Sabine Grant

History of Abrahamic Religions Guidelines for forum contributions :

The forum aims to provide a context for respectful, co-operative and informed exchange of knowledge and ideas in the field of biblical criticism and its related historical issues. To ensure this aim, all participants are urged to adhere to the following Guidelines which outline the acceptable content and conduct for the forum. Please familiarize yourself with these Guidelines, as non-compliance will have consequences.

A. CONTENT

1. EVIDENCE:

a) Posters should attempt to conform to standard scholarly methodologies. This means not only that claims made should always be supported in some evidential fashion (i.e., argumentation by assertion and by appeal to authority are not acceptable), but that analysis of texts should always be grounded in the awareness of their historical and cultural contexts.
b) Material used as support for claims should be from tenable sources. Avoid non-academic internet sites and encyclopaedias. Wikipedia is not a source, but can supply useful information to follow up. Use with caution.
c) Cite exact references for the materials you give as evidence, so that readers can consult the material themselves.
d) In this forum the bible is the major source of analysis and it should be approached from a neutral perspective as with any other document from the past. It is in fact a collection of documents, each of which had its own development, reflecting not only the writer's context but also the changing context of those who preserved it. This makes understanding biblical literature a complex process and members should be open-minded in their analyses.
e) Languages:
i. Arguments that use the meaning of specific language in an ancient text cannot be made based on understanding of the English used in one translation. You will need to be able to show either
1) an understanding of the original language or
2) that the meaning under discussion reflects a selection of modern translations. Such a selection will provide a better chance of representing the meaning in the original text. Arguments dependent on the meaning of specific language in a single modern translation should be avoided.
ii. Do not cite ancient languages without providing a translation: this is not a language forum.
iii. Internet sources such as Strongs are no substitute for some knowledge of the original language. Use scholarly dictionaries, not Strongs. (For Greek, try Liddell & Scott.)

2. PROOFREADING:

Please proof read your messages before posting them. Show consideration for your readers by observing ordinary conventions of spelling, capitalization, sentence construction, paragraphing, and transliteration. Proof reading provides the opportunity of finding ways of expressing your ideas so that others can best relate to them.

3. QUOTING:

If you are spring boarding from another post or replying to another HAR contributor, quote only the relevant parts of messages to which you are responding and/or which form the basis of your post. Recipients will better understand your point if you do not quote items that are not directly relevant to your response, but do quote when responding to earlier comments in order to contextualize your thoughts for other readers. (See here, to learn about quote tags.)

4. OTHER SOURCES:

a) If you want to forward to the forum a message that was sent to you privately, please first obtain permission from the original sender.
b) Do not post copies of large internet items in the forum: link to the material and, if necessary, provide a relevant excerpt.
c) Avoid cutting and pasting materials such as excerpts from dictionaries, encyclopedias, or fragments of original languages which become unreadable in the process.

5. RELEVANCE:

Before posting to HAR, consider if your comments might be more appropriate in another venue. Off-topic material will be removed and may be relocated. If you are pursuing an issue that is a minor aspect of the thread topic, please include a title for your post to reflect what you are now addressing. If the issue is sufficiently different from the thread topic, please consider starting a new thread, or find a more appropriate venue for the post.

6. CONTRIBUTIONS:

a) Please participate with restraint. Post when you can make a useful contribution but refrain from dominating the conversation. While a little good-mannered levity is wholesome, avoid clutter and excessive chatter. Messages which are essentially little more than statements of agreement with points made in a previous post should be kept to a minimum. Messages should be considered and concise.
b) Use the standard or neutral names of figures under discussion and avoid derogatory or trivializing forms of reference.

B. CONDUCT

7. APPROACH:

Please be courteous to all others. You may feel free to disagree with someone, and to note where your disagreement lies. But do not be disagreeable. Never stoop to attacking someone personally. Always keep your comments objective and courteous.

8. BEHAVIOR:

Members should maintain a single profile on the forum. The use of multiple accounts to argue views, ie "sockpuppetry", is unacceptable, leading to account suspension. Bullying will also not be tolerated. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Stick to topics and consider what is best for the forum.

9. AGENDAS:

Posts that intend to advance or discuss personal religious experiences or modern sectarian, secular or political agendas are completely inappropriate -- as are personal messages and commercial advertisements -- and will not be permitted. Issues that have been analyzed by the forum in great detail should, unless new evidence can be introduced to revitalize them, be considered dealt with and will thereafter be considered agenda-driven.
These Guidelines complement the Terms of Use which define accepted behavior on all Freethought and Rationalism forums. For the benefit of all HAR forum members please adhere to the Guidelines. Those who fail to observe them will be alerted and warned against doing so, in order that they may better comply with the forum's standards. However, further contraventions will lead to temporary loss of posting privileges and persistent violation will ultimately bring about removal from the forum.