What Christian Teen Forums Is

Christian Teen Forums (CTF) is a non-profit online forum for Christian teenagers to chat, discuss current affairs and world issues, build each other up in faith and generally hang out in a safe and secure environment. CTF aims to be a place of encouragement and a place where anyone can ask for prayer or advice according to the teachings of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

"For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." - Romans 12:4-5

What Christian Teen Forums Is Not

CTF is not a dating service, nor are we a political soapbox, and the board is not to be used as such. We don’t condone or promote the performance of illicit or illegal activities, including the request of illegal software (“warez”). People of other religions and belief systems are welcomed, and will be expected to follow the forum rules detailed below in the same way as any Christian member. However, proselytizing, bashing (the Christian) God, bashing Christians, or attacking Christianity and any of the aspects thereof, is strictly prohibited.

Conditions Of Membership

Membership of this board is permanent, unless forfeited by the user or nullified by the Administration. If you are a member, you are granted the ability to read threads, post replies, create new threads, upload files, use the chat room and take part in various other board activities, should you so desire.

Membership is subject to the following terms, as well as the terms and conditions that you must agree to when you sign up.

M1. You must be at least 13 years of age.
M2. You must agree to follow the terms and conditions you commit(ted) to when you sign(ed) up, including any future revisions of these terms.
M3. You must follow the additional forum and chat rules detailed below.

Your membership may be forfeited and your IP banned in the event that you break, or show blatant disregard for, one or more of the forum rules detailed below.

NOTE: The Administrators reserve the right to revoke your membership and posting privileges at any time, for any reason, and without explanation. See the section on ‘Banning’ for more information.

Forum Rules

Below is the full complement of CTF’s forum rules. Please be aware that all “NOTE” points are regarded as part of the rules, and so must be obeyed in the same way as any numbered clause.

General Behavior On CTF

1. All members are expected to “treat others as you want to be treated”. Slander (such as name-calling or prejudice) is not allowed in any way, form or language, to any members or other persons off-site. Similarly, posts bashing God, Christians, fellow members and/or other persons, or posts that question another's salvation, will be deleted, and a warning issued.

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" - Matthew 22:37-39

"Do to others as you would have them do to you." - Luke 6:31

NOTE: If you have a problem with another member, or their actions, contact a Staff member via PM or e-mail. Do NOT start a thread discussing the matter. Once the Staff are notified of the situation, they will take action (if required), avoiding the need to impress matters on other members of the forum.

Staff Members Of CTF (Moderators And Administrators)

2. All members are to respect the Staff members. Mocking Staff members is prohibited, and any such abuse (which includes, but is not limited to, account names mocking the staff, singling out of a Staff member and public defamation of a Staff member) will be met with an immediate warn. Similarly, actions taken by Staff members are not to be discussed publicly (which includes making threads on the forums or talking about staff actions in the chat room).

"For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval." - Romans 13:3

"Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people." - Titus 3:1-2

NOTE: If you have a problem with a Staff member, or a decision made by them, contact that Staff member via PM or e-mail. If this fails to provide you with a mutual agreement on the matter, speak to an Administrator. If the person you were contacting is an Administrator, contact a different one. Alternatively, please use the staff member complaint form.

Religious Issues

3. Whilst CTF welcomes members of other religions, it is a Christian forum, and hence advertisement or promotion of other religions or belief systems is not allowed (for the purpose of this rule, atheism will be considered a belief system).

4. Only Christians are allowed to post in the ‘God/Church’, ‘Bible Discussion’, ‘Praises and Testimonies’ and ‘Christian Debates’ forums. Posts made by non-Christians in these forums will be deleted, and a warning issued.

5. There are to be no debates concerning the validity of Christianity (though amiable and genuinely inquiring threads of this nature are welcome in the Seekers Of Christ forum). Any such debates will be removed, and the poster warned.

