Members may not post any content that represents or promotes warez (software programs for which that Member does not own a personal license for, or which the Member does have a personal license for but which may not be distributed to other unlicensed users), piracy, hacking, cracking, spamming, copyright infringement, attacks against networks or servers, inappropriate activities on the servers, or any other actions which violate any applicable laws.

Members may not post content which engages in any sale or exchange of medicines prescription or not, or any illicit substance, or violations involving a credit card.

Members may not post any content that represents or promotes content that is sexual or pornographic or that involves racial hatred or crimes against humanity.

Members may not post text, links, pictures, animations, videos or any other content that is recognized that it may be harmful to any individual's private rights, affecting the integrity of a person, or that may be hateful, abusive, defamatory, illegal, harmful, threatening, improper, slanderous, vulgar, obscene or ethically reprehensible.

Members may not post content which discloses personal datum that could identify children under age of 18 or which exploit images of children under the age of 18.

Any illegal content or act can and should be reported to the concerned services and may be prosecuted.

Additional Rules

Rules set by myself as the Admin of the Forum.

We don't discriminate - everyone is entitled to an opinion
The VFF Forum does not tolerate discrimination, ie. differentiated treatment, by its management (Admin and Moderators) nor by any of its Members, as based on racial or other ethnic or cultural group, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or religious practice, mental or physical handicap, illness or disability, physical appearance, age, gender, personality characteristics, employment, educational background, financial or social status, or other similarly applicable characteristics. Forum Members are prohibited from posting any content which represents or promotes such discriminatory treatment against any of the Forum Members or against any non-Members. Some harmless jokes or pun that is made in general but not pertaining to persons in particular may be allowed so long as it is not offensive to the general category of people to which it pertains. Members may not post any content that contains personal attack that is constructed by use of any of these listed or other applicable personal characteristics; none of the categories here give valid or effective critique against the opinions and comments made by a person. In the VFF Forum we welcome opinions from any wide variety of people and we cherish the variety of personal background that these groups can offer to our discussions.

No personal attack
This is a tricky rule because just because a Forum Member claims to be offended by the actions of another Member whether those actions were directed to that Member or not directed to that Member, does not necessarily mean that a Member is responsible for offending another Member. Not all cases of accused offense are valid. Actions of a Forum Member can be judged as being offensive to other Forum Members even in cases where those that are targeted might disagree that they are offended. For instance, a Member can not use threats of physical violence on another Forum Member even if that other Forum Member were to say that it does not scare or offend them at all. It would still be the case of offensive material, whether it acchieves to produce offense or not in its recipient or recipients.

No swear words
Swear words with some or all letters taken out and replaced by stars *** are just as effective if not more than straight out swearing. Let's use stars when we absolutely must swear to make a point come across.

Promoting in the Forum
It is prohibited to solicit any services or products to any users of the VFF Forum, whether Guest readers or Members, for which the posting Member does not own a legally recognized license to practice or trade. However, if you do have a legal practice or business, as the Forum Administrator I welcome you to advertise your business in your signature line or to mention it in some of your posts if those posts address a relevant topic. You may not start a new discussion topic to promote your business. And you may not post solely for the purpose of promoting your business when it is not the case of normal inclusion within an acceptable discussion topic. These same rules and allowances apply to promotion of a non-profit cause, such as your webpage, an organization, or a cause, provided that such a cause itself abides by the Forum Rules. Promoting your business or cause in ways not allowed as defined here, may be judged as spamming and lead to applicable consequences.

No Spamming
Spamming constitutes a Member posting material in the Forum that is clearly any or all of being disruptive, not serious, in violation of Forum Rules, or in other ways inappropriate or not in accordance with the purpose of this Forum, and whether posted by the Member deliberately or unknowingly. There are many ways in which a Member can post material in the Forum, and spamming is prohibited in all venues, including private messaging to other Forum Members, posts in the Forum, content of their Profile page, content of their Avatar, signature line, or content transmitted to other Members via e-mail, Skype, or other forms of contact.

