Rules of the Board Version 3.0
© 2003-2008
What Christian Teen Forums Is:
Christian Teen Forums (CTF) is a non-profit online forum for Christian teenagers to come together, chat, hang out, talk about issues concerning them, and discuss matters of their faith. It is also a place of encouragement and a place to ask for prayer and advice. Most importantly, the community of CTF is a place to escape, have fun, and meet and talk with fellow Christians.
What Christian Teen Forums Is Not:
While there are many uses and activities possible on CTF, there are some that are prohibited. Christian Teen Forums is not a dating service, nor is it a political soapbox, and the board is not to be used as such. Christian Teen Forums is neither a place for promotion of performance of illicit or illegal activities, including the promotion or request of illegal software (“warez”). People of other religions, belief systems, and worldviews are welcomed; however, proselytizing, bashing (the Christian) God, bashing Christians, or attacking Christianity (or 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 (see below). 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 the various games available on CTF (including those in the arcade), 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 committed to when you signed up.
M3. You must follow the additional forum and chat rules detailed below.
Forfeiture Of Membership:
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 privleges at any time, for any reason, and without explanation. See the section on ‘Banning’ for more information.
Main Forum Rules
General Behaviour On CTF:
1. All members are expected to “treat others as you want to be treated”. Name-calling, slander or gossip 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 will be deleted, and a warning issued.
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.
3. Actions taken by Staff members are not to be discussed publicly (this includes making threads on the forums discussing the actions undertaken by a Staff member, or talking about staff actions in the chat room).
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 instead.
Religious Issues:
4. This is a Christian forum, and hence advertisement of other religions or belief systems is not allowed.
5. Only Christians are allowed to post in the ‘God/Church’, ‘Bible Discussion’ and ‘Praises and Testimonies’ forums. Posts made by non-Christians in these forums will be deleted, and a warning issued.
6. Debates concerning Christianity, or any aspect thereof, are to be between Christians only. There are to be no debates concerning whether Christianity is true, or the validity of the Christian faith. Any such debates will be removed, and the poster warned.
7. There will be no discrimination of different forms or doctrines of Christianity. We may not agree on everything, but we should be building one another up rather than tearing each other down.
Posting On CTF:
8. 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.
9. Topics and/or posts discussing, depicting or condoning sexual behaviour, violence, or otherwise inappropriate/unbiblical behaviour and activities are prohibited. Any such topics/posts will be deleted, and a warning issued.
10. 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 word filter using asterisks (***), hashes (###), or other such symbols.
11. Members are requested 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.
12. Spamming is not permitted. 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 will be deleted, and the poster warned.
13. 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 deemed necessary. Judging whether a linked site is acceptable or not is left at the discretion of the Staff member dealing with the topic or post that contains the link. Topics that are based on links which have been deemed unacceptable will be closed, and the links removed.
14. All debating 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 (this is left at the discretion of the Staff member dealing with the topic).
Other:
15. 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.
Chat Room Rules
All applicable forum rules apply within the chat room, with the exception of rule 12 (see rule 1 of the chat room rules).
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 for you and/or other members, and may hinder the flow of conversation.
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). Actions taken by Staff members in the chat room are not to be discussed in the main chat, or via chat PMs. If you have a problem with a decision made by a Staff member whilst in the chat, contact that staff member via forum PM or e-mail.
C3. At no time is it acceptable to bypass a “gag” or chat ban. Doing so will result in immediate suspension from the chat (and forums). Returning using an alternative IP address or proxy will also result in suspension. Your account will henceforth become null and void, and any possible return to the forums (and chat) will need to be appealed (please see below).
C4. Links may be posted in the chat as long as they are appropriate. 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. If a website is posted that a Staff member has judged as inappropriate, it is henceforth not to be discussed in any way.
C5. 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.
C6. 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 banned.
C7. If you wish to debate a topic in the chatroom, please respect the other members in the main chat and create a room for your debating.
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.
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.
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.
Guidelines:
- 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.
- Dimensions of images are left to the member's discretion, though an absolute maximum of 750w and 250h is enforced. If more than one image is present in a signature, then the combined dimensions must not exceed these values.
- The number of lines of text (including line breaks) should not exceed 10.
- All links, while allowed, should be kept to a minimum.
Discretion is called for when implementing a signature. Signatures which are too large clutter the forum, and may increase page loading time for members using slower internet connections. 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.
NOTE: Signature content must comply with site rules. Any inappropriate content will be removed by a moderator.
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 objectionable, or violate one or more rules.
Moderators are chosen at the discretion of the Administrators. Being appointed as a Moderator is not a position that can be applied for. If an Administrator wishes for you to take up a position as a Moderator, they will contact you. You then have the choice of whether to accept or turn down the offer. These rules apply to any staff position one may seek to acquire.
Banning:
Generally, the staff of CTF operates a ‘three strikes’ policy, whereby upon the first occasion of a rule break a warning is given, via the Personal Messaging (PM) system on-site. Upon a second offence, a second warning is given, accompanied by a temporary suspension (the duration of which is at the discretion of the Administrator or Moderator dealing with your case). Upon a third offence, a permanent ban is issued. 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.
When you are banned you will not have the ability to post in the forums. 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.
NOTE: As a member, it is your responsibility to have read the rules and to know them. If you break a rule, it will be assumed that at the time you knew you were breaking it.
NOTE: The staff reserves the right to ban any member, at any time, for any reason, without warning, and without explanation.
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. |
