I am, as all rights activists should be, a fan of free speech.  As such, the commenting policy here at Secular Discrimination Report is as open as possible.  This does not mean there are not rules.  There must be, so that discourse can be constructive while not distracting from the purpose of the site.  I will try to be as fair as I can with enforcement of these rules, but this list is not complete.  Therefore, I reserve the right to delete a comment and/or ban a commenter for any reason, although I will give an explanation and post the new rule here.  The fact is a comment might be posted that will make me realize a needed rule that I had not thought of before.  With this said, let’s not forget, in the end it’s my site, my rules.

Rules

• Keep it civil:  When the issue is people’s rights tempers can easily fly high.  This is understandable, but does not help having a good discourse.  Uncivil discourse will not in itself be grounds for deletion or banning, but I reserve the right to take any measures necessary if it begins to make informative discourse difficult or impossible.  I will not tolerate anything that compromises the mission of SDR: to report on and facilitate constructive discussion of bigotry and discrimination against the nonreligious.  Clearly uncivil discourse would not allow this.  It would drive people away from the site, instead of toward it.  It is very difficult to educate people if the level of the commenting communities discourse turns them away.  So what do I mean specifically?
  • Profanity: I will not censor profanity.  I do not use it in my official SDR posts because I want my views on these important issues to be available to everyone, including, for instance, school children who would like to use it for research or just to learn about the rights of the nonreligious.  Profanity would make it much less hospitable to everybody, defeating its purpose.  On the other hand, in my informal communication I have been known to use a curse word now and again.  It would be hypocritical of me to demand that no one ever curse in comments.  What I am asking is to please keep it to a minimum in order to make as many as possible feel welcome to contribute.
  • Personal Attacks: These will not be tolerated.  Calling someone expressing bigotry a bigot and such will not count as a personal attack, as such is a valid comment which attacks the person based on his/her beliefs or ideas.  What more valid better reason is there to attack someone?  This is absolutely not an ad hominem attack because it is based on the issues we discuss.  Personal attacks that have nothing to do with the subject/are based on irrelevant personal issues will not be tolerated, though.   Those sorts of attacks have nothing to do with the issues we focus on and are therefore ad hominem personal attacks.  For instance calling someone a “disgusting bigot” who expresses that atheists have no right to express their views, exist, etc. is not a personal attack because it is a valid criticism of the bigotry we are concerned with because those view follow the definition of bigotry.  Calling someone an “asshole” simply because you disagree on the otherhand should be avoided.  It is an ambiguous term that simply attacks without having anything specifically to do with what is a valid reason to criticize: someone’s beliefs.  This is especially true if you are simply using such as the argument itself.  This does nothing to further discussion and such comments may be deleted and/or the commenter banned.
• No Proselytizing: Religious proselytizing (i.e. promoting or attempting to gain converts to your religious faith) will not be accepted.  Your comment may be deleted and you will certainly be banned on sight.  This is a website where the nonreligious should feel welcome to their lack of belief and should not have to deal with those attempting to convert them.  Posts supporting or defending religious belief are also not allowed, as it goes against the purpose of SDR and can only distract from its purpose.  SDR is not meant to defend the lack of belief, but simply to defend our right to exist and express ourselves in the marketplace of ideas without being attacked and being treated like second-class citizens.  Of course everyone is welcome to join the discussion, including the religious, but such proselytizing is completely out of line.  It hurts to ability for us all no matter what our beliefs to discuss these issues.  The sum this up: as SDR is not meant to defend our lack of belief itself, posts defending belief are completely off topic and simply a distraction.
• No Atheist Bashing/Bigotry: This is related to the previous rule.  The purpose of this site is not to defend our lack of belief, but simply our right to have our own views and express them.  Bigoted comments against the community therefore are off topic.  Comments will probably not be deleted so as to show more examples of the bigotry many of us constantly face, but the poster of the comment will certainly be banned.  You wouldn’t allow someone into your house that will simply attack you, neither will I.  In this case SDR is my house.

More rules will be added as needed/thought up by me.  I will also list bannings here simply for full disclosure so no one can claim I am being unfair or stifling valid discussion.