Updated 12/27/16
Welcome to the Community-Moderated Forum
You are welcome to post at will to the forum, as long as you follow the three guidelines below. Our goal with these guidelines is to make the forum a place you can discuss Objectivism and share news of interest to Objectivists, and know the comments will be courteous and worth reading.
1. Assume the members of the forum are your allies.
If you disagree with something someone says, please assume there is a mistake, a confusion, or a different context, and behave accordingly. It is a widely recognized danger of discussion groups that they easily degenerate into “flames “–i.e., inflammatory back-and-forth arguments, often with personal attacks, among participants. This is a triple mistake on HBL:
- The purpose of HBL is friendly discussion with like-minded people
- Members on HBL share basic values. We are allies in a historic battle, and deserve to be treated as allies.
- We share the view that justice is a virtue.
We urge you to maintain a collegial, 19th-century-style attitude toward other posts and other posters. If you are angry at a post, wait until you are calm to respond. Here’s a contrived example:
First post:
From Immanuel Kant:
There has been too much emphasis by HBLers on reason and values. Reason can deal only with the phenomenal world, not with things as they really are in themselves, and values introduce a subjective element into morality, because they depend on a lone individual’s personal choices (though these “choices” are deterministic responses, considered phenomenally).
Sample reply post illustrating proper etiquette:
From John Doe:
On the subject of whether there has been too much emphasis here on reason and values, the truth is exactly the opposite: only by reference to reason and values can we grasp reality and remain in reality. I reject any alleged distinction between a “phenomenal” realm and “things as they really are”–“‘Things as they are’ are things as perceived by your mind'” (Galt’s Speech). Values are not subjective (or intrinsic) but *objective* . . .
2. Edit for objectivity
First, follow the rules of grammar. Use words, not abbreviations. Write in full sentences. Punctuate and capitalize. Spell check. Use paragraphs. (Break up long paragraphs, even when it seems arbitrary as to where to do so. Long paragraphs are uninviting to the reader.)
Second, ask yourself whether someone reading your post could understand it without needing to read your mind. Subjectivity is rampant in our culture; don’t let it seep into your post.
The 13 most common stylistic and grammatical slip-ups found in HBL posts are listed here: https://new-staging.hblist.com/forums/topic/grammar-and-style-on-hbl/
3. Keep it short but substantive
The more you can essentialize, the more interesting your post will be, and the more likely it will be to draw readers. We used to enforce a 400-word limit, which is a good rule of thumb. If you can edit down to that length, your post will be better.
But we are not encouraging length over substance. Have something substantive to say to the readership of HBL.
If you just want to communicate the words “good post,” send that privately. (And do. “It is more important to reward the good than to punish the bad.”)
However, if you would like to write two sentences explaining why you think this is such a good post–that’s substantive, and we encourage you to post it to the forum.
Posts that don’t meet these guidelines may be deleted by our community-moderators. Repeated or egregious cases may result in the poster losing his posting privileges.
When starting a new topic . . .
If you’re starting a new topic, you have the responsibility of naming it. The name of the topic is something very different from the headline you give your particular post. The topic is the more general subject-matter, such as “The Electoral College,” and doesn’t include your particular viewpoint on the topic. Suppose you support the electoral college; then your post’s title (its “headline”) could be: “The electoral college helps keep the peace.” Or it could be something more colorful, like “Banana Republic–No!” But launching a topic means starting a continuing thread of posts, both pro and con posts on that topic. So, the topic title should be neutral and informative.
“Statistics? You want statistics?” and “Xylophone has arrived” are fine as headlines for a particular post, but mystifying as topic names (which our old system made them become).Â
