Our Submission Guidelines
Preamble
The Vine website has a goal of facilitating discussions between various Christian faiths as determined by adherence to our Statement of Faith and the Trinitarian nature of God. Those of you who do not adhere to our Statement of Faith are welcome as members and participants in discussions, but you are required to respect these beliefs, even if you do not share them.
By using this website, you acknowledge your acceptance and understanding of these rules. These rules apply to all communications made on this site, including posts in the forums (as well as automatically generated sections of posts such as signatures, custom user titles, and avatars) and private messages. All members of this site, including members of The Vine staff, are required to follow these rules. If you do not follow these rules, your posts will be edited or deleted, you may be warned by Staff, and you may be suspended or banned without warning. You must be older than 13 years of age to participate in the discussion forums.
You will accept that any advice given on this site are the views of the poster. The Vine, its owners, and staff will not be held responsible for any advice posted.
Items posted to the forums, blogs and comment sections must be polite and free of personal attacks, threats, crude or sexually-explicit language, rude comments, and innuendo.
The Vine reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify these rules, without notice or warning. It is your sole responsibility to review these rules regularly and ensure your compliance with them.
The essentials of the rules can be summed up in one simple statement:
"Be nice or you could get banned!"
Blasphemy
You will not insult or mock God or Christianity. Honest debate about the nature of God and Christianity is welcome, but insults or derogatory remarks about God or Christianity will be promptly removed. The names or titles of God, including Jesus Christ and the Persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, or Holy Spirit), in any language, are not to be used as expletives or interjections or in an abusive, mocking, or insulting way.
Promotion and Proselytizing
You will not promote or proselytize beliefs or religions other than Christianity. For the purpose of these rules, Christianity is defined by our Statement of Faith.
Controversial Topics
The following subjects will only be discussed in Ethics & Morality, Christian Philosophy and Ethics, Congregation category, or Recovery category, or any of its sub-forums. You will not post about these subjects in other forums:
- Drug use
- Gambling
- Polygamy
- Extramarital or premarital sexual activity
- Homosexuality
- Transsexuality
- Abortion
In addition, any topics which runs contrary to our Statement of Faith, such as Universalism and non-Trinitarianism, may only be discussed in the Unorthodox Theology Forum.
Men's Health and Women's Health
The controversial topic of health as related to human sexuality will be allowed. However, explicit sexual or vulgar postings outside of medical issues will not be allowed.
Flaming
You will not insult, belittle, mock, use derogatory nicknames in reference to other members, or personally attack other members or groups of members. Do not goad another member or start call-out threads. Do not state or imply that another member or group of members who have identified themselves as Christian are not Christian. Avoid using sarcasm to attempt any of the above.
If you are flamed, do not respond in-kind. Alert staff to the situation by utilizing the report button.
Provide Supporting Statements
Debate threads can get heated as diverse views are presented and argued. When presenting and arguing a view all members should post evidence and supporting statements for your position. This policy, sometimes referred to as "X means Y because of Z", must be followed especially when posting claims that are widely considered to be controversial. This applies to discussions on past and present religious figures. To facilitate this, you may type in bible scripture references that will be automatically turned into clickable links to the bible on the website.
Harassment
Harassment of another member is strictly prohibited. Respect another member's request to cease contact. Do not make another member's experience on this site miserable. This includes, but is not limited to, gossiping or spreading rumors about another member or persistently attacking them in the open forums. Do not threaten another member or report another member out of spite.
Impersonation
Be truthful about your identity. Do not impersonate other members.
Confidentiality and Privacy
Respect another member's right to confidentiality and privacy. Do not publicly release the contents of a member's private communications (such as private messages, comments, etc.) without permission of the author.
Do not publicly disseminate personally identifiable information, including, but not limited to, your home address, phone number, social security number, or credit card information. You may place your Email addresses and instant messenger information in your profile. Be cautious about what information you choose to disclose online. Remember, we can delete this information from The Vine website but it may have already been archived and indexed by search engines and other websites over which we have no control!
