Purpose.

The purposes of this forum are:

1. To be a virtual meeting place for atheists.
2. To enable serious and interesting debate that is worth reading.
3. To offer those interested an opportunity to learn about atheistic perspectives.

Only one account per person is permitted! Sock-puppets and double identities are not allowed!

The debate at Atheistic Forum will be moderated in accordance with the following guidelines:

1. Undesirable behaviour in the forum.
   Refrain from using language that is intentionally denigrating, malicious, racist, pornographic or threatening, with regards to people, or groups. Refrain from behaviour that is noisy, threatening or harassing, as well as other types of anti-social behaviour. Avoid petty arguments, and other meta-debate that can derail the actual debate. Refrain from illegal activities, as well as encouraging illegal activities. Refrain from correcting other peoples' grammar and/or spelling.
   
   
2. Undesirable contents in posts. (Applies primarily under Focused Debate)
   Avoid spam, and other types of advertisement. Refrain from making large-scale cut'n'pastes. Refrain from posting uncommented links, as well as uncommented quotes, especially from external sources and/or media. Refrain from posting large amount of material in foreign (non-English) languages. Note that posts consisting of the previous described types of material may be deleted at the discretion of the moderators. Refrain from repetitions in the form of preachings, missioning, rants, etc. Refrain from needless formatting, as well as other content that is distracting and/or misleading.
   
   

Atheistic Forum will appreciate it if the following advice is followed:

1. Choose the correct forum.
   Post your threads in the sub-forum that has the greatest relevancy to the contents of your thread. If in doubt, post your thread in the sub-forums Miscellaneous or Chit Chat.
   
   
2. Be concise.
   Avoid having multiple subjects in a single thread or post. Split your posts and/or threads across multiple posts and/or threads as appropriate.
   
   
3. Be focused.
   Avoid changing the topic of a thread. Instead, post a new thread, and if relevant, link back to the original thread that inspired the new topic.
   
   
4. Be considerate of other peoples' time.
   Try to make sure that your content is unique. Use the Search-functionality, and read the previous posts, to see if the topic has already been fully covered.
   
   

The moderators of Atheistic Forum moderate the debate using this etiquette as a guideline. Moderation is primarily focused upon the way in which an argument is delivered, and not the actual argument, provided that this is not in conflict with the overall purpose of Atheistic Forum.

Moderators will take into consideration the positive contributions of members, when considering the consequences of a breach of the etiquette.

Moderation will take place using the Infraction/Warning system. It is the intention that people who contribute a lot also get a longer leash, in the case of a rare infraction.

Rulings made by the moderators are not for public debate. It is possible to ask for clarification int the sub-forum "Private", but moderators are not required to defend their decisions. Repeated complaints about the moderation will in itself be considered a breach of the etiquette.

• Start by checking out the place and the people. Become familiar with the tone and style.
• Remember that everyone can read this forum, that search engines will catalogue it, and that electronic communications can be copied easily. Do not write anything that would cause problems if your boss, your wife, your children, or your worst enemy were to read it.
• It is not possible to have your profile and/or posts deleted.

Objective.

The intension with the the formal debate is to provide a type of debate that:

• 1. is easy to take seriously.
• 2. talks to the reader.
• 3. promotes quality.
• 4. eliminates personal attacks.

Rules.

The formal debate is moderated according the forum objective in general and is assisted by the following list in particular :

• 1. Formal form of address.
  Speak to the reader. Refer to the opponent by using the opponent’s posting name.
  
  
• 2. Respect the opponent.
  No attacks, insinuations, ridicule, character assassination, etc. on your opponent will be accepted.
  
  
• 3. Starting.
  Thread starters are required to submit sufficiently elaborated viewpoints with which to open the debate. Thread starters are expected to defend the viewpoint against any forthcoming critique. Thread starters are only allowed to start a thread with a specific viewpoint once.
  
  
• 4. Answering.
  Thread answerers are required to submit a sufficiently elaborated and serious critique that is squarely based on the viewpoint of the thread.
  
  
• 5. Progress.
  In addition to the starting post, thread starters are given 2 posts pr. thread answerer.
  Thread answerers are given a total of 3 posts and these may only be answers to thread starter.
  The debate is over when everyone has used all of their answers or thread starter stands down.
  
  
• 6. Composition.
  The familiar type of debating where posts a sliced in to separately quoted parts that is then commented on, is not allowed. Instead summarize the opponent’s viewpoints/assertions and incorporate this in a well set-out answer with essay/chronicle quality. Posts should strive to be standalone/self-explanatory and not require that the reader should follow a lot links or go buy a book. Quotation of external references must be in English and kept at a bare minimum, with a elaborate reference list provided at the end of the post.
  
  
• 7. Uniqueness.
  Examine all threads before starting a new thread. Read the entire thread before submitting a post. Answers that are almost identical to other answers will be rejected.
  
  
• 8. Formating.
  vB codes, smilies, unnecessary characters and effects are not accepted. Appropriate use of bold, italic and underline is accepted.
  
  

Here is a list of tips on some good pratices that will improve the chances of getting your thread/post approved:

• 1. Hesitate.
  Don’t send a reply the minute after you’ve read a post. It will not be good enough and you are wasting the moderators time.
  
  
• 2. Convince the reader.
  Imagine you are in a court room where you are addressing the jury. Convince the jury. Not your opponent.
  
  
• 3. Be selective.
  Use some time to figure out what your angle of approach should be. Don’t try to cover every perspective but select the exact perspective you know you master well and only expound on this. Leave other perspectives open for people you know will do a better job than you. Coordinate this behind the scene. Let others know what perspective you are working on.
  
  
• 4. Sleep on it.
  Read your post a least a couple of times before you post it. Get a friend to read it too. Don’t ever post in anger, irritation or zeal. Sleep on it instead.
  
  
• 5. Use a word processor.
  Write your post in Word, Staroffice or some other word processor that will help you with spelling and semantics. This also allows you to continue to work over consecutive days until the post is ready for consumption, and you will have a backup if the moderators reject the answer the first time around!
  
  

With kind regards
Atheistic Forum

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