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HomeschoolChristian.com Message Board & Chat Guidelines

Homeschool Christian message boards are here for your support, fellowship, networking, ideas, information and encouragement, with kindness and respect for different styles and opinions. This is an unapologetically Christian Web site to aid Christian families in giving their children a superior home education. All respectful folks are welcome.

A few guidelines for posting on our message boards:

General Advice

Please use your own first name or a first name you've always liked, as it makes the boards seem more personal. Posting your e-mail address is optional on all boards except the Teen board, where it is prohibited. No Web site links are permitted on the Teen board, unless posted by an adult monitor.

Write the board hostess or Site Administrator if you post something you want deleted and forgot to make a password or if there are any posts that violate the guidelines rather than responding to them on the board. Responding to them only fuels the fire.

NEVER post when you are upset, emotional, or feeling offended. Wait until you calm down, consider the scripture below and then post. Please refer to Matthew 18:15 to decide if this is an occasion to e-mail privately.

Posts on our message boards do not necessarily imply agreement of Homeschool Christian.com.

Do not post a link to anything in your first post. This is a tough rule, but due to the number of "hit and run" spammers we get, this is our easiest way of stopping this.

Advertising

You may include a link to your personal, non-commercial (not even with Google Ads) Web site in your postings on our message boards. No commercial postings without permission. Please check our Advertising page. Spam is not tolerated and will be deleted immediately. A commercial Web site is one that makes money through selling, advertising, or affiliate links. Please respect our paying advertisers who faithfully support our site.

Do not post a link to anything in your first post. This is a tough rule, but due to the number of "hit and run" spammers we get, this is our easiest way of stopping this.

Detailed advice and grounds for deletion of posts:

Feel free to write e-mail to encourage any poster who is publicly attacked, and know that ignoring the offensive poster is an effective discipline. If you are offended, please pray over Matthew 18:15 (NIV) "If you brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over." If mediation is necessary, please contact the board hostess or Martha Robinson.

* Posts by non-homeschoolers looking for other kinds of information.
* First posts on our boards that include a link to any site. (See reasons above)
* Posts made to gain information for research projects, term papers, surveys, books, newsletters, etc.
* Personal attacks, name calling, rude posts, slander, misrepresentation, and libel, regarding individuals, companies, or organizations.
*Chain letters, letters asking for money, no matter how well intentioned.
*Copyrighted material posted without permission. See note at bottom of page for more details.
*Message board posts copied and pasted from other Web sites.
* Scoldings or harsh public correction. Matthew 18:15 (NIV) "If you brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over."
*"Hit and Run" posts, which are usually short, hurting the other person's feelings, and serve no productive purpose.
* Accidental embarrassing posts intended for e-mail, including phone numbers and addresses.
* Obscenity, crude profanity, and pornography. Obsenity with asterisks replacing letters counts as obscenity and will be deleted as well at the discretion of the board hostess.
* "Shouting" notes that are in all capital letters at the discretion of the board hostess.
* False virus warnings and sympathy hoaxes. See Virus Page for links to sites for virus hoaxes and urban legends.
* Suicide notes. Our hostesses and visitors are not equipped to handle such cases. Please contact your crisis hotline for assistance.
*Anonymous posts are subject to deletion at the discretion of our devoted volunteer hostesses and HomeschoolChristian.com. Anonymous posts are NOT truly anonymous. Server tags are visible to our 12 monitors.
*"Unloading posts." We are not the place to bash husbands, children, or churches. We are here for encouragement. While the Bible tells us we should bear one another's burdens, an Internet message board is not the proper venue when counseling with your pastor is a better choice. There is a fine line here, and since we have had monthly problems in this area, I will be heavy-handed on deletion. We recommend you seek counsel with your pastor.
*Questionable topics: Although they are not supposed to, we do have teens who wander over to the parent boards. Do not post anything you would not want your children (or mine) to see!

Details on quoting:

If you are quoting something that has been published online, please put a link. If you want to quote just a few sentences (3 or fewer), you can do so and add the source info.

If you are quoting something that has NOT been published online, you can quote several paragraphs as long as you put the proper citation giving credit, what book, what page (remember those school days?)

If you want to quote more than a couple of paragraphs, you begin to get into uncertain territory and you run the risk of deletion. Remember, "brevity is the soul of wit!"

Privacy

Homeschool Christian is adding to the content of the Web site with static pages on a regular basis. Sometimes the content may be from posts made by our guests. If you post on our site, you are agreeing that your posts may be gathered and used on a permanent Web page elsewhere on this site--consider it a compliment! Your posts are not private. IP addresses are viewable by our 12 monitors.

Children

Homeschool Christian encourages parents to be with their children when they use this site, and especially when following links to sites linked here. Although we have many links to other sites, one can never be sure of the safety of those sites outside of Homeschool Christian, and we are unable to thoroughly check out all outside links posted on this site. Children should not use our message boards without the consent of their parent or guardian. No children under 13 may post at all. No information is collected (other than birthdays for celebrating!) from our Teen boards, although our server logs the IP address of all users on all message boards.

Cookies

"Cookies" are used on most of our message boards, with the exception of our Teen board. The cookies are used for the benefit of our guests, and do not collect any sort of personal information. These cookies are what enable our message boards to recognize your computer and tell you which messages are new since your last visit, as well as remember to fill in the form boxes with your name and e-mail address to save you time when posting. If you set your computer not to accept cookies, you will still be able to use our boards, but you will not enjoy the time-saving benefits that are intended with the use of cookies.

Donations

If you enjoy Homeschool Christian, please consider making a donation! This Web site takes a considerable amount of time to maintain and enlarge--at least 40-60 hours per week. (May 2006=4699 visitors per day, 1,084,669 page views for the month). Homeschool Christian is owned by Martha Robinson. To make a donation, click here.

Guidelines for our Used, Gently Used Gifts, and Want-To-Buy Message Boards

Guidelines for buying and selling are at the top of each board. You are encouraged to read them carefully, and ALWAYS ask about insurance or delivery confirmation.

Various corresponding scripture:

Matthew 18:15
If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

Ecclesiastes 5:2
Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.

Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

Col 4:6
Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

James 1: 19
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath."

Ephesians 4:31 & 32
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one andother, just as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.