A Member who simply joins to mock or ridicule the Forum or any of its Members by means of the content of their posts, private messaging, signature line, Avatar, or other means of expression in the Forum, is responsible of spamming. Do note however that other breaches of rules are not necessarily spamming: rule violations that are not deemed as frequent and deliberate do not qualify as spamming.

The content of the VFF Forum must not be unsuitable for a child audience
Children are using the internet and although there is much content on the internet that is unsuitable for a child audience, my VFF Forum will not be one of them. While the VFF Forum is not intended for a child audience, Members must keep in mind when they are posting that children have access to the Forum. The official policy set by the Admin is that users should be 18 years or older to register for Membership and to be able to post, yet there is no way to enforce this rule, and anyone of any age is able to access the Forum to read it.

Simply put, please refrain from posting content which is expressed in text or in images in a manner that you would not expose your own young children to. Since everyone has different ideas on child raising, remember that some parents enforce higher moral standards in their upbringing than might you, so the policy goes be respectful of what content other families should be spared from to respect their possibly higher morals. Skepticism is perhaps an adult topic as is politics, yet when we engage in this debate we are not in a private room and we may have children in our presence.

Many of you Members will undoubtedly scoff at this Forum Rule. The type of content that is prohibited by this rule might be difficult to define, but we all know what it means. Meanwhile skepticism is often dealt with very passionately, and this rule does by no means discourage heated debate. It just asks us to be civil, reminding us that even though it may seem like it at times, we are not in a private bar, and children may be reading. We also want to make skepticism available for children and perhaps to inspire our young kids to develop an interest in skepticism and critical thinking.

Members must be 18 years or older
The Forum Provider does not allow persons under the age of 18 to be identified as being under the age of 18 in this Forum and that is why we must pose an age limit to Membership in our Forum. I have no way of enforcing this rule of age limit on Members, however when a new Member registers for Membership they are asked to assure that they are 18 years or older.

Admin's Pledge As the Administrator of the Vision From Feeling Forum, I have access to all the many editing features of the Forum that affect its design and layout. But as the Admin I also have access to edit and to delete any of the content of Members' posts, discussion page (=thread) titles and descriptions, profile information, Avatars, signature lines, and possibly more forms of posted content as well. I recognize the tremendous responsibility in having Admin status. *The VFF Forum will have a Community Section in which Forum Members are welcome to offer feedback, suggestions and complaints on actions and decisions made by the Admin. *The VFF Forum will be a Democracy, not Dictatorship. The worst that could happen is that the Admin abuses her position as Admin by disrespecting Members by herself breaking Forum Rules or by breaking this Admin's pledge in conjunction with deleting Members' feedback posts from the Community Section or by disallowing the Community Section. If Members as a whole are disallowed the Community Section or if Members notice that their posts in the Community Section have been edited or deleted by Admin though they did not break Forum Rules then this is the worst that could happen in this Forum and I would encourage Members to make noise in other Fora about this violation and perhaps to boycott the VFF Forum altogether. *Members will have space in the Community Section where they can defend themselves and explain themselves to other Forum users regarding having been given Forum Rule violations. Members have the right to challenge Forum Rule violation charges and to have those amended if assigned unrightfully. Members should be given an apology in the Forum for wrongdoings done to them by Admin or Moderators of the Forum. *Members may address me with their concerns with any of the Moderators and ask to have me represent them as I address those concerns on their behalf. Members may ask to remain anonymous with their concerns toward a Moderator. *Since the Admin is physically the same person as Member VisionFromFeeling, when posing as the Admin, Admin must judge and act in the presence of someone who is impartial and impersonal regardless of any personal feelings or preferences held by VisionFromFeeling. Admin may not award Member VisionFromFeeling any extra benefits not granted or offered equally to all of its other Members, yet benefits and access to the Forum may end up differing for different users depending on Forum Rule violations made by a Member. *Each new Member must be given the same "clean slate" when they register regardless of what actions they may have taken in other Fora or on the internet or in real life elsewhere, with the exception of serious legal offense which may entitle the Admin and Forum community as a whole to temporarily or permanently Ban a given Member from Membership and posting privileges (such as sexual offense, or other serious crimes). *This Admin realizes the possible cases of bias and unsuitability for Admin status in a Forum that is intended to give all of its Members equal rights and representation, due to the fact of this Admin being VisionFromFeeling. Therefore this Admin is already considering granting Administrative status of her Forum to someone else. The Forum can have two or more Admins, but to serve the purpose of assigning a better suitable Admin, then in the case of assigning Administrative status to another person she would ask that new Admin to change the password to the Forum Management and to disallow her access to it. I would have to know the true identity of the new Admin; their real full name, address, and other contact information and be in agreements as to how to return to Admin status or to have the new Admin removed if so chosen. Such a surrendering of my Admin status would be done in trust to this new Admin. (I already have one person in mind for Admin status, and that is JREF Forum member wardenclyffe. He has read all the content posted by myself as VisionFromFeeling which makes him nearly as knowledgeable about the topic of VFF as I am. He has also consistently represented himself exceedingly well in his posts in the JREF Forum and has proven himself to be very well-behaved, respectful of others, has demonstrated impressive impartiality and sound judgement, and that to both sides of the VFF debate. He comes across to me as having better qualities for Administrative status than even myself that would better benefit this VFF Forum. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate and enjoy the work behind Admin status, however I am able to realize that in the best interest of the Forum with regard to all of its Members I do not personally possess the best characteristics for Admin status, combined with the threat of bias from being Member VisionFromFeeling.) *I pledge to assign at least one Forum Member to Moderator status and to delegate moderating rights and responsibilities to those Moderators. See Moderators' Pledge below.

