Rules Policy

Recent notable controversial feuds which have taken place here on Debunking Loftus have made it more of an urgency to develop a democratic-means of establishing rules of conduct for this blog's guests and staff.

As founder of the blog, I will make it clear that in no way, shape, or form will Debunking Loftus model itself after the policies of Debunking Christianity. Censorship is a common theme found on John's blog because he is able to control the input of what commentators have said on his blog in order to escape public embarrassment and fatal flaws to his reputation (even though by matter of simple searching, he already has a track record rife with them). Here, at the Debunking Loftus blog, I welcome any guest who wishes to provide their thoughts and opinions on matters even if they are highly disagreeable in the perspective as viewed by myself and the fellow contributors to this blog. 

However, it should also be noted that each and every contributing author to the blog has administrative rights. They are capable within their own discretion to remove comments that they find are endangering or grossly inappropriate towards others in a way that reflects badly upon this blog and causes meaningless disputes. It is with this in mind, that instead of providing a long list of dos and donts, of which, a small specific list has already been established by myself, as indicated in the description above the 'Comments' box, the policy regarding proper protocol to the blog will be determined by means of popular vote and suggestions from authors and guests alike. In other words, this sticky post shall be used as a medium and as a reference, for implementing new rules and or emphasizing already existing ones. Anyone authorized to comment on here is given the option to throw out suggestions and ideas for what may be acceptable and or inacceptable. This can be something as simple as specifying what should be within boundaries and what certain behaviors violate them, to listing the name of a specific blogger with a formal complaint. All suggested ideas will go into consideration and will be listed in a voting poll where commentators and non-commentators alike can help determine where the majority vote leans. So even if there is a doubt in your mind if what you have in mind is worthwhile and or sensible, feel free to post it and see where the votes will get you.

Voting polls shall be open to public vote for a total of seven days duration time or an entire week once a suggestion has been inputed. This should be enough timing for regular readers to reach a verdict in correlation with the verdict of the blog administrators, not excluding random or in-and-out guest readers. 

Blog Conduct

Although this was against my initial wishes, the time has come for a "uniform code of conduct". I have said before and I'll say this again, I do not have any intentions of mirroring Debunking Christianity's commenting policies. They are bogus and without merit. Banning someone on the basis of "ignorance" is so ambiguous that it does not apply to any specified context whatsoever. Is someone worthy of being banned because they are ignorant of physics? Or what about theology? John does not say. So to make myself clear, all of the rules of this blog are so on the basis of a person's behavior when posting comments. These rules are based on past experiences which have almost erupted into outright conflict. As is necessary, the rules are here to prevent out-of-control chaos.

Rules are established (in definite terms), in one of two ways if not both:

1) The administrators of the blog see a need to address an issue of importance by adding or refining some technicalities within the guidelines.

2) Proposals from either us (the staff body) or suggestions from guests will be made into voting polls. Whichever gains majority vote becomes the newly instated rule to the guidelines.

General information on this process can be read about in the 'Rules Policy.'

John W. Loftus made a valid point in one of his comments about his blog Debunking Christianity:

It’s my house and...I can surely tell someone to straighten up or ship out of my house.

Because of the two points I've already gone over, this same standard principle applies to this blog as well. At the end of the day, it must be enforced that the rules are the rules. If you wish to comment on this blog, you must abide by them or face the consequences. I would love to respect the right to free speech in all instances, but recent events have stretched this to its limits. There is a point in going too far. These rules can only be violated in extreme and deliberate situations. Aside from this, I do welcome criticism (positive or negative) and disagreement with this blog. That I do not have a problem with at all. So let's go over what these rules are and what you, as a visitor, should do and not do if you wish to post here and let your vocal opinion be known.

Commenting Guidelines

• Profanity - Readers of Debunking Loftus prefer that commentators try to minimize their profane language when discussing or debating topics, or even just mere bickering. Words such as "ass" and "bitch" are allowed. Other websites demand that all linked-to websites have predominantly family-friendly content. As a guest, please try to be respectful of the boundaries others have with obscenities.

• Pornography - Debunking Loftus is not an adult website and does not endorse or advertise any adult or sexually explicit content. Any pornography posted in comments will be removed. Repeated instances and attempts at posting pornography will result in total censorship of your future comments. There is also the chance of you being reported to Blogger or to the appropriate legal authorities depending upon the nature of the pornographic material being posted.

• Disabilities & Handicaps/Impairments - Anyone and everyone posting here should have the good enough sense and decency not to make fun of something people cannot help because of genetic predispositions and or traumatic life events. Comments which are derogatory against the handicapped will be removed and in repeated instances you will be blocked (by whatever means necessary) from posting on this blog permanently. You have been warned.

• Illegal Activities - Debunking Loftus cannot and will not be held liable for people who make the decision to engage in online activities which violate state and Federal laws. This also applies to the laws of your country or district if you are foreign to the United States.

• Anonymous Comments - Post your comments using a username or alias. Posting comments by which we cannot identify you gives certain people the opportunity to create serious damage with the necessary resources at their disposal to do so. If you attempt to post without a username, your comment will not be approved. If you do not have a username with the designated properties to post on this blog, you can set up an account for free on Blogger.com.

• Trolling - While freedom of speech is a high priority here, the intent of certain commentators (like Edward T. Babinski) to create conflict and get at people's throat at any opportune moment is not something that will be tolerated here any longer. If you are here to simply be obnoxious and annoying, post elsewhere. More specifically, what will be considered as trolling follows along the same lines by which the term "harassment" is legally defined. Simply put, if you're intent is to make the blog a combat zone, then DO NOT POST HERE. Trolls have a three comment limit before being banned from posting. Thank you.
• ---- > Trolling (cont.) - Due to the high frequency of comments being directed at pointing out the flaws of Christianity and the hypocricy of Christians, unless this is directly discussed in one of our posts, such comments/references will be deemed troll-like behavior. This has been repeated incessantly to many guests which have a tendency to come and go without spending the care or attention to whether or not these objections and or statements have been addressed. It has already been explicitly stated that this blog is not administered exclusively by Christians (in my case, I am a non-Christian and the primary founder of this blog, JP Holding contributes). It is not unreasonable to create conversations that address the issues as they are presented from our behalf. No more derails of this nature pertaining to religious affiliations and or ranting will be tolerated.
  

Once more, the rules in place today may not remain exactly the same tommorrow. Rules may be changed based on votes and at the discretion of the Debunking Loftus staff.