Guidelines
and Policies,
Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers.)
Please feel free to send
any comments by e-mail to webmaster@buddhasvillage.com
These FAQs are based on those
drawn up by Eddie Rhodes on his Diverlink
website for which we gratefully thank him.
General
information that applies to all our forums
This forum is monitored by the entire membership and
has a moderator to ensure that posts remain civil. You will find rigorous
debate and discussion on occasion where people debate the issues without
losing respect for each other, as civilized people have done for hundreds
of years.
Reason,
tolerance, and respect prevail here. We believe them to be key ingredients
to intelligent discussion. There
is no room for the hostile and ill-mannered in any of these forums.
You can say just
about anything you like so long as you do not lose respect for your
fellows.
The purpose of a moderator
is not that of a censor. Moderators are more like newspaper editors.
Members are solely responsible for their comments. Commercial postings,
especially those that do not contribute to any thread or add anything
new to the Buddhist community may also be refused or removed.
We do not
seek to restrict ideas, we simply choose to see them expressed in a
civil and respectful manner.
Here is a brief explanation
of some of the questions you may have about Buddha's Village Forum:
Technical
Issues
Guidelines
for posting
Moderation
Issues
Miscellany
Do
I have to register in order to post here?
Not yet, maybe not ever. Right
now, registration is optional. It does allow you to take advantage of
several program features, including the ability to edit your own posts.
You will have to enable the acceptance of cookies in your browser if you
register. The program uses them for several functions. Please see Forum
Features for specifics on what those functions are.
At some future time,
registration may be required. It will validate the e-mail address
of anyone who registers. All those who choose to register now, during
the optional period, may have to register again when the validation
feature is enabled. it is a process accomplished in less than a minute.
By requiring all participants
to become members, it prevents the anonymous vicious posts that happen
in other forums all too frequently. It also allows us to deny access
to those who may attempt a display of barbaric behavior here as has
been done in other forums. It allows us to maintain a congenial, cooperative
atmosphere.
Registration also allows
us to have member profiles, to add a more personal touch to what some
perceive as an impersonal medium. We're very personal here, even though
many of us will never meet (and many of us will or have already).
It also enables the moderator
of the forum to notify the members of any special announcements. Please
note that under no circumstances will e-mail addresses be sold or
given to anyone else, nor will they be used for anything other than
the stated purposes.
We may never get to the
point when registration is required. Our well established atmosphere
of respect and civility in our forum has been a succesful deterrent
thus far. We hope the majority of our members will choose to register
and take advantage of its many benefits, but it is not required that
you do so.
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Why
didn't my post show up?
Your post most likely did
not show up, because your browser did not reload the page, it simply
pulled it into cache and continues to show the same page. Please hit
"Reload" or "Refresh" and the new page with your post
will then appear. If it doesn't, hold down Shift
and then hit Reload (in Netscape) or Ctrl (control)
and Refresh in Internet Explorer.
Please do this before you
hit "Submit" again to prevent needless duplication. If
it happens anyway, and you are a registered member, you can delete the
duplicated messages yourself.
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Won't
spammers be able to get my e-mail address if I post it?
NO! Ordinarily it would
be true that when you post your e-mail address in a public forum, it
can be harvested by those scurvy knaves we call spammers (senders of
unsolicited bulk e-mail) using extraction software (a form of electronic
eavesdropping). However, when e-mail addresses are posted here, they
are protected by several means. They are encrypted on the main
page and not usable by spambots (spam harvesting robotic software).
We also use a simple device (there are others) that makes your address
invalid when mailed to directly. You can use it on your own web site.
All you have to do is make all e-mail links with mailto:%20 followed
by your name and the domain name instead of the usual mailto: When you
click on any such link, it will work normally. However, if you mail
to any such address, it will return an invalid address message, thus
protecting your address from being harvested by spammers. We want
you to feel safe to leave your real address to be contacted by other
contributors, not spammers that are the scourge of the Internet.
Leave your normal address.
Our script adds the protection automatically.
(Harvesting of e-mail addresses
is more of a problem on Usenet (newsgroups) and alternatives, than on
the Internet, but why take a chance? Once you get on their mailing lists
it is difficult to get off, and nearly impossible.)
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How
do I use the Optional URL fields and what are they for?
When you wish to tell someone
of another site, you can make it an active link by typing in the URL
(Uniform Resource Locator), also known as the web address. Be sure to
type in the title of the site in the Link Title field. If you
wish to add an image (photograph or other image) above the text of your
response, type in the URL to it. This is not necessary if the image
you want to provide a link to is displayed on the page you listed in
the Optional Link URL field. Do not type in the URL for another
page in the Optional Image URL, field, it will not work.
Please remember to include
the http:// as part of every URL
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Are
there any rules for posting here?