Moderators' Pledge *As a Moderator of the Vision From Feeling Forum, I have been assigned Moderator status by the Admin, not based on any personal relationship or friendship with the Admin, but by having demonstrated a sound set of skills and behavior either in my membership in other fora such as the JREF Forum or here in the VFF Forum. If I was assigned Moderator status for how I have expressed myself in another forum such as the JREF Forum, the Admin has taken all measures to confirm that my membership in the VFF Forum represents the same physical person as the member in the other forum who was intended for this Moderator status. I recognize that even if my membership in another forum, or elsewhere on the internet (with the exception of serious legal crime) was not to the standards of being awarded Moderator status here in the VFF Forum, that I have the right to enter the VFF Forum with a "clean slate", with all prior relations between myself and Member VisionFromFeeling disregarded of, and that my suitability for Moderator status in this VFF Forum will be evaluated solely based on my behavior in this VFF Forum. *As a Moderator in the VFF Forum, the Admin may assign to me Moderating access to any one, several, or all, of the different Fora in the VFF Forum. I may be assigned my very own Forum to oversee, and I recognize that my access to Moderate a limited number of Fora, all Fora, and the particular Fora I have been assigned, is not based on personal discrimination against me as a person, but is based on the suitability that I have demonstrated and that has come across to the Admin, or that this differentiated assignment to Fora among the Moderators may also be determined based on practical reasons. *Having been assigned Moderator status, I have already demonstrated the qualities deemed necessary in working as a Moderator, but I realize that while performing my moderating duties I am required to maintain that behavior and to consider the code of conduct that is required for moderating and as described by the Admin of the VFF Forum. *I allow Forum Members to discuss, to commend or to criticize, my moderating behavior in the Community Section of the Forum. *For the Forum or Fora I have been assigned Moderating access to by the Admin, I will never delete Members' posts without valid reason. I will only delete parts or all of a Member's post if it is in violation of Forum Rules, and I will always add into such a post that parts of it were deleted, identify myself as the Moderator who did the deleting, and state the reason for deletion. Posts that are off-topic but not rule violations may not be deleted but will either be split into a new topic or taken to a page designated for off-topic posts of all forms. I may not edit or otherwise alter the content of any of the posted content made by a Forum Member without the purpose of removing content that violates forum rules. I may never edit posted content simply to change the message given by a member and realize the rights of Members to express themselves in the Forum and to have their personal space and freedom of speech respected. *I will not be able to Ban Members for any amount of time and Banning can only be set by the Admin, meanwhile all Moderators are engaged with the Admin in decisions that may lead to Banning of a Member and we make a mutual decision. *I acknowledge that as a Moderator one of my main tasks is to provide a second opinion on Administrative management of the Forum made by the Admin, and for my opinion to be independent of the opinion of Admin. I am especially valuable as a Moderator when I am able to question and to evaluate Administrative action made by the Admin. I am capable of challenging the Admin's decisions and I understand that I have a level of influence in the Management of the Forum as made by the Admin. *I pledge to listen to our Members, as that is one of my specific tasks. Members have the right to address the Forum Management, of which I am now a part. Members have the right to address me as a Moderator, in matters of conflict with the Forum or with their Membership, if they choose to not address these concerns with the Admin. Members have the right to choose a Moderator to speak with, and Members have the right to turn to another Moderator or to the Admin if they are discontent with the assistance