Rules of Etiquette

Rules and policies of the StayLDS forums. Welcome! Please read this first if you are new to our community.
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Brian Johnston
Posts: 3499
Joined: 22 Oct 2008, 06:17
Location: Washington DC

Rules of Etiquette

Post by Brian Johnston »

The Purpose of the Discussion Forums:
Please keep in mind that this site has an explicit and defined purpose. The purpose is to help each other create a positive experience for ourselves in the LDS Church, however that might happen, after having entered a process of questioning the history and teachings.

So with that in mind,

Please keep the guidelines below in mind when you participate. These are general ideas to keep the social tone positive, yet still open for frank and honest dialogue.

The List of Do's

Please share your feelings, even if you have sometimes been disappointed with something in the Church. That is ok. It is helpful and positive to share these feelings. You will probably find a lot of kindred souls here. PLEASE NOTE: Sharing stories of disappointment and frustration must be done in a way that fosters a discussion about solutions. Feel free to share something that bothers you along with a solution that worked for you personally. Feel free to share something that bothers you and ask for help or alternative viewpoints and solutions from the community. If you only post a problem, and we can't figure out how to turn it into a discussion in line with the mission of StayLDS, it will probably be deleted or a moderator will ask you to edit the post.

Please share things that have helped you. This is a support group.

Please feel free to openly discuss difficult and challenging topics. Only a couple items will be "taboo."

Please feel free to disagree with anyone. Nobody here has all the answers. We can all benefit from being challenged. This is not a debate club though. There is no winning or losing. Please try to stay supportive and positive with those who might not believe the same way.

It is ok to be analytical about the Church, but not to the point of demeaning those who want to believe. You don't have to believe and support everything about the Church. We do ask that participants be respectful of those who choose to have a traditional faith (sometimes labeled "TBM" around the internet).

The List of Don'ts

No profanity - including derogatory words associated with racism, sexual orientation, etc.

No explicit sexual discussions.

No specific descriptions of the signs and tokens from the temple ceremony. General discussion about the content and nature of the ceremonies are fine.

Please do not start discussions that lead to a debate with the results of finding the one correct answer to a problem. Topics like this will probably be moderated.

Topics and comments should not portray the beliefs of others (traditional Mormon, non-believers or those of other religions) in a disrespectful manner. This violates the mission and spirit of our community, and content like that will probably be moderated or removed.

Political Discussions

Members of the church around the world come in all different political and socio-economic stripes and colors. Politics and political discussions can elicit strong emotions in individuals and divide communities and families. While some members of the church live in areas where their political views are different from the majority view, this is generally not the sole reason people dissociate themselves from the church. The mission of StayLDS is to help people in their desire to maintain a relationship with the church. Discussions of politics not directly related to helping someone maintain their relationship with the church are therefore prohibited.

These forums are PUBLIC
They are available to anyone and everyone on the internet. Even unregistered users can view (but not post to) the forums. Please keep that in mind when you consider how much or little of yourself to identify in discussions.

[last updated 11/29/2020]
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