You have heard that it was said, "Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth." But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

Use language that your kindergarten teacher would approve of unless...

- Your point cannot be expressed in such language (my son is not allowed to say "poop" in kindergarten unless he's asking permission to go to the bathroom)

- You have some other really good reason and you can convince Spblat that a given word or phrase is necessary (Spblat is not exactly conservative in this respect)

It is fun to “argue” over such things, but we do not break fellowship over it.

You should be vocal about what offends you. This site is an experiment: we're trying to walk the rhetorical line between the totalitarian censorship of the leading Christian sites, and the exasperated, frequently profane chaos of the leading atheist sites. For this to be successful, you are responsible for politely letting your peers and the moderation team know what you perceive to be violations of the rules above.

RULE 3E: You may rehash "old" topics.
Many of our members have seen "the same old topics" again and again, if not here at DH then elsewhere. We could probably write a frequently-asked-questions list or launch a wiki consolidating our conclusions on these topics and it would be of almost no value, since I believe it is the process of hashing this stuff out and not the outcome that is most helpful to people as they try to figure things out. So I ask all our members--current and future--to rehash away and not to be bashful.

Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.
-- A. J. Leibling (Harper Book of Quotations, 1993 edition)

Our forum, our rules. We are, however, open to discussion regarding these rules. And if you find yourself in trouble with a DH moderator, you are free to discuss your problem in private or in the open at your discretion (as long as you follow the rules while doing so). This site is run by individuals with biases. Feel free to point out our biases as you see them, and expect our best effort to operate fairly.

You Must:

RULE 1A: You must exhibit honesty and courtesy toward your fellow human beings. You will meet people here who make no sense to you. Go ahead, tell them! "You make no sense to me." Then see if they will work with you until sense is made. That's what we do here. We try to make sense out of each other. Is there any alternative?

RULE 1B: You must demonstrate willingness to expand your horizons. If your only goal is to win people over to your point of view, it will probably be difficult for you to accomplish this task. But you must try anyway.

You Should:

RULE 2A: You should be vocal about what offends you. This site is an experiment: we're trying to walk the rhetorical line between the totalitarian censorship of the leading Christian sites, and the exasperated, frequently profane chaos of the leading atheist sites. For this to be successful, you are responsible for politely letting your peers and the moderation team know what you perceive to be violations of these rules.

RULE 2B: You should stay on topic. Each time you post, consider the title of the thread you're posting in. If it's not a match, please create a new thread or see if there's an existing thread to add to. If that sounds like such a pain to you that you'd rather not post, then we'll all happily tolerate the red herring. We would rather you post offtopic than not post at all.

You May:

RULE 3A: You may challenge the positions and beliefs of people different from you. It's okay. We differ.

RULE 3B: You may disagree. You may disagree in the strongest possible terms. And "in the strongest possible terms" means saying something like "I disagree with you in the strongest possible terms." Then try to figure out why you disagree. If you detect fallacious reasoning, politely point it out. Work together. And if your differences are too great for your conversation to continue, tell them, and then walk away. Tomorrow's another day.

RULE 3C: You may disagree with the admins and mods. We don't agree with each other as much as you might expect. We deserve as much courtesy and respect from you as the rest of the site's members; no more, no less.

RULE 3D: You may quit a thread without admitting defeat. See "grace," "discretion" and "valor." Something like "I do not wish to add anything further to this conversation" can do the trick.

RULE 3E: You may rehash "old" topics. Many of our members have seen "the same old topics" again and again, if not here at DH then elsewhere. We could probably write a frequently-asked-questions list or launch a wiki consolidating our conclusions on these topics and it would be of almost no value, since I believe it is the process of hashing this stuff out and not the outcome that is most helpful to people as they try to figure things out. So I ask all our members--current and future--to rehash away and not to be bashful.

You Must Not:

RULE 4A: You must not exhibit disrespect toward your fellow human beings. If you are talking to the lowest form of abject fool, try "I don't see how anyone could possibly hold that view" and build from there. Or walk away if you are tempted to be insulting.

RULE 4B: You must not disclose the contents of a private message without permission. Our founder did this once, and will never do it again.

RULE 4C: You must not do the obvious annoying stuff. Don't spam our site. Don't pretend you're someone you're not. Don't solicit our members. Don't bleh, bleh, bleh. You know.

RULE 5: Language

(...and she would know.)

We don't want to delete your posts. If a post or a thread is found to be in gross violation of our rules, we may delete it. But we will not prohibit, discourage or prevent calm discussion about deleted/edited/locked threads or the conduct of our moderators.

That's it for the rules. Thanks for reading. Now go introduce yourself and have fun!

It is fun to “argue” over such things, but we do not break fellowship over it.

Let this be our guiding principle.