Community Standards
Welcome to the Concordia Market Square public journals. This website serves to promote greater mission activity through God’s people by exploring the theological concepts related to the mission of God and the development of practical mission resources for use in the field. We believe that a vibrant discussion environment is critical for the promotion and development of vibrant mission activity. As a community of believers strives to be open, compassionate and respectful of many perspectives. We seek to ensure that this is a safe place to develop new frameworks that describe and explore our biblical theology. By joining into the conversation you agree to follow all of the rules and guidelines set forth in these community Standards. You also agree to the Concordia Market’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
We ask that you become very familiar with these Community Rules & Regulations and then participate in our Community in a loving, kind, charitable and accepting way. You will do this by following these rules.
We also ask you to help us keep this community loving and kind. If you feel that someone’s post goes against the Community Standards, please bring that to our attention by sending us an e-mail to info@concordiamarket.com. We will try to deal with all complaints, but we cannot guarantee that we can do so. We reserve the right to take action or not at our complete discretion.
A – Absolutely NO Pornographic or Sexual Material.
As a community of believers, we will not allow any sexually explicit discussions. Sexually explicit content, photos videos and links to such content are likewise prohibited. Immediate suspension from the site will be enforced for any violations of this rule.
B – No Profanity
The use of profanity is strictly prohibited, whether in titles, forums, blog posts, or anywhere else on the site. Immediate suspension from the site will be enforced for any violations of this rule.
C – No Abusive Behavior.
You agree, through your use of Concordiamarket.com website, that you will not post or otherwise transmit (including through the Concordiamarket.com private messaging system) any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, abusive, hateful, harassing, obscene, sexually explicit, threatening, invasive of a person’s privacy, discriminatory or otherwise in violation of any law. ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR INCLUDES POSTING IN ALL CAPS! It is bad netiquette and is flat out rude.
D – Posting Email Addresses, Websites and Phone Numbers in Forum discussions.
If you want to include your email address, website, or phone number for people to contact you, please put this information in your Signature. Concordiamarket.com reserves the right to remove any email address, website or phone number that has been placed in our message posts for any improper reason.
In addition, do not disclose any personal information that you do not wish others to know.
E – No Impersonations.
Do not impersonate or attempt to impersonate other forum members, moderators, or administrators. In addition, do not post email addresses, standard addresses, other messaging client numbers, or phone numbers which are not your own. The creation or use of fake user accounts is strictly prohibited.
F – You Must Disclose Your Relationship with any Company, Website, or other entity you comment about.
If you participate in a discussion about an organization, program, or website and have any relationship with that entity (e.g. affiliate, partnership, employee, owner), you must disclose this relationship in your post. Concordiamarket.com reserves the right to publicly or privately ask about your relationship with any company you comment on, remove any post that does not disclose such a relationship, and close your account if you fail to disclose such a relationship.
G – One account per user, please.
Concordiamarket.com users are limited to one account per person; users may not register or use alternate accounts.
H – Do Not Flame or Troll
Flaming, flame-baiting, and trolling are not allowed anywhere on this site, including in posts, signatures, and private messages. Flaming is directly insulting another member, flame-baiting is making a comment with the intention of getting a flame as a response, and trolling involves starting arguments or upsetting people by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.
I – Remember – All Members are Equals
Treat all Concordiamarket.com members equally in the way that you would want to be treated. Do not single a member out because they have a low postcount or a low status on the site. In addition, do not personally attack members who violate these rules. Instead, report the member or post to a moderator or admin.
J – Respect the Staff
If a staff member tells you to stop doing something, stop. Please don’t attack the staff. If you disagree with any action taken by a staff member, please get in touch with the administrator privately.
K – No Email Harvesting
Harvesting email addresses from our site is strictly prohibited. Refrain from harvesting email addresses from Concordiamarket.com users.
L – No Private Message SPAM
Users with basic Concordiamarket.com memberships may only send private messages to their colleagues but may not contain advertisements or solicitations.
M – No Poaching
Diverting our members to other forums or websites, including competing religious forums or websites, is strictly forbidden.
N – No Affiliate Marketing
No form of affiliate marketing is allowed on Concordiamarket.com. That means not posting affiliate links in messages, your signature, blog posts, or your profile. Hiding affiliate links through services that provide short urls is also forbidden.
O – Posting Images in Threads.
Screenshots, photographs, and other images you want to embed in your post must not violate copywriting laws.
