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Guidelines

 

Purpose

This website facilitates trade among those interested in Objectivism. The primary -- but not only -- form of trade will be information about Objectivism and discussion about its applications. Agreement with Objectivism is not required for participation. Anyone interested in Ayn Rand's philosophy may join.

Participation Terms

Each participant agrees, through use of this forum, to the following participation terms:

Consistency with the purpose of this site

Participants agree not use the website to spread ideas contrary to Objectivism. Examples include religion, communism, "moral tolerationism," and libertarianism. Honest questions about such subjects are permitted.

Respect for Ayn Rand and Objectivism

Participants agree to avoid making rude or insulting comments about Ayn Rand, her philosophy of Objectivism, the Ayn Rand Institute, the representatives and supporters of the Institute, or the adherents of the philosophy.

Intellectual honesty

Participants agree to be intellectually honest and to avoid, for example, claiming to speak for Objectivism; claiming as an Objectivist position a view contradicted in Objectivist literature; or misrepresenting either the source of a message or one's own identity.

Courtesy

Participants agree not use this forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of U.S. law.

No personal attacks

Healthy debate is encouraged, but participants agree not resort to personal attacks, and do not belittle someone else's argument. Instead of making it personal, participants agree to use rational, persuasive skills to make a point or criticize another’s.

Debate and criticism about the policies of a local Objectivist club or organization should be confined to a single thread inside the Local Forums category.

Respect intellectual property

Each participant agrees not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by the participant or by this forum or the post meets fair use standards. If quoting an outside source, the participant agrees to respect copyright laws (and the ethical principles underlying them) by keeping the quotation short and by providing a link or other reference to the original.

Spam and commercial links

Spam (multiple copies in one area or the same communication in multiple areas) or advertising/commercial solicitation messages are prohibited, including links to commercial sites. In addition, do not use this forum to promote any other web site or solicit the members of this board without the approval of the moderators (this includes promoting another site via a signature).

If a participant wishes to discuss a particular outside source, do not start a thread with just a link to the source -- please also discuss why forum members would be interested in viewing your link.

Exception: a participant may advertise websites selling products of interest to members in the Marketplace forum. If in doubt, ask an administrator whether a post is appropriate.

Deleting accounts

We do not allow accounts to be deleted in most circumstances. See this thread for details.

Forum Etiquette

Users should recognize that ObjectivismOnline is a website dedicated to facilitating intellectual discussion, and in response to this make every effort to maintain civilized interaction. Civilized discussion on the web requires observance of the common rules of online etiquette.

Redundant questions

Before creating a new thread, participants should check to see if the thread already exists. If you are posting a question on a prominent topic, it is more likely than not that it has already been discussed; please search for your topic first. If you are new to Objectivism, you can ask basic questions here.

Board waste

Participants should not post content-less posts or thank-you messages--send these directly to the poster via a private message. All posts must add to the discussion rather than merely express agreement or disagreement without explaining the writer's reasons.

Improper quoting and scope

Participants agree to keep responses short by minimally quoting earlier posts or other, outside sources. Quote only the particular passage you are targeting with your comments--and no more (the snapback arrow within the quotation allows your readers to go back to see the full context in an earlier post). If replying to multiple people/topics, split up your response into multiple posts.

Keeping threads on topic

Participants agree to make posts on topic, discussing relevant issues at hand. If a participant wants to start a discussion in a different direction, simply begin a new thread.

Improper grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style

Participants agree to respect the reader by following the rules of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style. An egregious example is failure to capitalize proper names -- for instance, writing "objectivism" when referring to Ayn Rand's philosophy; the correct form is "Objectivism."

Anyone who is struggling to write English as a second language should say so in his viewer profile. The moderator will make allowance for such writers, especially when they show an honest effort to improve by following members' suggestions about capitalization, spelling, and so forth. More information.

Use a letter writing style. Separate paragraphs by a blank line. Do not use a nested quotes style, i.e., quote from above post and your comment; another quote from above post and your next comment, etc. Do not excessively use smilies.

Moderation

The forum (acting through its owner, admins, or moderators) reserves the right to modify or delete any material that violates any of these forum rules, or for any other reason that they deem appropriate. For example, the moderators may split, merge, close, or delete questions or threads. Posts with frequent misspellings or grammatical errors may be deleted at the moderator's discretion. They also reserve the right to ban any user if they are in violation of the board's rules, although warnings will generally be given first (especially concerning the more innocent mistakes). Egregious violations of rules may result in a banning without warning.

Reporting violations of the rules

Do not post complaints about the behavior of any member on the forum - report them to the moderators. Public complaints about other members will be treated as a personal attack and may be deleted!

If you think someone deserves a warning, please use the "Report!" link found on every post. The offender will not know who reported him.

Privacy Policy

We will not share your registration information with third parties under any circumstances.

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