I was able to offer to them. Members have the right to challenge Moderating decisions made by me and to have my Moderating decisions evaluated by other Moderators or by the Admin. *As a Moderator I am not required to invest in any set amount of time or other resources of mine into the Moderating assignments. If I am unavailable as a Moderator for some time, Members may turn to another Moderator or to the Admin with their concerns. As a Moderator I will have my own page in the Forum where I can announce days when I am expecting to not be available to the Members. If I do not have the time, or do not take the time, to look into Moderation assignments, I am allowed my absence, but I will never deliberately ignore a Member when I am addressed by them as a Moderator. If I process a Moderation request by a Member and I feel incapable or unwilling to act on it, I may delegate that particular assignment to another Moderator or to the Admin, but I will not simply ignore it. *I may ask to be demoted from my Moderation status at any time by the Admin and I do not have to give a reason for my decision if I do not want to give one. *When I act as a Moderator I will never allow my personal relations with particular Members to affect my Moderating actions whether in favor or against a particular Member. If I identify myself as unsuitable to judge in a particular case due to my personal relations with the affected Member or Members, I am capable of delegating that particular Moderating task to another Moderator or to the Admin. *Although I have been awarded Moderating status, I have the right to remain my own person and to post content in the VFF Forum in the role of myself, and not have to "act like a Moderator" at all times. An example of this is in how the Admin also has the separate membership account as VisionFromFeeling and acts as Admin in one, and acts as a unique and personal Member in the other, and I may do the same. I will however not be awarded a separate Membership account as has the Admin, and so when I am posting in the role of a Moderator, such posts must be clearly marked as having been made in the role of a Moderator, and not myself as a private person and unique Member of the Forum. *I acknowledge that as a Member I have the right to nominate myself or another Member for Moderator status, and I know that assignment to Moderator status is not awarded by being "liked" by Member VisionFromFeeling. In fact there are persons who are very, or overly, supportive of Member VisionFromFeeling, and that have demonstrated the inability for the type of impartiality or for the level of skepticism that is required of a Moderator in this Forum. The VFF Forum is not a fan club for VFF, but a site for skeptical discussion. I also acknowledge that any positive or negative relations between myself and Member VisionFromFeeling are not considered in assignment to or from Moderator status nor in the Moderation access a Moderator is given or that is taken away from them. The Admin will judge impartially and impersonally and solely in the best interest of the VFF Forum community as a whole. *I must receive any of the complaints that Forum Members may have against the Admin and I must consider those complaints and to represent the Members when I present those complaints to the Admin. Members may also address the Admin directly with their complaints. Members have the right to have me represent them anonymously if by their choosing, during matters with the Admin. For the time being, the Admin stands alone in enforcing any consequences of rule violations, however Moderators will be assigned to assist in the process. For cases of suspected rule violations that are not easy to judge on, the Admin will have a page in the Forum where the Admin will bring up such difficult cases and invite the other Members to help decide on the matter. The Admin is not required to take the advice of any of its Members nor to let majority rule, but the Admin realizes that one person alone is often unsuitable to judge in difficult cases, and opinions from other Members are invaluable in such cases. The Admin may even include a poll to let Members vote on whether a rule violation has occurred, and will welcome comments from other Members on the case, posted either openly in the public Forum, or submitted anonymously to the Admin.

