Proposed Rules for the forum

[rfinley]

I appreciate your offer of a compromise but I decided to take a trip down memory lane here on the forum to see how valid a concern would banning of prayers be and found some examples of past usage. You'll forgive me if I climb to my perch in disagreement, browse below and tell me how these posts are offensive:
Post regarding Hurricane Irma
Also another lucky guy here as we too came through with no damage. Of course being in GA it wasn't near as bad as Florida but plenty bad enough for me. We ran the generator and just stayed in the 303 Sunday night after the power went out and the wind died down and never missed a beat. We got power back during the early morning hours this morning and moved back in the house. I was kinda sad lol! Prayers to all those who didn't fare so well!
Black nose cap
I am not sure what karma really is, just another way of saying what goes around comes around. As a result of this I am lighting candles and saying prayers for the individual who decided painting an RV nose cap black. That poor person has some really bad karma coming their way.

Anyone who has tried to remove the bugs from a black RV nose cap has made ill wishes toward that poor person. It can’t be helped. After scrubbing and scrubbing bugs off the front you wait for it dry thinking it will be spotless and very clean. Then the bug parts show up on the black paint.

Hurricane Harvey
If you are familiar with Port A, that means that there was a huge amount of water going over the island. Prayers for all the people of the gulf coast. Houston is dealing with major flooding, Corpus Christi, Rockport, Aransas Pass and Port Aransas are dealing with nearly total destruction from wind and water.

Tragedy post and request

Concern and prayers for Jim and Ginny Hinkle
Asking all of us to send love and support to our friends. Their Ford truck and Reflection 337 just totally burned beyond recognition on Interstate 57 in Illinois (Facebook post). They are safe and currently checked into a hotel. Thank God for their escape with their dog.

Son Deploying to serve in Kuwait

Re: New Member in Georgia
Renee, please tell your Son we said Thanks for his service and we will keep him in our prayers.

As Mom always said no discussions of Religion or Politics at the Holiday meal tables, but I do not concur with the OP's suggestion that (including "pray for") be banned. In my search for "prayers" there have been 22 posts with that word in there and I picked totally at random the examples above, nowhere do I see anyone seeking conversions from another faith nor do I see any specific references to a specific faith with the word prayer. Again to my knowledge, prayer is universal in usage to all religions from Buddhists to Islam to Pentecostal, even Wiccans pray; so why ban something that is a common thread across all beliefs. I will close now as I realize this is getting verbose but in strongest terms I disagree with that suggestion as it was done a number of years ago in schools and we see how that has strengthened that particular segment of our society. TY

I'm with Lee and Michelle !!!

[chris]

It's not often when I utilize executive privledge, but #2 needs to read "No political or religious conversations outside of the Way Off Topic section". If the prayer thing becomes an issue, then I will deal with it at that point. My guess is that it wont be. I will create the Way Off Topic section tonight.
Thanks again, Jim for doing this and everyone's input to the proposed rules.
Chris

[TucsonJim]

It's not often when I utilize executive privledge, but #2 needs to read "No political or religious conversations outside of the Way Off Topic section". If the prayer thing becomes an issue, then I will deal with it at that point. My guess is that it wont be. I will create the Way Off Topic section tonight.
Thanks again, Jim for doing this and everyone's input to the proposed rules.
Chris

LOL. Perfect! Sometimes Executive privledge has it's benefits..

Jim

[Paul & Deb]

It's not often when I utilize executive privledge, but #2 needs to read "No political or religious conversations outside of the Way Off Topic section". If the prayer thing becomes an issue, then I will deal with it at that point. My guess is that it wont be. I will create the Way Off Topic section tonight.
Thanks again, Jim for doing this and everyone's input to the proposed rules.
Chris

Again in my life, I will live with that.

[GeoffnCheri]

Over the years, we've had some rules for the forum, but nothing real formal. From time to time, Chris and the moderators have had to penalize or ban guests and members for a variety of issues such as persistent arguing, spamming, bashing, etc. This forum is getting a large following, and it's time there should be some guidance to keep it running smoothly.

I'd like to have your input and suggested edits on the rules listed below. Once a quorum has been reached, I'll post them in a sticky

Forum Rules:
1. No advertising or soliciting business is allowed on the site. Sales people may participate in the site, but may not solicit customers either publicly or through private messaging. Exception – members may use the “for sale” sections of the forum for non-commercial sales.
2. No political or religious (including “pray for”) posts are allowed.
3. No profanity, including abbreviations or attempts to camouflage adult language.
4. Interactions with other members shall remain civil. Name calling, bullying, and personal attacks will not be tolerated.
5. Continued bashing of Grand Design or its suppliers is not permitted. Complaints are fine, but should not become repetitive. See additional forum posts regarding “Bashing”.
6. Posting of links to spam sites is expressly prohibited.
7. No posting of the same topic in multiple forum sections.


Rule Violations:
Violations of the rules may result in posts being censored, modified or deleted. Members may be suspended or banned depending on the violation or repeated violations. Penalties are at the sole discretion of the forum owner and moderators. Usage of this forum provides acceptance of the rules and penalties for violating them.

Thanks - Jim

Concur with above

[Canyonlight]

Wow - just got on the forum and saw all this........what prompted all this ?

Dan

[mtpocket]

My vote, leave #2 as written.

[TucsonJim]

Wow - just got on the forum and saw all this........what prompted all this ?

Dan

Dan - Occasionally the moderators are having to "police" the forum. This happens quite often out of the view of the general membership. This can range from cleaning up some adult language to banning an especially abusive member. Most of the communication is done behind the scenes via PM with the members. The typical response is "there is no rule against it, so why am I being singled out". Another scenario that occurs pretty regularly is that one or more members will flag a posting, but there really isn't anything we can do about it because there is no rule. For example, in a recent post, a member used a common abbreviation for a saying that includes a four letter word. They did this several times in one post. There was a complaint filed for adult language, but there is was no rule against it. In extreme cases, I've personally been called some hideous things if I challenge a member to clean up their act.

Instead of being reactionary and trying to create rules and policies after the fact, it would be much easier for members to know the rules and sanctions for breaking them before hand. Having established rules will hopefully reduce the number is issues being encountered, and the number of reports from members.

For the vast number of postings on this forum, people use good judgment and it is an excellent place to communicate and collaborate. Rarely, someone steps over the line and having clearly defined expectations should help reduce those instances.

Jim

[WhittleBurner]

Agreed, Leave as is, even #2 . As you see from the replies bringing religon in a post almost always gets a reaction or controversy.

[Canyonlight]

Thank you, Jim.....appreciate the response. I fully support Chris, you, and Steve/Cill on your actions and feedback. This is a wonderful forum for all the reasons we long timers appreciate and support it. The approach to allow all types of posts W/I the rules with particular emphasis on civility, respect, courtesy, kindness, and factual based sharing is much too rare these days with social media and very much appreciated by folks on this forum willing to learn and share in this environment and have a little fun along the way.

Thank you to all you do, Jim, Chris, & Steve.

Dan