THE RULES OF THE BOARD & other helpful threads--Please read!

[Dr. Shades]

UNIVERSAL RULES:

1. Everyone is welcome. Every opinion is welcome.* Therefore, do not "de-invite" anyone or suggest that they go elsewhere. Please do not do this via e-mail or private message, either.
2. Do not post faux moderator comments. To this end, do not use red-colored font. Any message falsely portrayed as being from a moderator will be deleted.
3. Do not make mention of anything that allegedly transpired or is transpiring via the chat room or via private message that the source him- or herself has not overtly made public. People who communicate behind-the-scenes obviously intend their communications to remain behind-the-scenes. Any post on the board itself making reference to such things will be deleted.
4. Do not "derail" threads or otherwise insert commentary that has nothing to do with a thread's opening post.
5. If you wish to start a thread having nothing to do with Mormonism, do so only in the Spirit Paradise Forum or the Spirit Prison Forum. That's what they're there for.
6. "Cross-posting" from other message boards is allowed. Feel free. If you do this--or if you just mention content hosted at another site--always provide a link to that content so people can find out just what it is you're talking about.
7. Do not reveal personal or "in real life" information about any poster on this site that he or she has not explicitly revealed here. This includes avoiding mention of his/her actual first or last name, even if he or she has made it available on some other website.** This also includes information harvested from Facebook.
8. Do not make threats or take actions to disrupt the smooth operation of this message board, either through hacking, spamming, frivolous complaints, lawsuits against the board or its moderators, or any other means. Please do not do this via e-mail or private message, either.
9. Do not make threats or take actions to cause another member to feel harassed or fearful for his or her safety "in real life." Please do not do this via e-mail or private message, either.
10. Do not EVER "link-and-run." If you post a link to something, always explain what's at the other end of the link, why it's important, and what you hope other readers / viewers learn from it. RULE OF THUMB: If it's not worth your time to describe it, then it's not worth our time to click on it.
11. Do not make disparaging comments about Perfume, the official Japanese electro-pop group of MormonDiscussions.com.
12. Moderators and administrators will follow the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law. Try to see things from their point of view.

*_Unless it violates Universal Rule #11, in which case the latter rule takes precedence.
**See this post for further clarification of Universal Rule #7 and the penalties for violating it.


RULES FOR THE CELESTIAL FORUM:

1. Keep all communications "Rated G."
2. No personal attacks allowed whatsoever. This includes personal attacks against a person's family members.
3. No disrespectful communications allowed. Address the ideas, not the person who posts them.
4. No swear words allowed. Not only does this mean to avoid the "F" and "S" words and any of their many variants, it also means to avoid lesser bad words such as "____," "piss," "ass," etc. Altering the spelling or substituting a symbol for a character does not give you a free pass to disregard this rule.
5. No specific temple content allowed.

RULES FOR THE TERRESTRIAL FORUM AND THE SPIRIT PARADISE FORUM:

1. Keep all communications "Rated PG" to "Rated PG-13" or better.
2. No blatant or otherwise obvious personal attacks allowed. This includes personal attacks against a person's family members.
3. Do not use the "F" or "S" words or any of their many variants. Altering the spelling or substituting a symbol for a character does not give you a free pass to disregard this rule.
4. No specific temple content allowed.

RULES FOR THE TELESTIAL FORUM AND THE SPIRIT PRISON FORUM:

1. Keep all communications "Rated R" to "Rated NC-17" or better. In other words, no blatantly pornographic words or images.
2. No personal attacks against a person's family members.

All rules are subject to change or clarification as the need arises.

OTHER HELPFUL THREADS

The following aren't rules, but they nevertheless contain helpful information to make your experience here at MormonDiscussions.com more rewarding:

• 15 habits of highly effective message board users (How to become a fantastic poster)
  
• Technical support F.A.Q.
  
• How to turn off the "auto-correct" and "smilie" features
  
• Temporary forum to use if this site goes offline (I suggest bookmarking this)

[Guest]

Dr. Shades,

What guidelines do you use to close threads? I was trying to get some inter-board discussion going (I thought you said those were encourated) and the thread was closed.

What's up with that?

Mark

[keene]

Dr. Shades,

What guidelines do you use to close threads? I was trying to get some inter-board discussion going (I thought you said those were encourated) and the thread was closed.

What's up with that?

Mark

I and only I decide when to close threads. My guidelines are mine. It's not important that you know. Suffice it to say: Don't be stupid.

[Mrs Robbins]

I'm sorry for causing trouble, Keene. I didn't know it was against the rules to post a link. I read the rules before I posted and I saw the "board wars are encouraged" statement in the rules. I didn't mean to cause trouble. Sorry.

[keene]

I'm sorry for causing trouble, Keene. I didn't know it was against the rules to post a link. I read the rules before I posted and I saw the "board wars are encouraged" statement in the rules. I didn't mean to cause trouble. Sorry.