6. There will be no discrimination of different forms or denominations of Christianity. We may not agree on everything, but we should be building one another up rather than tearing each other down.

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" - Psalms 133:1

Posting On CTF

7. All posts must be made in a readable format. Members are requested to refrain from using chat-speak (e.g. “u r” in place of “you are”, “l8r” in place of “later”, etc.). Please also avoid using excessive exclamation points “!!!!!!!!!!”, and/or typing in ALL CAPS. This applies to topic titles as well as topic and post content.

8. Topics and/or posts depicting or discussing sexual behaviour in inappropriate detail, depicting or condoning violence, or favoring otherwise inappropriate/un-Biblical behaviour and activities (beliefs contrary to core Christian beliefs) are prohibited. Any such topics/posts will be deleted, and a warning issued.

9. Profanity (“cursing”) in any form is forbidden. This includes taking God's name in vain. Euphemisms for profanities, when directed at another member or person off-site, are prohibited (including, but not limited to, “frigging” and “frick”), as is lewd or otherwise crude language. You may not bypass the forum’s word filter by using asterisks (***) or other such symbols. Scientific terminology (for example, “penis”) is allowed, but accordingly must take place within a rule-abiding discussion.

"A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." – Proverbs 15:1

"You must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth." - Colossians 3:8

"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." - Exodus 20:7

10. Members are not to post any potentially personally-identifiable information, such as home addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, post/zip codes or full birth names, on the main forums. This is for your own safety. Any such information that is discovered will be removed by a Staff member, and the member notified.

11. Any posts that are deemed irrelevant to a topic (“spam”) will be deleted, and a warning issued. Likewise, topics started that do not have an obvious or substantial purpose, or replies to a topic that are not related to its subject content, will be deleted, and the poster warned.

12. Starting topics, or using the private message system, for the sole reason of advertising (“plugging”) other websites is prohibited. Links may be used within topics and/or posts as long as they are backed-up with other relevant information. All links placed within a topic or post (or, indeed, a member’s forum signature) will be reviewed by a Staff member and removed if necessary. Topics that are based on links which have been deemed unacceptable will be closed, and the links removed.

13.All debating (excluding within the Christian Sexual Ethics forum) is to be done in the Debates forum. Topics that become debates will be moved to the Debates forum where appropriate, or closed if this is deemed necessary.

Member Conduct

14. Members are allowed no more than one active account. Any additional accounts that are known to be associated with a member who already has another active account will be suspended, and the member’s current account will receive a warning.

15. Any member who is discovered to be aiding and/or abetting a banned member in any way (e.g. by allowing them unauthorised access to CTF under their own account), or consensually communicating with a banned member in the chat room, will be subject to disciplinary action by a staff member.

Chat Room Rules

All applicable forum rules apply within the chat room. Additionally, the following specific chat room rules apply:

C1. Excessive amounts of chat-speak are prohibited, as are excessive numbers of emoticons (5+) in messages. Posting a high number of subsequent messages ("flooding") is also unacceptable behaviour. All these can cause lag and/or other technical issues for you and/or other members.

C2. Any instructions given by a Staff member within the chat must be obeyed. Violation of this rule may result in a “gag” or a 24-hour chat ban (this is left at the discretion of the Staff member). At no time is it acceptable to bypass a “gag”. Doing so will result in immediate suspension from the chat.

NOTE: Returning using an alternative IP address or proxy will also result in suspension. Your account will henceforth become void, and any possible return to the forums and chat will need to be appealed. See the section on ‘Banning’ for more information.

C3. Links may be posted in the chat as long as they are appropriate. If a website is posted that a Staff member has judged as inappropriate, it is henceforth not to be discussed in any way.

NOTE: If you would like to post a link, but are unsure as to whether it is acceptable or not, contact a Staff member via a chat PM beforehand. If there are no Staff members in the chat room at the time, contact them on the forums.