P – Stay On-Topic
Posts in a particular forum need to stay on-topic. If you want to talk about something that is drastically removed from the topic of a forum, please create a new topic. Posts that are unrelated to religion must be placed in the off-topic or politics forums.
Q – No Thread Killing
Thread killing disrupts the flow of conversation on Concordiamarket.com. If you are not happy with a post you made, you may remove it only before others have responded. Do not remove a post once others have responded to it.
R – No Spamming
Spam is strictly prohibited on Concordiamarket.com. Spamming is characterized by the initiation of threads or posts that contribute nothing to a forum, whether on or off-topic. Examples include: advertisements that are not located in the Marketplace Forums, empty posts, posts with few words that have no relation to the current thread, promotion of your website or product in any thread other than the classifieds, and those posts that state they are Spam, either to annoy or to increase a member’s post count. Posting the same message across several threads is also considered Spam, as is filling your post with keywords with the goal of attracting searchers (keyword stuffing).
S – Off-Limits Ad & Solicitation Types
Posts or messages, including chain letters, pyramid schemes, or any kind of Ponzi scheme, are not allowed on our site. Promoting or marketing properties in which you have no contractual or ownership interest is also strictly prohibited.
T – No Advertising or Promotions Outside the Marketplace Forum.
Posting advertisements in other forums, in blogs, in comments, or via unsolicited private messages is prohibited. Responding to another user’s advertisement with an advertisement for different products or services is strictly prohibited.
II – Member User Names, Signatures, Avatars, And Profile Information
A – Profile Name
The name you enter for your first and last name MUST be your actual name — pseudonyms or fake names are not allowed. Members may not use website URLs or email addresses as their profile link name, and profile names may not contain references to drugs, sex, or any other inappropriate material.
B – Avatars (Profile Images)
Member avatars exist so our users can share their personalities or photos. Avatars may not be used for promotional purposes. This means no ads and no company logos. In addition, users are strictly prohibited from using the following as an avatar: – Images depicting any person other than yourself – Images you are not authorized to use under copyright law – Sexually explicit images – Unprofessional images – Images that make a political or religious statement
C – Forum Signatures
Users are allowed to append their signatures to their forum posts. However, these signatures:
– Must be set up in your profile and not manually added to your messages
– May not contain any pricing, sales, or product details
– May include two clickable link URLs and/or email
– May not contain links to other forums or competing websites
– May not be rented or sold to anyone.
– May not consist exclusively of capital letters
Signatures that are offensive, insulting, or harmful to Concordiamarket.com, its members, or its staff, are strictly prohibited.
Concordiamarket.com may remove any signature at any time for any reason.
III – Use of Forum Email & Private Messaging
Forum administrators reserve the right to periodically scan and review the forum email and private messages database in search of abuse.
Abuse of the forum email or private messaging systems may result in immediate removal from Concordiamarket.com, and Concordiamarket.com has the right (but not the obligation) to pursue all available remedies to address such abuse.
IV – Removal of Content, Banning, Suspension, Termination
Concordiamarket.com may, in its sole discretion, remove any content for any reason or no reason at all. In addition, Concordiamarket.com may restrict, suspend, or terminate your access to parts of or to the entire Concordiamarket.com website if you violate any of the community rules and regulations or terms of use or for any other reason in Concordiamarket.com’s sole discretion. Concordiamarket.com may take these actions at any time, with or without notice and without liability to any users. However, Concordiamarket.com is under no obligation to take any action whatsoever.
Concordiamarket.com’s failure at any time to require performance of any provision of these rules and regulations, our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, or to exercise any right provided for herein will not be deemed a waiver of such right. All waivers must be in writing. Unless the written waiver contains an express statement to the contrary, no waiver by Concordiamarket.com of any breach of any provision of these rules and regulations or our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy or of any right provided for herein will be construed as a waiver of any continuing or succeeding breach of such provision, a waiver of the provision itself, or a waiver of any right under these rules and regulations or our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Our forums and blog discussions are semi-moderated, and moderators or administrators may close or delete a thread at any time and for any reason. Once a topic is closed, members are not allowed to start a new thread with the same topic. All questions or remarks regarding closed or deleted threads must be e-mailed privately to the Forum.
Your responsibility is to maintain a current, valid email address in your registration information so that our moderators can contact you in case of a policy violation. However, no such contact by Concordiamarket.com is required.
If any of your Concordiamarket.com privileges have been revoked and you have questions about why or what, if anything, you can do to restore them; please email the forum administrator.
concordiamarket.com is a dynamic online community and reserves the right to change or alter these rules at any time.
