Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Philosophy Club

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

Our goal is to be the best place on the internet to discuss even the most complicated or controversial topics in a civil, open-minded way free of personal attacks. In short, our goal is to do something very unique and different that nobody else is doing, especially on the internet, and thereby be a unique one-of-a-kind oasis of intelligent in-depth civil debate and discussion. Imagine the comments section on a YouTube video or controversial Facebook thread, or your average flame-war-ridden web forum; We want to be the exact opposite of that, so much so that we are truly one of a kind.

(The off-topic sections are generally exempt from rules D-G.)

A. No ad hominem arguments, insults, flames, personal attacks, libel or slander--at all in the slightest. When in doubt, we will delete your post and warn or ban you, so please go above and beyond to avoid personally attacking other members at all in the slightest. Please keep discussion focused on the issues of the specific topics, and not on the character of those discussing the issues. If your motive is to ridicule members, or spread bad feeling, please do not bother to post. Go above and beyond to do your best to be as respectful and sincere as possible. Posts that have a rude or ridiculing tone or otherwise seem to have the intent of offending others as opposed to having productive exchange of ideas will be deleted, with the poster warned or banned. Even borderline posts will be deleted, with the poster warned or banned. Please see this clarification on how forum discussions are simultaneously uncensored and strictly moderated.

• A.2. Speculating about whether another member who is allegedly saying something false is lying, trolling, stupid, or ignorant, etc. is an off-topic insult.

B. No slurs or pejoratives such as but not limited to racial slurs. Name-calling, mean-spirited mockery, and irrelevant personal attacks made against any person or group not on this forum is strictly prohibited.

C. Non-premium members may not post links nor even vaguely reference anything that could be considered self-promotion, such as their own blog or music album or book.

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D. All posts must be on topic. Posting irrelevant asides, snide comments, or derailing a discussion, is not in the spirit of the forum and is strictly prohibited. It's not merely against the rules to intentionally derail a topic; you must make a concentrated effort to stay on-topic in each topic. Polite, kind off-topic remarks within a post that aren't very distracting (e.g. "hi," "thanks," "I enjoy your writing") are usually tolerated but the majority of each and every post must be on topic and absolutely no rude off-topic or offensive off-topic remarks will be tolerated at all.

• D.2. All posts need to contribute an on-topic point or on-topic question to the discussion. No single word posts, or meaningless posts. No posts that simply say "yes", "no", "bump", or "I agree".
  
  D.4. Generally, it is off-topic to post an entire article, especially one that isn't specifically philosophical (e.g. a paper from a peer-reviewed philosophical journal written by a philosophy Ph.D.). If you want to use the information, opinions, or arguments in an article as a base for philosophical points and philosophical questions, then generally it is more effective to summarize it in a few sentences or quote only the essential parts of it.
  
  D.5. It is off-topic (and usually insulting) and thus strictly prohibited to tell another member to go research or learn about something. For instance, the phrase "Google XYZ" will almost certainly get your post rejected and warning issued against you.
  
  D.6. It is off-topic (and usually insulting) and thus strictly prohibited to critique another member's arguing style, intentions or overall contribution to the forums.
  
  D.7. You must try to write in clear, concise language expressing on-topic points. Being coy, sarcastic, poetic or using too many metaphors is prohibited. See this post for more information or to ask questions about clarity.

D.8. It is against the rules to answer questions or make arguments using content generated by AI. For example, if someone asks, "What's the meaning of life?", it would be against the rules for you to post a reply that is nothing more than you saying, "I asked this question to ChatGPT and here is what it it said: XYZ". In contrast, it could be allowed to quote AI content as an illustration in a conversation that is about AI itself. For instance, in a topic labeled "Is ChatGPT smarter than the average human?" it could be on-topic and allowed to use quoted answers from ChatGPT as evidence one way or the other about the intelligence of ChatGPT/AI itself.

