Coffee Party USA General Posting Guidelines
Welcome to the Coffee Party USA website! By posting in our Blogs or Forum areas, you agree to the rules presented here. You are encouraged but not required to take the Civility Pledge before registering for the Forums. Please see the Account Rules below. We reserve the right to moderate this website according to our values, which include respecting and embracing diverse opinions and diverse backgrounds. To encourage and facilitate civil, meaningful discussions about the state of American politics and the issues we face together as a nation, our top priority is to create and maintain an environment in which all feel safe and welcome. Such an environment would be a place where anyone, regardless of their viewpoints, might be willing to let down their guard and patiently explain their position and why they feel that way. Toward fostering an environment in which civility reigns, here are some suggestions to bear in mind while we conduct our conversations:
Be Polite. Having your views challenged is not unfriendly or uncivil. An unwillingness to have our own assumptions or arguments questioned might be the first and best clue that we might be wrong. Treat the person to whom you’re talking as an individual – not a part of your general perception of the group you may be consciously or unconsciously lumping them in with. Likewise, avoid divisive language, emotionalism, innuendo, and other thinly veiled insults. Show respect for your fellow members by carefully considering the tenor of your language, formatting, and punctuation before posting. Angry, hyper-emotive, and otherwise provocative displays make people uneasy and unwilling to interact with those around them, eventually driving them and other members away.
Lighten Up, Francis. Refrain from lecturing. Declaiming and holding forth as though others are just not as educated, informed, or thoughtful as you are is profoundly alienating. Also, don’t over-react to perceived slights – you could be wrong. Give the benefit of the doubt and remember that subtle emotions and meanings do not come across easily in writing. Satire, sarcasm, and humor are particularly hard to transmit, often coming across as rude and contemptuous. Even if you’re certain of another member’s intent, try not to take the bait. Someone has to be the bigger person and it might as well be you. The best response to disrespectful and disruptive posters is none at all.
Invest Some Time. Do the research rather than demanding that others do it for you and verify your facts. Consistently relying on suspect information undermines credibility, causing people not to take you very seriously. Take the extra time required to make large, sprawling posts smaller and more concise. You might be surprised how many more responses you’ll get! The use of white space enhances readability and descriptive subject lines encourage people to read your posts and comments. Used sparingly, quoting the relevant portions can help clear up ambiguity. When quoting, clearly indicate where information has been cut and try to avoid misrepresenting their original intended meaning.
Give a Hoot – Don’t Pollute. Straying off-topic and engaging in banter is natural, but try to gauge whether or not it is distracting from the original topic for those members who are interested in discussing it. Publicly disclosing information about another member without their permission is rude at best and could potentially do damage to that member. Intentionally disrupting discussions, swamping the site with a large volume of new Topic Posts or comments is discourteous. While seemingly innocent, posting the same material in multiple locations at once or creating an inconsequential comment (e.g. “Bump!”) within a post solely for the purpose of elevating that Topic Post’s rank position subvert the natural function of the site. If a thread is languishing, let it die to make room for active threads.
Gain Agreement. Many discussions fail because one or both sides fail to appreciate or acknowledge errors in their logic, are blinded by preconceived notions, or are using different definitions for terms common to the discussion. Remember a thing can be true, even if the reasoning that leads to it is bad – vice versa if the premises are false. Avoid "loaded" words or phrases with baggage, and generalizing. When in doubt, try to summarize the other argument in your own words to determine whether you’ve understood what they’re trying to say. If they disagree with your summary, ask for clarification.
Critical Thinking is Critical. First, attack the argument, not the arguer. Next, brush up on common logical errors. Entering a political discussion without a grasp of basic reasoning skills is like entering the proverbial gunfight with the proverbial knife. Try to understand your own bias and how it affects your interpretation and selection tendencies. Rather than referencing another sources as evidence, explain it in your own words. If you can’t do that, you might not be as right as you think you are.
Give Credit Where Credit is Due. Acknowledge when another member makes a good point or successfully demonstrates a weakness in your own points. Remember that the praise we get for presenting good arguments can be undone by refusing to allow that we might have put up a bad one. The surest way to gain respect in a debate is by publicly admitting mistakes. If you feel like the people you’re discussing issues with have been especially patient with you, thank them and be sure to return the favor.
Keep it Legal! Illegal activity, which might include but is not limited to direct or implied threats against other people, encouraging suicide, advising a dangerous courses of action, or inciting illegal behavior, cannot be tolerated. Likewise, violations of US copyright law, fraud, or posting illegal material such as child pornography are forbidden. Please see our Content & Language Standards below. If the situation warrants it, we may involve the authorities.
Account Profile Rules
Only one account per member is allowed. Account names must adhere to Language Standards or be changed to an acceptable name. If you need to change your account for any reason, please contact us.
Content & Language Standards
Text, links, and images posted to the Coffee Party USA Forums are expected to relate directly to the conversations. They must not being insulting, contain viruses, graphic nudity or violence, and must not be illegal. Links that are unrelated to the discussion including commercial products and advertisements are strongly discouraged and may be removed by the Moderators at any time. When posting information that does not originate from you, please adhere to the US Copyright Office’s Fair Use Standards. In general, the guideline is that if you’re not the owner of the work being produced (such as an article from a news site such CNN or Fox News), then a few lines or paragraphs here and then are acceptable so long as credit is given and, preferably, a link. In keeping with civil discussions, try to keep swearing to a minimum.
Flagging Topic Posts & Comments
If you see a comment or Topic Post on the website that you’d like to bring to the Moderator’s attention, click on the button that reads “Flag as Offensive.” Please refrain from publicly stating that you have reported a post because it will only result in further disruption. Do not report posts indiscriminately or maliciously. Each reported Topic Post or comment will be carefully reviewed and reporting patterns will be evaluated as well.
Enforcement
Censorship, while sometimes necessary to fulfill responsibility to the whole, cannot be justified on the basis of authority alone. Our rationale and responsibility is to ensure that the Coffee Party USA website remains a safe, welcoming, inclusive environment in which all viewpoints can be heard. When necessary, we will quietly remove Topic Posts or comments; our goal is to be as unobtrusive as possible so that the necessary function of moderation does not itself become a distraction from good conversation.
If a Topic Post or comment must be removed but it otherwise had potential, a copy of it will be sent to the member who created it through the email address specified under that member’s Profile affording the possibility to revise and re-post. If your post was removed but you haven’t received a copy, please check to verify that the address listed is correct. If it is, chances are we viewed the Topic Post or comment as having no merit. Members who consistently fail to respect others and who do not respond to reason may find their Profile accounts suspended.
That’s it! Thanks for reading this.
Please Note: The preceding rules and suggestions should not be seen as all-inclusive and may not address every situation. Additionally, specific areas of the Forums may have supplemental or relaxations to the rules posted here. More information will be posted within those areas, if applicable. All of these rules are subject to change.[v.1]