C4. At no time is it permissible to ask members in the chat room for pictures of themselves, or to initiate and/or take part in any form of perverse talk, cybersex, or the like.

C5. If you wish to debate a topic in the chat room, please respect the other members in the main chat and create a room for those who wish to instigate in the debate.

Responsibility Of Reading Rules

Remember, as a member it is your responsibility to read the rules and adhere to them. If you fail to do so and later find yourself being punished for breaking a rule you were not aware of, you will be held accountable regardless. If you fail to read the rules, it is your fault, and the staff will be perfectly within their rights to discipline you as they see fit.

NOTE: If you are unsure about anything at any time, be it on the forums or within the chat room, contact an Admin or Moderator, who will be happy to assist you.

Member Signatures

As with most, our software allows for the use of signatures in members' posts. These may be any combination of text, images, colors, etc. However, note that everything must comply with all of the CTF rules, and for your own safety, please refrain from including any sort of personal information. Additionally:

S1. Images in signatures should take up no more than 250KB in file size. The combined size of the images in a signature may not exceed 500KB.
S2. Signatures which are too large clutter the forum, and may increase page loading time for members using slower internet connections. Hence, absolute maximum image dimensions of 500w and 250h are enforced. If more than one image is present in a signature, then the combined dimensions must not exceed these values.
S3. The number of lines of text (including line breaks) should not exceed 10.
S4. All links should be kept to a minimum.

Discretion is called for when implementing a signature. Should a member's signature be considered inappropriate due to, for example, inappropriately large file size or image dimensions, a final decision will be at the discretion of an administrator.

Staffing

The Administrators and Moderators (“Staff members”) of CTF help to ensure that the rules are adhered to, as well as keeping the forums orderly. All Staff members have the authority (and power) to edit or delete any post, signature, thread, or profile fields should they be considered objectionable.

NOTE: Moderators and Counselors are chosen at the discretion of the Administrators. Being appointed as a staff member is not a position that can be applied for. If an Administrator wishes for you to take up a position on staff, they will contact you. You then have the choice of whether to accept or turn down the offer.

Banning

The disciplinary procedures carried out by the staff operate according to a system of rules and regulations known as the “3/6/9” system. In this system, member warnings are carried out in steps of 3. For example, three simple rule-breakages will typically amount to a 30% increase in warn level. When a member reaches (or crosses) a warn level of 30%, a suspension of 72 hours (3 days) is enforced. A further three simple rule-breakages will raise the given warn level to 60%. This will result in a 14 day (2 week) suspension.

Not all rule-breakages will surmount to a 10% increase in warn level. Particularly severe cases (staff members have a general code of conduct and point of reference to adhere to when considering the severity of an offense) may result in a 20% or 30% increase. In the case of the latter, a suspension of at least 3 days (depending on the member's current warn level) is immediate.

When a member’s warn level reaches 90%, they will be “permanently” banned. A “permanent” ban will last 18 months. When you are banned you will not have the ability to post in the forums. At this stage, you may contact an Administrator (admin@christianteenforums.com) to request a CTF Ban Appeal Form, which you may complete and send back should you feel that the conditions of your banning were unjust or unfair.

NOTE: If you have been banned and have not completed a Ban Appeal Form, yet are discovered back on-site under a new account, this account will be banned instantly, and you will forfeit your right to appeal both bans. Similarly, if you have previously been banned on CTF, any attempt to sneak back "through the back door" via a new account will not be tolerated.

After a certain period of time of no further rule-breakages, a given member’s warn level will be decreased. Typically, every span of 2 months will result in a 10% decrease in warn level, which will summate until (or if) the warn level reaches 0%.

Footnotes

F1. The Administrators and Moderators will not be held responsible for any posts made by other users.
F2. These rules are subject to change, without notice, at the discretion of the Administration.
F3. All rules will be enforced indiscriminately.

This post has been edited by Pointer: Nov 1 2009, 03:05 PM