Posting Guidelines

The Jehovah's Witness Discussion Forum | JW.Org Community Information is a site designed to allow members to ask questions, exchange information and share comments and experiences with each other. We're a unique community with specific needs, so we've created a few ground rules and best practices to make this the best place it can be.

Before you get started you should make sure you've read the Forum Terms of Service.

How to make posts

The absolute basics ...

• Posts must be on-topic

  In this forum, we discuss many different topics and it helps if any comments made on a topic are about that topic and not attempts to derail the discussion.

• Posts must be easy for others to read

  Subject lines may not be in ALL CAPS or contain excessive punctuation. Posts should not use excessive formatting (e.g. all bold or large text). Posts may not contain unnecessary URLs. While you're welcome to post relevant links, posts with excessive URLs will be removed. Members who post excessive URLs may be removed from the group.

• Posts must be labeled with the most appropriate category

  This forum is organized by categories, so please choose the appropriate category for your topic so that people can chose the subjects that interest them.

What not to post

We want visitors to enjoy reading and using the Forum so we ask that posters abstain from certain types of posts. If you are interested in posting outside of these rules, there are numerous other places where you can post such messages instead. We encourage you to leave. Please. Right now. Posts that are prohibited include:

• Unreadable, non-english or gibberish / nonsense

  Sorry, we do not have the capability to translate and moderate non English content.

  Nonsensical posts that have nothing to do with the topic, repetitive diatribes posted to multiple items, off-topic posts that hinder discussion, and responses to those posts. We ask readers to ignore such posts. It’s hard to keep the comments clear of them if several people respond to them and responses mix with actual commentary.

• Spam or unwanted promotional advertising

  Spam includes, but is not limited to, any promotional, commercial content, multiple instances of the same post, posts with URLs unrelated to the question or anything that may interfere with people using the service. All submitted links on our site are "nofollow" so trying to boost your search engine rankings are a waste of time. If you have a product or service that you believe would be appropriate to our visitors then please contact us to discuss advertising opportunities.

• Pornography, Adult or Sexually Provocative content

  If you post content which many wouldn't be comfortable viewing at work or with family members around, then it probably isn't appropriate for this site. This includes partial nudity, sexual poses or revealing clothing and any form of sex toys or equipment.

  The main criteria we use is "is this a Not Safe For Work ("NSFW") image?". Naked people aren't safe for work in the average workplace. Exposed breasts, nipples (including ones visible through material), penises and vaginas, and asses aren't permitted. Remember, an image doesn't have to contain complete nudity for it to be out of place at the office. A good reference point is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. It's not nudity, but it is a great deal of exposed skin and minimal fabric covering that most workplaces frown upon. Anything you see in the Swimsuit Edition shouldn't be posted inline. A more general reference point for the would be to think about what you wouldn't want your boss to find in your browser cache. Pictures of any type of sex toys or devices are also not acceptable.

• Underage, non-consensual, or illegal sex acts

  We absolutely prohibit content related to child sexual abuse imagery or pedophilia. We fully support the fight against online child abuse, and are avid supporters of family safety online. Child sexual abuse imagery is defined as visual depictions of minors (i.e., under 18) engaged in a sexual act such as intercourse, oral sex, or masturbation as well as the lascivious depictions of the genitals (covered or uncovered). This definition extends to photographs, videos, cartoons, drawings, paintings, and sculptures. The image can involve a real child; a computer-generated, morphed, composite or otherwise altered image that appears to be a child (think “Photoshop”). This also includes soliciting minors for sexual acts, which is also known as "enticement". Pedophilia is any content or behavior (images, texts, videos, etc.) that depicts, encourages, or promotes sexual attraction by adults toward minors (i.e., under 18).

  Make no mistake - we absolutely will report you to the appropriate authorities and provide them with all the information about you that we have available so that you can be thrown into the pit you belong.

• Excessive profanity or crude language

  There are a very few cases where crude or profane language is really appropriate and will be tolerated. Please express your views in a manner that others won' find offensive.

• Hate speech

  No harassing or bullying content, or content that incites hatred or promotes violence against individuals or groups based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity. Please make sure that content that is meant to be educational, documentary, historical, scientific, or artistic does not cross the line.

• Insulting, harassing or bullying an individual

  We will not tolerate people using the site to try to enact any kind of revenge or retaliation against anyone whether that is due to some offline incident or some opinion they have expressed on this or any other site.

• Copyrighted material or trademark infringement

  Do not post material that you do not have the legal right to share or links to illegal downloads of music, movies, books or anything else. Please do not post instructions to circumvent the legal rights of others or abuse servies (e.g. how to download videos from YouTube).

• Drug, alcohol, and tobacco-related content

  We do not allow promotion beer, hard alcohol, or liqueurs or the promotion of tobacco and tobacco-related products, including cigarettes, cigars, tobacco pipes, and rolling paper. This includes linking to sites that promote or sell any of these things.

