Announcement: Morality and Religion: Rules and Guidelines

[The Admin]

Morality and Religion Forum Rules and Guidelines

Welcome to the Morality and Religion forum! Morality and Religion (M&R) is intended for in-depth discussion and debate on topics including religion, morality, ethics, philosophy, and any other topic in that field of discussion.

M&R is a sub-forum of Extended Discussion (ED) and as such, the rules and guidelines of the Extended Discussion still apply in the Morality and Religion forum, particularly regarding discussion content. Topics should be multi-faceted and encourage thoughtful, in-depth responses from other users. Broad and unfocused topics do not encourage the level of discussion necessary for the forum, so these will be moved.

As a member, it is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the forum's rules before posting. Posting in this forum implies that you read and understand the rules and guidelines and that you accept responsibility for the appropriateness of your thread or post.


Navigation:

1. Introduction
   
2. General Posting Guidelines
   
3. Rules & Guidelines for Posting in Morality and Religion
   
4. How to Report

[The Admin]

General Posting Guidelines

Please be sure to follow the Terms of Service and Rules and Guidelines here, as in all forums.

Common violations to avoid:

Posting in Misplaced Threads: Anyone found spamming or flaming in response to a troll thread, spam thread, or misplaced thread will be treated just as harshly, if not more than the creator of the thread. This type of conduct has a zero tolerance policy. The way to enforce the rules in ED is to make liberal use of the report system, not take matters into your own hands, which makes you absolutely no better than they are. This includes posting to tell a user they are in the wrong forum as this could potentially create more spam.

Spam: Posts that are gibberish, off-topic, contain advertisements or begging, or have low or no content are considered spam. Please ensure that your posts are on topic and contain an appropriate amount of discussable content. If you make threads that lack an in-depth discussion, your thread may be moved to the GD, LD, or CB, depending on content.

Flaming & trolling: Posts directed at another member which are hateful, abusive, or intentionally inflammatory are considered flaming. Making intentionally inflammatory or provocative posts to incite responses from other members is considered trolling.

Terms of Service violations may result in a warning or a ban on your account.

If you find Terms of Service violations, or threads that may need moved to a different forum, please use an appropriate report. The procedures for doing so can be found here.

You can find online moderators by following the "View Forum Moderators" link at the top of the forum.


Gaia Staff will NEVER ask for your password! If anyone asks you for your password, report it.

[The Admin]

Rules & Guidelines for Posting in Morality and Religion

What Belongs in the Forum

• As stated above, this forum is for in-depth, extended discussion or debate threads on morality, religion, ethics, philosophy, and any related topic. Low content threads with insufficient discussion will be moved out of the forum and possibly result in a warning for spam. You are responsible for ensuring that your topic has sufficient content in the first post (without the use of tags).
  

What Does NOT Belong in the Forum

• Frequently Repeated Threads
  It is understandable that there will be some overlapping in thread topics. However, please scan the first few pages before posting, as to avoid making a potential repeat thread. If there is an already active discussion on your desired topic, make use of the existing thread.
  
  You are welcome to make a repeat topic IF you are introducing something unique to the discussion that does not exist in an existing thread. Otherwise, your thread may be moved to the Recycle Bin if it is found to be a repeat.
  
  
• Proselytizing & Evangelizing
  This is a forum for discussing and debating with others, not preaching at them. The point is to generate discussion, so making threads for the sole purpose of trying to convert other users or present a single viewpoint as absolute fact is not allowed. You are welcome to discuss why you hold a certain belief system or why x religion has x belief, just remember that preaching =/= discussion.
  
  
• Magic, Witchcraft, and Paranormal Threads
  These topics do not belong in the forum unless they are directly related to a religious or moral debate. If you want to discuss generic magic/paranormal topics, please use the appropriate forum (in most cases the General Discussion or Chatterbox forums).
  
  
• Exclusive Threads
  All users are welcome to respond to any of the threads in the forum. Please do not attempt to limit discussion to a certain group of people, as this is not allowed. If you want to have a private discussion with only one group of people, please take it to a guild.
  
  If you make a topic and someone is repeatedly flaming or harassing you, then you can report said user and/or use the ignorelist feature. Keep in mind that the ignore feature is only a means of preventing further attacks by users violating the Gaia ToS, NOT a means of limiting discussion if someone has an alternate viewpoint.
  

[The Admin]

How to Report

Abuse of the report system will result in a warning or ban of your account.

Report a Post

Use the button when an individual post in a topic contains inappropriate content.

Reasons to Report a Post:


• The content of the post violates the Terms of Service or forum rules.
  
  
• The content of the post is off-topic.
  
  
• The member who made the post has a signature which violates the rules.

Report a Topic

Use the Report this Topic button at the bottom of the page when a topic is not appropriate for the forum.

Reasons to Report a Topic:


• The topic violates the Terms of Service or forum rules.
  
  
• The topic is in the wrong forum and should be moved to a more appropriate forum.

If you need to contact a moderator via Private Message, please use the "View Forum Moderator" link at the top of this forum to find a moderator.



Report Hacking, Scamming or Abuse & Harassment?

The Hacking, Scamming and Abuse or Harassment report forms can be found at the bottom of the forum index. When submitting a report, ensure that you fill out all fields and include as much relevant information as possible.

Report A Hacking
Use this form to report a Hacking. Hacking, on Gaia Online, refers to the unauthorized access of an account by someone other than the account owner. In most typical hacking cases, an unauthorized person enters an account which does not belong to him or her and takes items or gold from the account, often changing the account information so that the original owner can no longer access his or her account.

Report A Scamming
Use this form to report a Scamming. Scamming is when another member of Gaia takes your gold or items, or tries to take your gold or items, by making false promises of giving you rare items, get-rich-quick schemes, or by any other deceptive means. Scamming generally involves a situation in which two members of Gaia make an arrangement to trade gold, items, or a Gaia approved service (e.g. avatar art commission) with each other and then one of the parties involved in the arrangement fails to live up to his or her promise of an exchange.

Report Abuse or Harassment
Use this form to report ongoing Abuse or Harassment. If you are reporting harassment or abuse that is occurring directly in a thread, please use the "Report This Post" button instead.