Forum Rules
By using MaineChristian.com Forums, you acknowledge your acceptance and understanding of these rules and our Web Site Agreement. These rules apply to all communications made on the forums. All users of this site, including members of MaineChristian.com staff and volunteer moderators, are required to follow these rules. If you do not follow these rules, your posts will be edited or deleted, you may be warned by staff, and you may be suspended or banned. You must be at least 13 years old to participate in our site.
MaineChristian.com reserves the right to remove any post at any time for any reason or without reason, with or without notification.
You will accept that any advice given on this site are the views of the poster and that MaineChristian.com and its owners, staff, and volunteer moderators will not be held responsible for any advice posted.
Messages posted to the forums must be polite and free of personal attacks, threats, and crude or sexually-explicit language, rude comments and innuendo.
Any language, text, data, information or graphics that could be considered vulgar, pornographic, obscene, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, hateful, unlawful; that are racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable; or that violate any copyright or other intellectual property rights of any person will not be promoted or transmitted via forums.
MaineChristian.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify these rules, without notice or warning. It is your sole responsibility to regularly review these rules and ensure your compliance with them.
Blasphemy
You will not insult or mock God or Christianity. Honest debate about the nature of God and Christianity is welcome, but insults or derogatory remarks about God or Christianity will be promptly removed.
The names or titles of God, including Jesus Christ and the Persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, or Holy Spirit), in any language, are not to be used as expletives or interjections or in an abusive, mocking, or insulting way.
Promotion and Proselytizing
You will not promote or proselytize beliefs or religions other than Christianity. For the purpose of these rules, Christianity is defined by the Apostles' Creed.
Challenging the existence of God or the validity of Christianity is prohibited.
Controversial Topics
The following subjects will only be discussed in the Morality and Ethics forum or any of its sub-forums:
- drug use
- gambling
- polygamy
- extramarital or premarital sexual activity
- homosexuality
- transsexuality
- abortion
You will not post about these subjects in other forums.
Men's Health and Women's Health
The controversial topic of health as related to human sexuality will be allowed, however explicit sexual or vulgar postings, outside of medical issues will not be allowed.
Flaming
You will not insult, belittle, mock, or personally attack other users or groups of users. Use of derogatory nicknames in reference to other users is prohibited. Don't goad another user or start call-out threads. This flaming rule also applies to public religious figures.
If you are flamed, don't respond in-kind. Alert staff to the situation by utilizing the report button.
Harassment
Harassment of another user is strictly prohibited. Respect another user's request to cease contact. Don't make another user's experience on this site miserable. This includes, but is not limited to, gossiping or spreading rumors about another user or persistently attacking them in the open forums. Don't threaten another user. Don't report another user out of spite.
Impersonation
Be truthful about your identity. Don't impersonate other users or non-users.
Confidentiality and Privacy
Respect another user's right to confidentiality and privacy. Don't publicly release the contents of another user's private communications without permission of the author.
Don't publicly disseminate personally identifiable information, including, but not limited to, your home address, phone number, social security number, or credit card information. You may place your Email addresses and instant messenger information in your profile. Be cautious about what information you choose to disclose online.
Disruptive Behavior
You will not disrupt the peace and harmony of the forums. Disruptive behavior includes, but is not limited to, the rehashing of alleged grievances or disputes; publicly complaining about posts or threads submitted in forums throughout the site; or ranting about MaineChristian.com or its staff.
Vulgarity and Profanity
You will not use profanity or foul language (which includes using punctuations to bypass the profanity filter) in your postings. Don't post graphic or sexually explicit images or text. Don't violate community standards. Staff will remain the sole and final arbiter of what does and does not violate community standards.
Racist, hateful, sexist (discussions regarding certain biblical interpretations on the roles of men and women will not be considered "sexist" under this rule), or abusive language is strictly prohibited.
Spamming and Advertising
Don't repetitively post similar or identical posts or threads. Don't advertise commercial products or services. This includes promoting or linking to other message boards. No links or tickers are allowed in signatures. Links may be placed on your profile page.
Off-topic
Start threads that are relevant to that forum's stated purpose and submit replies that are relevant to the topic of discussion. Threads that do not fit in any other forums may be started in the Miscellaneous Topics forum.
Language
You may post quotes or statements in languages other than English, but an English language translation must be provided to MaineChristian.com staff upon request.
Legalities
Don't promote illegal activity. Don't violate the copyright of others. Don't promote another's work as your own.
Satanism
The promotion of Satanism is strictly prohibited on MaineChristian.com, including all forums.
Exorcisms/On-Line Deliverances
You will not make posts which attempt to exorcise or bind demons and will not attempt on-line deliverances on this board. Discussions/instructions on how to complete deliverance will also not be allowed.
No Professional Counseling
No professional legal, financial, medical, etc., counseling will be allowed in the forums.
Forum Restrictions
Don't enter inaccurate details in your profile in order to gain access to restricted forums.
Staff Disciplinary Action
Do not discuss staff actions publicly. The staff appeals form is to be used to submit complaints about staff disciplinary action. If you are reported, don't discuss it in public forums. Don't discourage other users from using the report system.
Campaigning
Attempts to undermine these rules or policies via campaigns, petitions, or protests will result in suspensions and bans.
Bypassing Bans
Don't bypass bans by creating sock accounts or modifying your IP address. Doing so will result in a permanent ban and/or an IP ban and a complaint to your ISP (internet service provider).
Brinking
Don't push the boundaries of the rules. Staff will enforce these rules based on the spirit of the text, not the letter.
Copyright Violations Prohibited
Users shall not make posts which violate the copyrights of others. In general, this means that any quoted portion of any work must not exceed 20% of the total work. In the specific case of materials owned by the Associated Press, users shall not quote more than one sentence of the work. All quoted copyrighted material must be linked to the webpage from which it was quoted.
