to help us see the connection.
- Broaden your horizons.
- Focus on ideas. The old adage “consider the source” has its merits, but the source of an idea never really proves it to be true or false. When a discussion is on a controversial topic, extra effort is required to leave irrelevant factors out of it. So going after somebody’s intelligence or educational background or gender or age or favorite cricket team is usually not helpful to making your point or refuting theirs.
- Wear your, as they say, big-boy pants. Human interaction is messy—especially where strong opinions are involved. Discussions go far better when participants are slow to take offense. If someone’s a bit prickly, why not just ignore it and stay on topic? Sure, it’s bad to be rude. It’s not much better to be a cry baby.
Rules
A. Do not do anything illegal or potentially illegal, including—but not limited to—the following:
- promoting, or expressing intent to commit, unlawful acts
- posting in violation of copyright, trademark or other intellectual property laws
- knowingly representing the words or thoughts of others as your own
- advocating harassment or violence against groups or individuals
- posting or linking to anything that harms or exploits minors or depicts such harm or exploitation
B. Do not engage in unethical conduct, including—but not limited to—the following:
- posting or linking to anything obscene, vulgar or graphically violent
- posting what you know to be untrue
- posting under a false identity
- without permission, posting correspondence that was intended to be private
- posting or linking to any kind of malware (viruses, trojans, worms, spyware or harmful scripts)
C. Do not engage in rude or other un-Christlike conduct, including—but not limited to the following:
- derogatory name-calling or attacks on the motives of other participants
- malicious ridiculing of other participants
- focusing negatively on the people involved in the discussion rather than the topic
- intentionally disrupting a discussion or posting off topic
- posting criticism, speculation, etc. in threads about persons recently deceased
D. Do not harm the doctrinal integrity of the site, which includes—but is not limited to—the following:
- aggressively, or excessively, promoting a peculiar or pet doctrine
E. Do not engage in activities unhelpful to the purposes of the site such as (but not limited to) the following:
- posting substantially the same text in multiple locations in the forums
- posting chain letters, pyramid schemes, etc.
- posting advertising for products and services or excessively promoting on behalf of organizations or causes
- publicly protesting or arguing against specific moderator actions
How violations are handled
Action by the moderator includes—but is not limited to—the following:
- suggestions or corrective instructions in comments section
- editing or unpublishing posts
- temporarily or permanently closing threads
- private messages or emails (contents and responses reviewed by the team)
Violations of the more serious legal and ethical rules may result in immediate temporary or permanent banning by the moderator.
Participants who show a pattern of minor violations or repeatedly inject rancor into discussions may be temporarily or permanently banned by the moderating team.
Violators who quit the site may be banned afterwards.
Life Is Worship reserves the right to deny participation to anyone we believe is not a good fit with the site’s purposes or community.
(Comment policy adapted from SI)
Harrisburg Area Preachers' Fellowship 