Discussion Board Guidelines

The discussion boards are a place for members to chat about a range of topics, to get to know each other and have fun. As a dating site, we want our boards to be a friendly place for people to make new connections, and to support and encourage one another.

These are not hard and fast rules, but guidelines that are used alongside our Terms & Conditions to moderate and improve the site. In combination, they make up the agreement we have with our members.

The boards are a shared space, and together we hope to create a forum where respectful and civilised discourse takes place; a part of our mission to connect and support single Christians.

Improve the Discussion

Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure whether or not your post adds to the conversation, think carefully about what you want to say and try again later.

The topics discussed here matter to us, and to the community. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.

Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree

You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That's fine. But, remember to criticise ideas, not people. Please avoid:

• Name-calling
• Ad hominem attacks
• Responding to a post's tone instead of its actual content
• Knee-jerk contradiction

Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.

Show respect for others, even if you don't agree on issues, including matters of religion and theology. Saying or suggesting that somebody with whom you disagree is "not a Christian" is not acceptable.

Always Be Civil

Nothing sabotages a healthy conversation like rudeness:

• Be civil. Don't post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech.
• Keep it clean. Don't post anything obscene or sexually explicit.
• Respect each other. Don't harass or grief anyone (even if unnamed), impersonate people, or expose their private information.
• Respect our forum. Don't post spam or otherwise vandalise the forum.

These are not concrete terms with precise definitions — avoid even the appearance of any of these things.

Your Participation Counts

The conversations we have here set the tone for everyone and in particular, new members. Help us influence the future of this community by choosing to engage in discussions that make this forum an interesting place to be — and avoiding those that do not.

Staff members have special authority; they are responsible for this forum. But so are you. When you see bad behaviour, don't reply. It encourages the bad behaviour by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone's time. Seriously offensive posts should be reported and will be handled by our customer service team.

Keep It Tidy

Make the effort to put things in the right place, so that we can spend more time discussing and less cleaning up. So:

• Don't start a topic in the wrong category.
• Don't cross-post the same thing in multiple topics.
• Don't post no-content replies.
• Don't divert a topic by changing it midstream.

Rather than posting "+1" or "Agreed", use the Like button. Rather than taking an existing topic in a radically different direction, start a new topic.

Topic Guidelines

You are welcome to discuss a range of issues, but there are some topics that are not suitable for these boards.

Do not use the boards to promote personal crusades or preoccupations. This space is not here for you to pursue specific agendas and win converts. Topics created to proselytise, antagonise or bait others are not acceptable.

Try not to talk at length about your own personal problems. While it can be right for us to "bear one another's burdens" this should not be in the context of one way "offloading". Neither the members nor the staff are in a position to provide counselling in this context. In these type of situations, it's better and fairer to ask for trained confidential help.

If you experience a problem on the site please report this to our customer service team rather than creating a new topic.

The boards are not the place to advertise paid events or those organised by businesses. If you'd like to organise your own event, please do so via the meetups page.

Post Only Your Own Stuff

You may not post anything digital that belongs to someone else without permission. You may not post descriptions of, links to, or methods for stealing someone's intellectual property (software, video, audio, images), or for breaking any other law.

You may not post personal or confidential information about yourself or anyone else. This includes private conversations that you've had with another member or a member of staff.

Terms & Conditions

Yes, legalese is boring, but we must protect ourselves – and by extension, you and your data – against unfriendly folks. We have Terms and Conditions describing your (and our) behaviour and rights related to content, privacy, and laws. To use this service, you must agree to abide by these terms.

Failure to comply with these terms may result in posts or topics being removed from view without warning or notification. While these terms cover most common situations, they cannot anticipate everything. Consequently, we reserve the right to take any actions we deem appropriate to ensure these boards are not disrupted or abused in any way.

There are laws against defamation, slander and libel. We are subject to them. So are you. If you see anything that may come under this category, please tell us.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions on the discussion boards are those of our members and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Christian Connection.

License

These guidelines have been adapted from the Discourse FAQ, licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 2.0 (or later). Changes have been made so that the guidelines are relevant to our discussion board platform.