Only self-imposed rules
of good manners and respect for others. We ask that you refrain from
vulgarity and profanity, insulting others, and nitpicking remarks about
spelling and typographical errors. Please keep your language appropriate
for polite adult ears who have no desire to hear rough or abusive language.
People with a recent
history of unprovoked attacks on others in other forums are not welcome
here. This is not a refuge for the uncivilized. It is a haven for
those who wish to get away from them.
Also, this is a global
medium. While English is the predominant language here, please keep
in mind that it is not the native language for some of the members
and errors in spelling and grammar will occur. Please overlook them,
though you may ask for clarification of their meaning if it is unclear.
Additionally, we encourage
members to follow other Internet and Usenet guidelines like not typing
all in capital letters. It is considered the equivalent of shouting
and makes messages harder to read. Also, please keep the Subject
field of reasonable length.
To reduce confusion,
please make sure that you are responding to the message you intended
to respond to before you post your response.
We
also ask that you do not make unfavorable comparisons to other forums.
All too often, they invite disparaging remarks towards our own.
Enjoy each forum for what it is, and leave behind the problems of
any others when you join ours, and the comments about their problems.
If you wish to make any comments about other forums, they belong on
those forums.
We do not censor this
board and you are on your honour to follow these simple rules of respect
for yourself and others. Occasionally, when someone has repeated the
same exact message several times due to some error, we may remove
some of the extraneous postings to conserve bandwidth and reduce confusion,
though we will not modify or delete the original message.
If a hostile or vicious
message is posted, it will be removed. Our entire membership monitors
the forums and notifies the moderator. This is not censorship. The
Golden Rule is in place here. Ideas flourish in a receptive environment.
We will not allow this forum to degenerate into a yelling match where
insults are exchanged instead of information. We will not restrict
ideas though we may remove uncivilized and anti-social posts for the
greater good. Barbarians are free to demonstrate their bad manners,
intolerance, hostility, and general incivility elsewhere.
If you turn up the heat, we will hit "delete."
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How
long do messages remain posted?
Until we run out of space!
Newer messages are posted above older ones and responses to a message
are posted directly below it. Older messages move to other pages, accessed
by via the Go button on the navigation bar. Eventually very old messages
will be archived; announcements to this effect will be posted.
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Is
there an archive of old messages?
Yes. We will maintain the
previous Buddha's Village Forum pages and they can be accessed via the
link at the top of the page. Older previous messages from the new Forum
will eventually be archived and can be accessed from the main forum
page. You may read them but no replies are possible.
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Can
I put HTML tags anywhere in my posts?
Yes. If you know how to
use HTML tags, you may use them to embolden or italicize text, and other
things. Please don't overdo it.
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I
find the colors and background makes it hard to read. Can I change
them?
Yes. We have chosen colors
and style for a balance of attractiveness and ease of viewing. The appearance
to each member will vary from one computer to another based on browser
used to view it, monitor and graphics card, and your own browser settings.
If you are straining to read on your particular system, you can override
our choices and set your own colors, font, and other things. Please
see Resources, Technologies
and Tips for the Visually Impaired to Increase Access to Websites
for instructions on how to configure your browser. For members on AOL,
whose browser usually lags behind Netscape's and Microsoft's, you will
have to speak with them for help in configuring your system. The
same is true for WebTV users.
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Sometimes
I have problems connecting or posting. What's wrong?
For connectivity problems,
it may be nothing more than the vagaries of the Internet and how it functions,
from one computer through several hops to the final destination. Try connecting
again. If you want to see the connections you make and if there is an
excessive delay on any of them affecting your connection time, go to a
DOS prompt (if running Windows), type tracert and the destination
domain, such as tracert buddhasvillage.com You will see each connection
to the destination for this particular session. Anything much over 300
ms (milliseconds) indicates a traffic jam on that particular part of the
information superhighway. Connecting again means you will take a different
route, perhaps one less crowded.
For more on problems with
connectivity, see Internet Issues and FAQ.
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Guidelines
for posting
Choice of name or nickname
You may use your own name
or a nickname when posting messages. If you use your first name, please
add an initial or last name after it, particularly if it is a common
name. It reduces or eliminates confusion. Even using first name and
last initial, it is possible some duplication might occur, so please
be as unique as possible. Use of names and nicknames is on a "first
come, first served" basis. Whoever first used a name (properly)
or nickname has the exclusive right to use it. Naturally, it is improper
and a violation of our rules to post using someone else's name or nickname,
regardless of how benign the message might be. Our program allows
registration of a name and prevents unauthorized use of anyone's name.
