Forum Rules/Guidance/ Etiquette: to be read by members before posting!
While the owners of thefreemason.com do not wish in any way to censor the honest opinions of members posting to the Forum, the following points have been decided in order to ensure a sensible, respectful and harmonious atmosphere for the discussion of Masonic related subjects and issues.
Be aware that the Moderators are empowered to delete, move or edit postings, which they consider to be abusive, posted in the wrong area as well as those that do not add anything of substance or relevance to a particular discussion. The poster will normally be notified either via PM or a “warning” posting in the topic.
The main points to remember are:
1) This community is made up of Non-Masons and Masons of many different Grand Lodges and Obediences and while our experiences and understanding of Freemasonry may differ this is not an acceptable reason to argue or make derisory comments about each other.
2) Some non-Masons have a very skewed idea of what Freemasonry is. So please try to deal with them in a Masonic (aka courteous) fashion. Remember we are probably the first real Freemasons they’ve ever communicated with.
3) If you think that a poster is a trouble-maker (troll), do not engage with them (this only gives them the attention they crave) notify one of the Moderators by PM and they will deal.
4) If a member’s postings are in need of continuous editing/moving they will be removed from the list of members.
5) Ensure that you illustrate the "Masonic" relevance of your posts. It is good to remember that this is a Forum for the discussion of Freemasonry.
6) Topics which are overtly religious and/or political are not acceptable for discussion on this Forum and will be locked automatically.
7) If you do not approve of a topic’s content, do not post to it. If it breaks the Forum rules report it to a Moderator who will consider its suitability or otherwise, alternatively ignore it.
8) Remain on-topic. If your post is a new question stemming from the original discussion, start a new topic. This prevents new questions being missed by Forumites who may have already written all they want on a particular Topic.
9a) This Forum is here to enable us to discuss Freemasonry it is not here to advertise other sites and it is just plain rude to use it for advertising other websites, publications, services etc. However, approaching Admin and asking for permission before posting may prevent your post from being automatically edited or deleted.
9b) This Forum is about the “reality” of Freemasonry not non-Masons’ fantasies. Therefore we do not allow the posting of links to anti-Masonic or conspiracy websites in the Forum, so they will be removed automatically.
10) Signature Files for your posts. The sig file is to enable you to identify yourself and give a bit of back ground to who you are, can you try to limit it to 4 or 5 lines maximum.