DEPRECATED ILP Forum Philosophy

See current version here: http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/ilp-forum-philosophy/4

A Treatise on the Workings of ILovePhilosophy.com

Purpose

I Love Philosophy is dedicated to the discussion of philosophy, broadly defined. We welcome beginners and sophisticates, the serious and the fun-loving — anyone who loves philosophy, and anything about philosophy.

Philosophy must enshrine ideas; all questions, properly expressed, fall under its purview. Nothing is sacred, prima facie, not even the idea that nothing is sacred. ILovePhilosophy, as a community of thinkers dedicated to philosophy, puts no limitations on the ideas that can be expressed, or the questions that can be asked.

However, we are a community first, and as a community we must maintain a level of tolerance and politeness. A community based on the exchange of ideas cannot persist when individuals are attacked as individuals for the ideas they express. Anything that inhibits the community will prevent us from our purposes.

Because ideas are so central to a person’s life, they can contain deep significance. Enshrining the critical consideration of all ideas while maintaining a civil discourse can be difficult. Therefore, radical positions must be approached delicately. Certainly, philosophy is a story of radical ideas, and so such ideas are welcome, but the radicalism of an idea must be balanced with a proportionate care in expression. The line between radicalism and antagonism is thin.

ILP is its members, and the ideas they bring with them. This site is a community. When that community falters, ILP falters in its purpose. The actions of its members define its tone, its quality, and its utility as a haven for the ideas it holds dear. Let your actions here reflect that ethos.

Staff

The volunteer staff of ILP are here to promote the values and principles expressed above. They have no interest other than fostering an environment where good philosophical discussions can take place, and maintaining the intellectuality and civility of exchanges. They are respected members of the community who have been entrusted with a role as mediators.

Forum Rules

In certain forums, the nature of the topics under consideration has necessitated nuanced rules, which are posted in the forum itself. These rules offer an elaboration of how the purpose of ILP will be achieved in the given context:

Signatures

The standard request for signatures is to not exceed 250px high in size total (text and images combined).
ILP staff reserves the right to request adjustments to member signatures as needed, or remove signatures if members do not comply with the requests.

Staff Intervention

If a member’s behavior is disruptive to discussions, staff will intervene to prevent further disruption. Ideally, a private message or a post in a given thread will be enough, but if it not, additional actions may be taken based on the number of similar actions a user has incurred in the past 6 months:
1st warning: board warning, no further action
2nd warning: 48 hour ban
3rd warning: 7 day ban, with the possibility of a permanent ban based on moderator consensus.
Any further warnings: permanent ban.

Questions and Comments

If you have a question that you think may be useful to other members, or if you have a suggestion, please post them in the Meta forum. If you have a personal question, or a complaint about a specific member, please direct it to a moderator or admin.

You can also flag posts for review by using the ‘report’ feature in the topic view.