Forum Guidelines Revamp

A few suggestions:

1. The thread laying out the Guidelines should be stickied, and the title bolded and font size bumped up a notch

2. The stickied thread now only appears in the "General" section. Someone who goes to other sections may never see it. Display it prominently in all sections, or better yet, as a discreet "Guidelines Reminder" at the top (or bottom) of every single forum page.

3. The Guidelines do not have the rationale for those Guidelines. Some users may appreciate it more if the commercial, legal, pragmatic, spiritual rationales are explained more clearly to them. Update the Guidelines with explanatory language.

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Comments

MJ. Smith

Note the Guidelines also show on the forum home page in the upper right ...

Lee

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1053162#Comment_1053162

It does show up on the forum home page, under "Shortcuts". I'd totally missed it.

Mathew Haferkamp

Hey Lee, why do think they are guidelines and not rules?? If I remember right the guidelines were brought forth because of some complaining. You have to remember that logos wants people to post. I wonder how many post were not posted because people want to play forum monitor??

Lee

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1053182#Comment_1053182

You don't like the suggestion?? That's fine, I wasn't talking to you or even about you. AFAIK I have never interacted with you. Why the need to attack me and make insinuations that people (you referring to me, Matthew??) "want to play forum monitor" and are scaring away posters??

"how many post were not posted" ... I know folks who avoided the forums because of the trolling and posturing that went on.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1053182#Comment_1053182

I wonder how many post were not posted because people want to play forum monitor??

I suspect there are many for which I am thankful because people should think before they post. I don't imagine that any truly related to FL products and resources have been suppressed. By "some complaining" you are referring to some very offensive posts that drove pastors off the forums because they could not in good conscience be associated with the site. And some people driven off the site because their questions reflected less common Christian views. And some people afraid to share their denominational affiliation due to backlash. It has been a pleasure to see the broadening of acceptance of posts from many perspectives and the mutual learning that occurs in the exchanges.

PetahChristian

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1053202#Comment_1053202

I can see how issues of good conscience might be part of the reason for guidelines.

But I think it goes beyond that to a member's expectation of the forum being a safe place to post their viewpoint. What seems good to one person, might distress another person.

I think part of the love, respect, and consideration that we are expected to have for one another is to "Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you."

While agreeing might be difficult for our flesh, one thing I repeatedly admire is that FL is not heavy-handed about any of this. They've given us some simple guidelines, and it's up to each of us to stay within their guidelines, rather than enforcing them.

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1053202#Comment_1053202

It has been a pleasure to see the broadening of acceptance of posts from many perspectives and the mutual learning that occurs in the exchanges.

+1 [Y] with friendly conversation tone that is appropriate in a living room. Thankful for many friendly forum threads: have learned a lot plus have a lot to learn.

While agreeing might be difficult for our flesh, one thing I repeatedly admire is that FL is not heavy-handed about any of this. They've given us some simple guidelines, and it's up to each of us to stay within their guidelines, rather than enforcing them.

+1 [Y] Thankful for admiring FL approach. Only SPAM receives heavy-handed attention (for prevention/deletion).

A few suggestions:

Please help us understand rationale for Forum Guideline suggestions.

... why do think they are guidelines and not rules?? If I remember right the guidelines were brought forth because of some complaining.

While like open-ended questions, have learned "Why ?" has nasty tendency for negative response. Better is "What ?" (or) "How ?" for beginning an open-ended question, which seeks to understand.

Also could have provided a link to an old Faithlife forum post on 2 Aug 2009 => https://community.logos.com/forums/p/136/4581.aspx#4581 (from Logos Wiki => Faithlife Speaks - Forum), which preceded 19 Jan 2010 => Forum Guidelines

Keep Smiling [:)]

Lee

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1053219#Comment_1053219

A few suggestions:

Please help us understand rationale for Forum Guideline suggestions.

I will oblige.

One reason is lack of visibility of the guidelines, given the crowdedness of the layout. If a user jumps straight into a sub-forum, it does not display.

The second is that new (or not so new) users occasionally need to appreciate the raisons d'etre of the forums. e.g. Logos is mainly a community support site and not a site to discuss theology per se, Logos as a company could do without stoking controversial side topics, Logos has users from all walks of life from all over the world, it's just the Christian and polite thing to do etc. I've noticed many times the guidelines were "cited" with a brief explanation of "why", probably because the guideline post does not have explanatory language.