E. Posters must genuinely try to use proper spelling, basic grammar and punctuation. All posters must proofread their posts before posting them. Make sure to use the "preview" button to preview the post before submitting it to make sure it displays correctly. If you are not very good at spelling and basic grammar, you must use a spellchecker. No instant-message-style short-hand, such as "u" instead of 'you' or "str8" instead of 'straight'. Elaboration and questions about spelling, grammar and formatting rules

F. Formatting: Use the quote bbcode function to quote other users. Make sure to use two line breaks between paragraphs so there is a full line of blank space between the paragraphs. Do not put all of your posts in bold, italic, colored or underline print; those features are for emphasizing certain text. Do not write in poetry/verse format. Do not write in all capital letters. Do not use capital letters for emphasis because that can imply yelling which is not allowed; instead use the bold or italic features for emphasis. Elaboration and questions about spelling, grammar and formatting rules

G. Rules for Creating New Topics:

• G.1. Use a descriptive and specific title so that other users know the topic.
  
  G.2. Before posting a new topic, search the forum and see if that topic already exists.
  
  G.3. All new topics must be at least 45 words and must be at least 3 sentences (not counting quotes or off-topic content).
  
  G.4. When posting a new topic, you must pose some sort of philosophical argument or philosophical open-ended question. Do not post a topic which only asks for one-word answers. You can use an article, video, image, short poem or other quote as the basis for your own philosophical argument or question or as elaboration of one of your points, but you still must add your own philosophical question or argument in your own words. Please see this post elaborating on this rule against preaching, which does not merely apply to religious topics but applies to all topics. The topic must qualify independently as argument or as elaborated, well-specified philosophical questioning (meaning tacking a simple question onto a post that would otherwise be preaching is not sufficient).

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H. Do not reply to rule-breaking posts. Do not tell others they are violating the forum rules and especially do not quote rule-breaking posts. Simply use the report button (the exclamation point on the upper-right-hand side of the post you wish to report) to report the post and then ignore the reported post until a moderator closes the report or deletes the reported post.

• H.2 It is expected that you read all the preceding posts in a topic before you post in that topic. And it is expected that you use the report button to report any posts that you think violate the forum rules. All posts that follow a single rule-breaking post may be deleted as a means of salvaging the topic. Posts that blatantly misrepresent someone else's position or thoughts may also be deleted especially where it seems intentional or particularly derailing.

I. Humans Only. To post on the forums or have an account, you must be a human. Each account must be associated with one and one real live human being.

K. Only one account per person. No Duplicate Accounts. Only humans can create accounts, and each human can only create one account in their lifetime. Even if your original account is banned, deactivated, or "deleted" (whatever that means), or otherwise becomes inaccessible to you, you may still not ever create a new account. In other words, the rule is not merely that you cannot happen to have active accounts at once. Rather, the rule is that you may not ever create a new account if you have ever created an account previously at any point in your life.

L. AI-created content must be marked as such. If you use generative AI (such as ChatGPT) to create text or images, you must clearly and explicitly mark that they are generated by AI, and provide the exact prompt that was used to generate it. Anyone caught attempting to pass off something created by AI as if it was created by a human will be banned.

L. Do NOT post until you are confident you fully understand all of these rules. If any of the above rules are unclear to you, do not make any posts in the forums at all, until they are all clear to you. If any of the rules are unclear to you, please email [email protected].


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Other notes: As a new trial member, your posts will be held for moderation until you have at least 20 approved on-topic posts. You will also be unable to send PMs or post links. All new topics for all members even those with more than 20 posts are held for moderation (except those by moderators and contributors).

Other terms: By using this site, you agree to follow these rules. Posts that violate these rules will be edited or deleted. Members who violate these rules will be warned or banned. Your own posts will generally not be deleted upon request. By posting you give us permanent, unconditional right to publish, edit or delete the content of your post for any reason at our discretion. All content on this website is owned by OnlinePhilosophyClub.com. If you do not fully understand any of the above rules, please email [email protected] to ask for clarification.