Here are some examples of posts that will get removed:
1. personal attacks 2. politics (terrorism, party politics, foreign policy etc) 3. preaching 4. attempts to deliberately stir up trouble 5. faking a conversation by answering your own posts under different names (puppeteering) 6. complaints about censorship (ironic, ain't it) 7. questions for the admins (send those to ExMoLight@gmail.com instead) 8. complaints about the admins (ditto) 9. advertising and solicitations for money 10. legal issues not cleared in ADVANCE through admin 11. copyrighted material 12. posts about a topic that the moderators have said to drop 13. anything that collects personal information, requests for signatures on petitions or links to petitions, interview requests not cleared IN ADVANCE with admin. Requests for people to contact you off board. 14. anything illegal. The above list is not exhaustive.
Our temple video friend has violated 6-12 and possibly more. So SecondNephi, read the stickies.
I don't know how it escapes so many people that sites like this one are paid for, private space. It's not the public square, it's more like a living room, and abiding by the hosts' rules is what polite people do in other peoples' space.
I was told differently about RfM from another poster: " . . . an open and diverse forum like RfM." Can't remember who said this to me, though. It was a few months ago.
So is it only open and diverse for people that are accepted into the board? People that have been welcomed into the "living room"?
If you pee in the punch bowl (over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over) don't expect to be invited to the next party.
I've been around a while and so have made some observations and asked a few questions and I know this:
jacob Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Here are some examples of posts that will get removed:
> 6. complaints about censorship (ironic, ain't it)
The emphasis here is on 'complaints' and not 'censorship'. (1) How many complaints does a volunteer group want to read about itself before wondering why they do what they do and this type of commentary tends to dog-pile and get out of control, and (2) The focus is to always keep the discussion centered on Mormonism, for new readers and participants. It's so easy to go down a multitude of non-topical rabbit holes and before you know it, there is too much non-Mormon-related material, burying the board's purpose.
> 11. copyrighted material
It is *unattributed* copyrighted material that is not allowed, I believe. You are asked to indicate that copyright applies to anything you post that includes such, and state your source/s.
> Requests for people to contact you off board
The reason for this is to help protect all posters but especially new ones who may not be so familiar with the Internet and also who may trust posts from RfM, not realizing they are not vetted by Admin nor proven safe, and may be attempts to get you back to the Mormon Church, attempts to proselytize you into a different faith, may contain other unwelcome material, may be from a troll, etc.
In general, what need is there to ask people en masse to contact you off board or for posters to contact you off board out of the blue?
If you aren't sure how a rule applies or the reason it exists, ask Sus I/S, via "contact Admin" button or email and she will explain. That's how I learned what's up when I first came here. I especially had some confusion about what constituted trolling and what type of response would be deleted. (I would spend time replying to a post only to see it all disappear as it turned out to be a troll - I had never heard of such and got frustrated at the waste of time - I seemed to gravitate towards those who turned out to be trolls - now I know better, usually).
"The reason for this is to help protect all posters but especially new ones who may not be so familiar with the Internet and also who may trust posts from RfM, not realizing they are not vetted by Admin nor proven safe, and may be attempts to get you back to the Mormon Church, attempts to proselytize you into a different faith, may contain other unwelcome material, may be from a troll, etc."
IMO, the primary purpose is to prevent SPAM. (Which is kind of the same thing you are saying.)
You CAN set your account setting to show your private email...its easy...so I think there is some "allowing" of off board contact...heck I am in contact with several...but they(Admin) do get to make the rules...even if "we" think it doesnt make sense
Just sayin!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2012 02:51PM by bignevermo.
Yes, I was going to mention that but got sidetracked. If posters display their email they are indicating that they don't mind being contacted and, of course, Admin doesn't presume to tell posters they cannot contact each other. It's more, from my observations and inquiries, about helping newbies and others who may be unaware to be careful and think first before responding to requests for contact from people they don't know. Some people may feel comfortable with RfM and the idea of exmos being people they identify with (at last!) and can trust but Admin just wants to alert posters to the fact that, sadly, it ain't always so. Remember, some of us are folks who have been inculcated to "be nice" and don't have a lot of practice saying no and don't realize at first that it's not wise to be all-trusting, etc. The act of leaving a restrictive church does not immediately bestow upon us strength and knowledge and wisdom, but it's a start.
Mainly the posts I'm referring to are the ones where you've never heard of the poster before, the board name does not come up in search, so they've never posted under that name previously, the post has no content or little substance, and it's a general call for all new posters or all posters or all this or that to email them or "to continue the discussion off board". There is no reason to continue the discussion off board. This is a discussion board and why not discuss it here? What is the reason for taking it off board? These are the questions to consider before contacting someone you don't know and who hasn't been vetted by Admin. The ones to watch for especially, that are most suspicious, seem to be those that swoop in and ask a specific poster, usually a newbie in a crisis, to contact them off board.
It's not a blanket restriction by Admin, which couldn't be imposed anyway, but more a well-intentioned warning, much appreciated by those who may not have much Internet experience or who may not realize that the person seeking contact is unknown to Admin or any RfM posters and therefore may or may not be okay to trust. The main point is that merely posting at RfM does not establish trustworthiness.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2012 05:45PM by Nightingale.
The ones to watch for especially, that are most suspicious, seem to be those that swoop in and ask a specific poster, usually a newbie in a crisis, to contact them off board. ****** We have had some nasty problems like this. Things like:
Let me help you return to LDSInc. You need me to help you learn about the real Jesus/true church. You need to go to this place where they help people with your problems. (And then it turns out they are pushing some rehab/abuse facility.
To clarify, it's OK to post an excerpt of copyrighted material, if you give the source. It's not OK to post the entirety of copyrighted material (i.e., an entire magazine article) and not OK to post copyrighted material without giving the source.
Also, it's not OK to post any material that Admin has stated is not acceptable on this board.
I have no idea how the moderators here keep up with all the off target posts. I'm just really grateful to have a place to post where I trust what they do.
He waits until admin is away and then floods the board with his copyrighted material so that he can promote himself personally. (Not to reveal the temple film, or else he'd just put it all out on YouTube and be done with it.) He has made a fool out of himself on at least one other board. Personally, I hope the Church takes legal action against him.
All of this crap is just Mike Norton who has been trotting this crap around for over ten years. He has been banned here for years as well. He was given MANY chances, told MANY lies. He was also put off the Foundation EList. The things he spouted over on ExMo Social were enough to make your skin crawl. He is not welcome here and anyone with any sense should know to steer clear.
And note he does not put his name on this crap. Why isn't he loud and proud? Why the fake names?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2012 10:40PM by Susan I/S.
I don't know the back story. I've been excited to see this stuff. One, out of curiosity to see how it matched up with what I was told. Two, I think it's good.
I am getting it out to as many people as I can. But, I won't chime in with encouraging posts here any more.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2012 09:23PM by thingsithink.
Maybe you'll want to give him some of your money then. He's been asking for donations on Facebook.
I'm telling you, he's in it for self-promotion and nothing else. He made a complete ass out of himself on another board, and I saved all the posts before they were deleted. I might post them sometime for fun when he comes back and starts flooding RfM again.
Those are his initials and his tatoo! So put 2 + 2 together and know the source of the you tube vids. He obviously had help but know he was the ring leader.
There use to be amwhole story behind the tatoo on exmo social. I think that's gone now though but it was done on the Miami ink show but not sure it actually aired.