These Forum Rules should all be obvious and intuitive and they should not affect your ability to express your ideas and opinions effectively in the Forum. Note that allowed expressions may be cleverly made to be used in ways that modify their meaning and that may make them not allowed after all. Being annoying, blunt or incorrect are not necessarily rule violations!

Consequences of Rule violation

There are levels to the extent of rule violation. Note that the consequences to rule violations have not been properly set yet, and that individual cases may at times be ruled at an individual basis which may or may not appear to be in alignment with the outline presented here.

Questionable violation	When it is uncertain whether content posted by a Member is in violation to Forum Rules, the matter will be discussed between the Admin and Moderators. In some cases the matter may be opened for discussion in the Community Section, inviting Members to join in on its assessment. Once ruled on, the appropriate consequence will be assigned.
Warning only	Mild breaches of Forum Rules and especially mild first time violations only receive a warning.
Mild violation	The Member who posted this content may be asked to edit or remove the content that is in violation to Forum Rules if the Member has access to edit it themselves. A set amount of time for editing it themselves, may be specified on the request by the Admin or Moderator. If that time is up or if the Member otherwise refuses to edit the content, then the Admin or Moderator will edit or remove it themselves. Something such as "content removed by Admin" will be put in its place.
Moderate violation	The content is deemed severe enough to need urgent removal. Something such as "content removed by Admin" will be put in its place. Repeated violations to this degree may result in temporary loss of any individual posting privileges. Accumulation of a very large amount of this level of violations may result in longer time or permanent loss of one, several, or all forms of posting privileges.
Serious violation	The content is immediately removed and replaced with something such as "content removed by Admin". Member is likely to lose some or all of its posting privileges for a temporary amount of time. Repeated offenses at this level is more likely to result in permanent loss of some or all forms of posting privileges. If the offense is not only disruptive to the Forum community but illegal it may need to lead to legal action outside of this Forum.

Individual cases of rule violations will be listed in the Community Section and is visible to Members, but not to Guests. Members may challenge assigned rule violations by contacting the Admin or any of the Moderators. We currently have no Moderators but one or several will be assigned. A more elaborate description and case examples of what qualifies as a rule violation and to what degree, should be provided in the future. Members should note that most of the rules are obvious and intuitive, some are easy to abide by once you have read those rules, meanwhile others are difficult to accept or to assess due to their somewhat subjective nature. That is why the Admin will not rule alone but hopes to engage not only Moderators but in many cases also Forum Members in both the evaluation of possible rule violations, and in determining what consequences are most appropriate in individual cases.

These rules are set to make the VFF Forum an enjoyable place to all users and to avoid users from getting harmed by posted content. These rules will also enable for the objective of the VFF Forum to better be maintained, that is to provide a platform for skeptical discussion relating to the topic of VFF, but also to any of the other topics engaged by Members in the Non-VFF Topics area.

The Forum Rules on this page apply to the Vision From Feeling Forum and must be abided by all of its Members regarding any and all posted content by that Member in the VFF Forum. These rules and their descriptions as given here, are subject to change.

Please contact the VFF Forum Administrator if you have any questions or concerns regarding this Forum or its Rules!
forum@visionfromfeeling.com

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