This is this forum.
What happens on other Catholic forums does matter.
11 Specific Rules
Don't be shy! Please participate; that's what will keep the board alive. Read an interesting article? Post it! See a movie? Write a review or talk about it in the Art and Entertainment forum! Want to read a work of fiction and talk about it with others? Start a book club! Want to read St. Augustine's "City of God" with people? Ask someone to start a formal study -- or start one yourself if you have the expertise! Got a joke? Tell it in the Pig Roast forum! Learn something recently? Teach it! Find an interesting video at Youtube or Google? Embed it to share with others!
Don't just post URLs with no summaries, no effort at explaining what the URLs link to. Preferred is the posting of entire articles (or, if they're extremely long, their relevant parts) -- and especially preferred is the posting of articles accompanied by some of your own commentary. It makes things much more interesting and stimulates responses! And please cite sources!
Use descriptive titles in your subject lines. For ex., if you have a question about Confession, instead of writing "Question" for your subject line, write "Question about Confession."
Don't type in ALL CAPS, especially in subject lines. Use capital letters for emphasis. Don't use smilies/emoticons in subject lines.
If you post a link to a PDF file, warn people that it is, indeed a PDF file. Please. Oh, please.
Don't dis other forums here or bring to this place complaints about how other web forums are run.
Don't bump threads unless, and only unless, it is to bring to others' attention something that is timely or in some other way relevant. If you post something and no one responds, then no one wants to talk about your post, apparently.
When replying to a post, try to eliminate as much as possible any excess, unecessary quoting. If you are only responding to one line in someone's long post, just quote that one line. Avoid "me too" type replies.
Take personal sniping to e-mail or PMs. No one wants to hear it. Grow up and try to handle things yourself. We dislike "mommified" boards and don't want to run one.
This board is an English language-based board. Don't post things in other languages unless you provide translations, are asking for translations of Church-related materials, are attempting to show a primary source in a contentious issue, are doing so ordinately in an otherwise English post, or are posting things in Latin in an appropriate way and in the appropriate place. If for such a good reason you need to post in a non-English language, indicate so in your subject line, e.g.: Pope's Letter to Artists (Spanish)
Note, though, that there are many people who post here whose first language isn't English; we have members whose first language is French, German, Dutch, Polish, etc. So if you come across a misspelled word, the occasional bit of bad grammar, an apparent insult, etc., make sure the issue isn't a matter of someone trying to express himself in a language he doesn't think in.
Don't set up different usernames. One account per person.
There is a reason why people are posting here. While people may post on many forums, it can be safely assumed that those who do take part on this forum do so with the intent of belong to this forum, not others.
This forum and that are not the Church. I'm sure a person could post all sorts of things about this forum too.