Disruptive Behavior
You will not disrupt the peace and harmony of the site. Disruptive behavior includes, but is not limited to, the rehashing of alleged grievances or disputes, publicly complaining about posts or threads submitted in forums throughout the site, or ranting about The Vine or its staff.
Vulgarity and Profanity
You will not use profanity or foul language (which includes using punctuations to bypass the profanity filter) in your postings. Do not post graphic or sexually explicit images or text. Do not violate community standards. Staff will remain the sole and final arbiter of what does or does not violate community standards.
Racist, hateful, sexist, or abusive language is strictly prohibited. Discussions regarding certain biblical interpretations on the roles of men and women will not be considered "sexist" under this rule.
Spamming and Advertising
Do not repetitively post similar or identical posts or threads. Do not advertise commercial products or services. This includes promoting or linking to other message boards. This prohibition includes begging or soliciting donations or financial support (charitable or otherwise, for any reason) anywhere on the site including in e-mails, posts, and private messages.
Signatures can have tickers and The Vine internal links, but not other external links. If desired, place these other links on your profile page.
Off-Topic
Start threads that are relevant to that forum's stated purpose; submit replies that are relevant to the topic of discussion. Off-topic threads may be moved or deleted without warning.
Language
You may post quotes or statements in languages other than English, but an English language translation must be provided to The Vine Staff upon request.
Google Ads
Google ads may not be discussed in public forums. This is a requirement of our contract with Google. If you spot an inappropriate ad, contact us with the ad's URL.
Legalities
Do not promote illegal activity, violate the copyright of others, or promote another's work as your own.
Congregation Forums
Forum members who are not a member of that denomination may not debate in that denomination's area. Questions and fellowship are allowed, proselytizing is not.
Satanism
Promotion of Satanism or occultism is strictly prohibited. Promotion is defined as encouragement of the progress, growth, or acceptance of something including advertising and publicity.
Exorcisms/On-Line Deliverances
You will not make posts which attempt to exorcise or bind demons, nor will you attempt on-line deliverances on this board. Also forbidden on The Vine are discussions and instructions on how to complete deliverances.
No Prophecy Threads
Whereas The Vine has designed its public forums for dialogue/conversation, The Vine's blogs are places where you can record and present your personal views and experiences, as well as journal your own walk of faith.
Since prophecy, by its nature, is not a conversation but a monologue where a person records what one feels has been revealed to them by the Holy Spirit, prophecies should be limited to one's blog. This will provide an opportunity for posters to share with others without being subject to excessive criticism. Therefore, prophecies posted within the general forums will be considered off-topic to the forum.
No Professional Counseling
No professional legal, financial, medical, or other counseling will be allowed on the site forums.
No Advising Against the Use of Medical Treatment and Prescribed Drugs
You will not direct, imply, or suggest that others should disregard doctors' orders regarding medical diagnosis and/or treatment.
Forum Restrictions
Do not enter inaccurate details in your profile in order to gain access to restricted forums.
Staff Disciplinary Action
Do not discuss staff actions publicly. The Member Services forum area is to be used to submit complaints about staff disciplinary action. If you are reported, do not discuss it in public forums. Do not discourage other members from using the report system.
Campaigning
Attempts to undermine these rules or policies via campaigns, petitions, or protests will result in suspensions and bans.
Bypassing Bans
Do not bypass bans by creating sock accounts or modifying your IP address. Doing so will result in a permanent ban and/or an IP ban.
Brinking
Do not push the boundaries of the rules. The Vine staff will enforce these rules based on the spirit of the text, not the letter.
Copyright Violations Prohibited
Members shall not make posts which violate the copyrights of others. In general, this means that any quoted portion of any work must not exceed 20% of the total work. In the specific case of materials owned by the Associated Press, members shall not quote more than one sentence of the work. All quoted copyrighted material must be linked to the webpage from which it was quoted.