  Content relating to home-brewing of beer or wine-making, as well as content related to the topic of quitting smoking is allowed.

• Computer or software hacking and cracking content

  Please do not post instructions or links pertaining to illegal software, serial numbers or downloads. Product activation codes for software, requests for such, or other warez-related posts or links.

• Links to malware or adware

  Links to content that contains malware or adware or attempts to distribute it are not allowed.

• Sites that offer compensation programs ("pay-to" sites)

  Please do not abuse our membership by trying to encourage clicking on links or adverts for any kind of compensation or manipulation of polls or surveys.

• Violent content

  Content describing or promoting violence is not allowed.

• Shocking or distasteful content

  Content that would make most viewers feel ill, upset, or uncomfortable. This includes but is not limited to: cadavers, autopsies, surgeries, vomiting, severed limbs, alarming deformities, dead animals, extreme body modifications, torture, and bodily functions are not to be posted in the threads. Images that depict graphic content will be deleted. The use of images depicting well-known tragedies is not forbidden - but is generally frowned upon. Images which depict people actually dying (falling to their death, being killed in various ways - e.g. shot, maimed/tortured, etc.) should never be posted or linked to. The same holds true for such images involving animals.

  The rule applies equally to text: The Forum is not a place for "who can tell the most disgusting story" contests, or a journal for your (or anyone else's) bodily/biological functions. Using a little common sense and restraint here will go a long way.

• Illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia content

  Please do not promote drugs or drug paraphernalia. This includes drug accessories, illegal or prescription drugs, and herbal drugs such as salvia and magic mushrooms.

• Weapon-related content

  Content that promotes, facilitates or advocates the sales of weapons and weapon accessories. This includes but is not limited to the sales of ammunition, gun parts, hardware, pistols, rifles, BB guns, sporting guns, air guns, blow guns, and stun guns. It also includes explosives, including fireworks.

• Promoting counterfeit goods

  We don't want to buy your knock-off goods or help you promote them.

• Promoting products obtained from endangered or threatened species

  Take a photo, not a trophy.

• Promoting fraudulent activity (e.g. ad clicking, pyramid schemes)

  Please don't try to promote or recruit people to conduct fraudulent activity.

• Promotes illegal activity or infringes on the legal rights of others

  Anything that isn't covered specifically by any of the above but is illegal or attempts to deny others of their legal rights.

• Privacy violations

  We do not allow the unauthorized publishing of people's private and confidential information, such as home address, telephone numbers, workplace or email address or any other information that is not publicly and legally accessible as part of any position that they hold.

• Complaints about the forum or disputing moderator decisions

  While we welcome constructive feedback the forum rules are non-negotiable and we will not embark on a protracted debate over so-called grey areas or how we choose to interpret and apply them.

If you're posting something and you're not quite sure whether it falls under the "safe" category or not then err on the side of caution and instead of embedding it in a post, link to it and include a warning message. The reason we have this rule is so that users can make their own decision as to whether they should chance viewing certain images or not. Inline images don't give the reader that choice, so they must always be safe for work.

Moderator Decisions and Appeals

If you have posted something that violates the rules then as well as removing the content we may block you from using the site for a period of time or limit the amount you can post. You may disagree with our decision and want to protest it. There is a right way to do this (send a message or email) and a wrong way (start disputing decisions publicly and harassing moderators).

If you do feel we have misunderstood or made a mistake then following this one suggestion will help the process out immensely:

Be polite. Write a draft letter to get the frustration out of the way first. Then write a second letter explaining what happened and send that one instead. The person in the position to help with an issue is more likely to do so if they aren't abused. Chances are that whatever went wrong can be righted, so keep that in mind during correspondence.

Remember that the posting rules are non-negotiable and we will not embark on a protracted debate over so-called grey areas. Re-posting content that has been removed or repeated violations of the rules will result in a ban. Attempting to find a possible loophole for something we didn't mention here or trying to find some tricky way around the rules isn't going to work. The posting rules aren't complicated. We are not going to spell them out in legalese or cover every possible interpretation of them. This includes the "don't be a dick" rule. We expect that you can see and understand what the spirit of each rule is. In essence, use your common sense.

Our Agreement

By posting in this forum, you agree to abide by the aforementioned rules. Breaking these rules may result in your post being removed, and severe abuses may lead to harsher penalties.

We reserve the right to change these rules at any point in our efforts to keep the forum clean, user-friendly, and safe.

If you believe that someone is violating these posting guidelines please let us know so that we can take action if appropriate.

Let's work together to keep this forum a clean and friendly environment. Happy posting!

Above all, we hope you enjoy Jehovah's Witness Discussion Forum | JW.Org Community Information!