Board wars are okay, posting links are okay, posting links to illegal information, typosquatting, and other illegal activity is not. It's not against the rules, per say, but it is against the law. Users are responsible for their own posts. Now, whether it was you who created the site or not, I've yet to determine. Posting the link, if it was an innocent maneuver, is okay. Creating the site was the bad move.

Edit: I've looked up all the information for the user Mrs Robbins -- You're safe. The posting of that link was an innocent maneuver by a known common poster. However, whoever created that site is still under scrutiny.

Also, Although it's not against the rules, I'd rather "Sock Puppets" (as they've been called recently) or Mule accounts not be created. It slows the server down and will end up causing more maintenance to be required, ultimately costing more money. I can understand the need to use them for privacy's sake, but don't go overboard.

[mocnarf]

[MODERATOR NOTE: Mocnarf, if you wish to have a picture of overt temple content as part of your signature line, you'll have to limit yourself to only posting in the Telestial Forum. Is that a limitation you're willing to accept?]

Dr Shades, I reviewed the forum rules I don't see where they prohibit it. Maybe you could explane why your MAD. The pictures I have posted are not slanderous, are not vulgar. They accurately portrey the subject shown. These are images that are readily available on the internet. The images portrey things that occur every day all over the world, except of coarse on Sunday. Maybe the rules need to be updated and made more MAD like, it that what you want?

[Negative]

I'm just guessing at Shades thinking but I assume this is his reasoning:

Some of the posters here would find that image very offensive. Those types of images may be easy to find but that doesn't mean they are appropriate here. Bestiality is easy to find too but we wouldn't let someone have that in his or her signature either.

It's about respecting others beliefs. Using that picture in a post in the Terrestrial forums in the interest of discussion would be one thing, but using it in your signature just seems inflammatory.

If I’m wrong, I’m sure Shades will correct me.

[Dr. Shades]

Negative is 100% correct. Those are my feelings entirely.

Most if not all of our Mormon friends hold such things to be sacred and don't wish to see them outside of the temple itself. So, since the Terrestrial Forum isn't an "anything goes" forum, they don't belong here.

Since they aren't pornographic, post them to your heart's delight in the Telestial Forum. Just not anywhere else is all.

[cinepro]

Any chance to get some limitations on the potentially endless re-hashing of the whole Goodk/DCP/Rcrocket fiasco from earlier this year? Maybe it could get its own little sub-forum (and wiki for the uninitiated)? I see the potential for threads to go into a death spiral whenever it comes up, and when topics get endlessly re-hashed on a board, people get bored and end up leaving.

[Dr. Shades]

That may be a little too hard to objectively define, I think.

[bcspace]

I and only I decide when to close threads. My guidelines are mine. It's not important that you know. Suffice it to say: Don't be stupid.

That is sooooo MADB.

[Dr. Shades]

I and only I decide when to close threads. My guidelines are mine. It's not important that you know. Suffice it to say: Don't be stupid.

That is sooooo MADB.

Didn't you yourself advocate thread closures at one point?

Even so, only Keene closes threads, and he's almost NEVER around.

So you're safe.

[bcspace]

Didn't you yourself advocate thread closures at one point?

I seem to recall advocating that people stop calling each other "douche bag" in the Terrestial forum.....

[Measure]

I just registered an account here, and I'm ticked that I couldn't use a gmail acount to sign up, and that I can't change my email address to a gmail account.

Gmail is my only permanent email address (my ISP or Job may change from time to time), I don't want to have to rely on one of my potentially transitory email addys to be my primary address anywhere.

Why is Gmail banned?

[Dr. Shades]

I seem to recall advocating that people stop calling each other "douche bag" in the Terrestial forum.....

That doesn't answer the question.

Why is Gmail banned?

Trust me, I feel your pain.

The reason it's banned is because I was getting deluged by spam-bots and porn-bots. It was taking a significant amount of time every day just to keep up with deleting them all.

Since the vast majority of them registered via gmail, it was easiest to just disallow gmail and be rid of most of them.

I apologize for any inconvenience.

[Joseph]

"posting links to illegal information"

What is "illegal" information?

[Dr. Shades]

"posting links to illegal information"

What is "illegal" information?

Child porn.

[jskains]

Shades,

I think people need to be held accountable for their accusations. I think a rule should be as follows:

"Making accusations without hard evidence for those accusations is not allowed, especially if the method of proving innocence has been made absolutely impossible is not allowed."

I think the situation is unfair. They are accusing me of being SI with no more than matrixing methodology, and providing me no method of disproving them. This technically could cause a legal liability against the board.

JMS

[Joseph]

joseph smith CAIN wrote: " They are accusing me of being SI with no more than matrixing methodology, and providing me no method of disproving them."

Hey guy, as far as I can see NO one has accused you of being Sports Illustrated. You are once again suffering from delusions of grandeur.

[Skibum04]

Can we talk about what happens in the Celelstial room in the temple in the Terestrial forumn?

I am just joking, thanks for this awesome forumn. As a former Mormon who is still very interested in church affairs I love open discussions about the church!

[shadiq]

The message provide us a details of guide line.
I think people need to be held accountable for their accusations.