Midwestfamily.org exists to foster an edifying exchange of ideas about living an Orthodox Christian life in our fallen world. As such, certain guidelines and regulations governing member participation are in place which may be different from those found on other websites. These include:
1. Use your real name
2. Critique and debate is welcome, but be loving and civil in your presentation.
3. Carefully avoid all prohibited speech (see below for details).
4. Do not use the site to promote other websites, including your own personal blog.
5. Abide by copyright restrictions.
6. Maintain a working email account.
7. Do not take the task of comment moderation upon yourself.
Real name policy
We are a community of real people honestly wrestling with real issues for the good of the Church as a whole. Therefore, members are usually required to use their real names and to disclose their religious affiliations—whether or not they are Orthodox, and, if so, to what jurisdiction/parish they belong. Members who misrepresent their identity will have their accounts deleted. If you have any concerns about using your real name on-line or wish to request that an exception be made to this policy in your case, you must contact the administrator with details prior to making your first post.
Rules of civility
Basic norms of etiquette and politeness are expected at all times. Criticism of a post or another member’s comment is welcome when it is offered in love for the building up of the whole community. It is unwelcome when it denigrates or insults another person or seeks to marginalize someone for his/her views or spiritual maturity. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, obscene, profane, sexually explicit, invasive of a person’s privacy, or otherwise violates the law.
Non-advertisement policy
Members are not to use Midwestfamily.org for advertising external resources or personal web sites.
Copywrite notice and enforcement
Copyrighted materials must not be posted to the Discussion Community, apart from reasonable-length quotations, as per international copyright regulations, unless copyright is owned by the poster.
Moderators
Midwestfamily.org is supervised by a number of moderators who are responsible for maintaining the tenor and focus of conversations. Members are encouraged not to take this task upon themselves, especially via replies to objectionable comments, since this often results in lingering and long-lasting arguments in active message threads. Allowing a disruptive message to go unanswered is better than fostering a negative atmosphere with a response. You are always welcome to contact a moderator via email with any comments or concerns about a posting.
Account registration
Account registration involves an e-mail verification procedure to ensure that the e-mail address provided in the registration process is valid and functioning. Maintaining a working e-mail address is required for membership at Midwestfamily.org so that administrators can contact you, if necessary. If your e-mail address changes after your initial registration, you must provide a new address.
When you first register for an account with the Discussion Community, you will go through a brief period of moderated status. After you have made a few comments that have been approved by moderators, your account will be switched to unmoderated status, and your future submissions will be posted directly, without going through moderation. This is to prevent spamming and other abuse of the community.
Violations and account removal
If posts made to the forum are found to be inappropriate or in violation of our terms of use, the moderators may delete them with or without notification. If a member breaks with the guidelines of these Terms of Use, the following steps may be taken: 1)A moderator may attempt to contact the member by e-mail, outlining the problem with a post and suggesting an edit. 2) A member’s account may be put on personal moderation, requiring that all messages submitted by that member be approved by a moderator prior to being posted to the forum itself. 3) In cases of extreme and repetitive violation of the rules, membership at Midwestfamily.org may be revoked and, if necessary, contact may be made with the member’s internet service provider and IP records passed along, requesting that the ISP assist in ceasing the disruption to the forum.
Relationship of Midwest Family Life site to authors of comments
Neither Midwestfamily.org nor any of its owners, operators or moderators are responsible for any messages posted in the Community. None of the above may vouch for or warrant the accuracy, Orthodoxy, or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message.
Removal of posts
All posts in the Discussion Community express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this forum or web site. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact the moderators immediately by e-mail. We will make every effort to remove objectionable messages in a timely manner if we determine that removal is necessary.