Okay, this is my text styling suggestion for an altered introduction here.
I hope the strength of its organic growth has become more visible after the haircut and a few decent colour enhancements here and there. I left in what I see as necessary cosmetic lies but deleted and altered all avoidance suggestions. I tried to tone this whole thing down to a level where it looks less of an invitation to challenge the big mouth behind the control deck but rather a genuine group effort to see these things happening. The non-exclusion of plural and oral aspects in reflection as might be associated with “Minds Eye” are hoped to have been saved from eager grammar cleansers in its MINDS EYE shape. *Welcome* * * MINDS EYE welcomes anyone in a spirit of hospitality. There are a few rules. We'd expect anyone reasonably sound in spirit not to have to consider them before posting. We really intend them for use in dealing with nuisance. Or they serve you to give you an orientation of where you are. We intend a warm and friendly spirit and to recognize and reflect the spirit of the group. All you need to do to join is either put up a new post or comment in an existing thread. This message will go to our moderation page in the first place and you’ll quickly be out of the moderation process and able to post directly. This is how we keep out spammers. Keep on making meaningful contributions to the group and enjoy the exchange here on MINDS EYE. Present MINDS EYE moderators are Archytas, Molly, and Ornamentalmind. None of us share the same religious or political views, thus we hope that there is no peculiar bias in moderation, though we are all white, broadly middle-class, native speakers of English, and aged 50+. You can email us<[email protected]>if you need a private consultation. *MINDS EYE Posting Guidelines* * * *1. New Member Moderation* All new members of MINDS EYE are initially moderated. This means that a new member's posts will not appear immediately, rather they will be held in a queue until an administrator has checked them over and released them to the group. The group's moderators are spread across several time zones and work schedules, thus this process generally happens within a few hours. Sometimes it's much quicker. However, your patience is appreciated if it is the weekend or a public holiday. After a few posts we will take new members off of moderation, thus allowing their messages to appear immediately. We take a strong line on posts from new members which contain links. Farming hits for your website or blog from MINDS EYE is very likely to get you banned. After your moderation has been removed and you have proven yourself capable of meaningful contribution, we would tend to be more relaxed about you linking back to your website, assuming it is relevant and not just blatant hit farming. *2. Etiquette & Principles* 2.1. Do not "flame" people. MINDS EYE is a group intended for rational discussions. Aggressive/bullying posts are unwelcome. Find constructive ways to enlighten your view instead. 2.2. Attacks upon immutable human characteristics (race, disability, sexual orientation, et al) are totally unacceptable. 2.3. Debates about a person's deeply held values, beliefs, or way of life, should be tempered with a high level of respect and civility. These debates have been some of our most interesting over the years, and they work, or not, based upon the level of mutual respect and honesty extended by each side. If your motive is to ridicule members, or spread bad feeling, please do not bother to post. 2.4. We've tackled a fair few sacred cows over the years and these are always interesting discussions. However, by their nature, these debates are very likely to stir up emotions. Please accept that there may be people with radically different opinions to yours which they hold equally as strongly. MINDS EYE is a forum for you to interact with such people and learn more about them as well as about yourself. 2.5. Posting irrelevant asides, snide comments, or generally trying to derail a discussion, is not in the spirit of the group. If you have nothing to contribute to a discussion, move on, start a new thread, or just be happy reading what other people have posted. 2.6. Do not preach, proselytize, or patronize: we are here to discuss ideas, not be recruited to a particular religion or other belief system. The membership of MINDS EYE is fantastically diverse in terms of member's ages, national and family backgrounds, levels of education, forms of spirituality, life experience, and professional vocations. We are discussing here on a peer to peer level. 2.7. *Ad hominem* is not accepted, in the most serious circumstances, could see you moderated or banned. Wikipedia defines *ad hominem*<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem>as "replying to an argument or factual claim by attacking or appealing to a characteristic or belief of the person making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim. *3. Quoting / Citations* 3.1. Copy/pasting reams of text from a website, without a citation, gives the impression that you are claiming the work as your own. Given that this is probably not the case, please attribute the quote to its author or source. 3.2. When quoting from a website, do not copy/paste the entire article. Try and limit your citation to a paragraph or two, and, of course, please provide the link. 3.3. If you wish to reproduce content from MINDS EYE elsewhere, we ask you to seek permission of the author(s). *4. Crossposting/multiposting* Crossposting is <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossposting> "the act of posting the same message to multiple forums, mailing lists, or newsgroups". It is sometimes known as multiposting. MINDS EYE is a discussion forum and we encourage you to take part, not treat the group as a one-way audience for your message. We consider crossposting to be the equivalent to spamming, thus it could see you banned. Depending on previous form, the moderators may take a more lenient stand with existing members; however, be clear, repeated crossposting may see you moderated or banned. *5. Bannings* All decisions regarding disciplinary actions up to and including banishment from the group are discussed thoroughly among the moderators before any decision is made. None of the moderators take it upon themselves to discipline a member of the group. Disciplinary actions include, but are not limited to: warnings, return to moderated status, and banishment from the group. All bannings and moderations are voted on. *6. Legal Ground* Last but not least let’s not forget that we are all walking on Google land here. This is the rules we’ve agreed to: http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS<http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS> .