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Please
keep messages in Subject field short
Long messages belong in
the Message box. Long Subject fields not only take up more than
their fair share of space on the board, they make the page needlessly
bigger and make everyone have to put up with longer times to load and
reload the page. This is even worse when people respond to such messages
without trimming the Subject field. For those with slower connections,
especially if they pay by the minute, this is even abusive as well as
costly. There is an eighty (80) character limit for this field
to prevent that.
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Please,
no "stupid questions" in Subject field
You will find the members
here supportive of those with open and inquisitive minds. As some say
"the only stupid question is the one not asked." There is a difference
between being uninformed and stupid. If you are asking a question to
find the answer to something, you want to be informed which is not the
least bit stupid. Look at it another way, all of us have been
unknowledgeable about many things in our lives (and still are about
countless others), including diving, until we found out. If you call
your question stupid, you are calling our (earlier) questions
stupid too. Please respect yourself and us at the same time.
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Please
don't anticipate being flamed in your remarks
This is just a suggestion.
Too many forums have people who are so intolerant of discussion and
so easily prone to hostility, that some participants anticipate that
even the most innocuous of remarks will bring a barrage of insults (flaming).
We hope the more congenial atmosphere here will put all people at ease
and relaxed. Such remarks suggest an intolerance that is not at all
characteristic of our members and should be as rare here as a narwhal
in tropical waters. No one here wants the kind of atmosphere where people
are hesitant to ask any civil question because they fear the response.
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Check
the waters before you dive in
Before posting any statements,
you might want to read some posts first. Sometimes newcomers might drop
in on some good natured banter and take it seriously, not realizing
that some ribbing (kidding) is going on between people who know each
other and have kidded before. It's the failure of the written word that
it often fails to convey intent and meaning. Dry and subtle humor is
especially easy to mistake.
It's a good idea for
other reasons too, especially on a long thread. If you read for awhile,
you get up to speed on that particular discussion and are less likely
to have misconceptions. You can add to the conversation rather than
asking what you've missed (by not reading).
Please don't take that
to mean that you shouldn't ask questions right away, though, or even
that you have to observe before saying anything. It's like anything
on the Web. Sometimes you listen as someone tells you what a new site
is like, sometimes you discover that on your own.
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Have
fun
This is more like an online
Buddhist club than just an electronic forum. The Internet is only as
impersonal as the people on it. We have a friendly group of contributors
here. You're welcome to join us! There is always room for another. Intelligent,
thought provoking, incisive discussions can occur without barbaric and
uncivilized behavior. In fact, it is nearly impossible when such behavior
is present.
Civilized discussions
and debates are conducted in this manner and have been for hundreds
of years. When people maintain respect for each other, they can disagree,
exchange ideas, even understand the opposing point of view, regardless
of agreeing with it, with insults and attacks nowhere in sight. When
discussions degenerate to trading insults, minds are generally closed
to new ideas and it becomes an imposition of wills, trying to prove
the other person wrong and seeing who knows the most vulgarities.
Nobody wins in such cases.
How can any civilized person
justify such actions? This contains the answer as well as the question.
A civilized person doesn't.
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Who
is the moderator and how do I contact him or her?
The Forum has a moderator
who is a member of the forum. There is an e-mail address at the top
of each forum page that is forwarded to the current moderator.
Our moderator is able to do many things beyond what is typically thought
of as moderation, including creating polls and fixing the occasional
problem a user might have,
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What
do I do if I should see a post that shouldn't be there?
Send an e-mail to the moderator of the forum. They
are charged with the responsibility of deleting all inappropriate posts.
Each forum is monitored by the entire membership of the forum. The moderator
simply carries out their collective wishes to maintain a forum for the
trading of information rather than insults, vulgarities, or excessive
advertisements.
Don't
respond at all to the post. If it is offensive, any remark may
spark an argument over it. The moderator will deal with it. Please don't
give the people who post offensive posts the attention and notoriety
they crave. Ignoring them really is the best solution, especially knowing
their message of hate will disappear soon.
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What
does OT mean and why do some posts have it?
OT stands for Off Topic.
It is something some members add to the Subject field as a courtesy
to others so that an OT post may be easily ignored if one is looking
only for Buddhist information. We talk about many things here, principally,
though not always, about Buddhism. You may use it as well, though it
is not required that you do so.
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Why
are some posts made by Buddha's Village and some by Tony Page- aren't
they the same?
Not quite. Buddha's Village,
the site and resource, is owned by Tony Page, though the site reflects
information and contributions from a great many people and sources.
Any time a post involving policy or administration is made, it will
show Buddha's Village as the name (as the administrator of the site).
When participating in the Forum discussion and other issues) as any
other contributor, anything that doesn't involve administration or policy,
posts will show Tony Page(as the member).
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Return to Buddha's Village Forum
These FAQs
are based on those drawn up by Eddie Rhodes on his Diverlink
website for which we gratefully thank him
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