Official Site Rules

[Mr. Warren]

These are the Official Rules of Catholic Harbor to be followed by all members. Rules are approved by the Seton staff administrators and are enforced by student moderators. Please read these rules before joining. Participation in this forum implies acceptance and a willingness to abide by these rules. Rules are subject to change or addition, but each change will be officially posted in this forum.

1. Anything that is Anti-Catholic in nature will not be tolerated.

A charitable debate may, at the complete discretion of Catholic Harbor's moderators, supersede this rule. However, it is important to remember that this is a Catholic Homeschooling community. Any mockery of, insults toward, or intolerance to any topic pertaining to God, Christianity, the Pope, the Church, etc. will not be tolerated. This site officially professes its submission to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and recognizes Pope Francis as the one, true, and legitimate pope. While this site is still open to non-Catholic members (if they are students of Seton Home Study School), members are expected to be respectful of the Catholic Faith. At the same time, uncharitable derision of those of other faiths will not be tolerated.

2. Profanity is not tolerated.

No swear words, curse words, or foul language is permitted on this website. Similarly, if the offender tries to circumvent the foul language filter, punishment will be leveled as this can only be seen as an action done with a will and desire to break the rules.

3. Catholic Harbor members are expected to act in a Christian and moral manner.

This includes, but is not limited to, "adult or mature" discussion material, off-color jokes, improper images, disgusting or otherwise offensive posts. Please remember that this is a semi-public, mixed-gender forum and try to keep the conversations modest and appropriate for all. Topics about 6th and 9th Commandment issues would likely fall into this category, so please avoid or be very careful about such topics. Not only do we have a wide range of ages, but parents also have different ideas about what appropriate discussion is. What might be acceptable in one family to discuss, might be seen as inappropriate in another.

4. Maintain a spirit of charity.

Always be polite and respectful towards your fellow members! If someone posts a flame or deliberately spiteful message about another Catholic Harbor member, the offending user will be warned and notified. If the behavior is continued, appropriate measures will be taken.

5. Catholic Harbor is a community designed for current students and graduates of Seton Home Study School.

Membership in this community is limited to those students officially and currently enrolled in Seton Home Study School. Membership, however, is not guaranteed by Seton and is not a benefit of enrollment. Membership may be cancelled at any time at the discretion of the student moderators or admins for any reason. Upon registering, all users must supply their family numbers and names for use by the administrators to verify their school status. If a member ceases to be enrolled for some reason other than graduating, their account is subject to closure. Actively encouraging members not to continue their education with Seton is not permitted, though constructive criticism is allowed at the discretion of the moderators.

6. Cheating is not permitted.

Discussion of school work is more than welcome, however, members are not permitted to share test answers or other assistance which would be contrary to Seton's Honor Code.

7. Seton Home Study School Cannot be Held Responsible for Content Posted on this Site.

Although this community is officially sponsored by Seton Home Study School, and Seton approves the official rules and checks the validity of student registrations, this board is created for students and is entirely moderated by students. If there is a problem with site content or moderation that you wish to address, please contact one of the student moderators. Neither Seton nor the student moderators can be held responsible for content found on external links.

8. The minimum age for members is 13 years of age. Students under the age of 18 (so pretty much everyone) can only join with a parent or guardian's permission. Parents should ensure the site is suitable for their children.

9. Private messages should not be posted in the forums.

As a courtesy to others, please refrain from posting any private message in one of the forums without prior approval from the sender of the message. The expectation of privacy, however, should not be considered absolute. We encourage members to share a private message with admins, moderators, and/or parents if they feel another member has used the feature inappropriately.

10. Spam is not allowed.

Spam posts are defined as irrelevant/meaningless posts that do not communicate a logical idea in connection with the original topic (that can include posts that are meaningful but completely off-topic). Spam topics are those that do not communicate a logical or relevant idea within the context of a forum. Spamming a member's private messages or notifications via tagging is also prohibited.

11. Movie, TV, and music recommendations need to be kept family friendly.

Recommendations for R-rated movies or TV-MA shows are not allowed. On rare occasions, moderators have the discretion to allow discussion of R-rated movies like the Passion of the Christ. This rule isn't mean to imply that all R-rated movies are necessarily immoral, only that they are not appropriate for this community. Recommendations should not be made for movies that violate other rules of the site. There are many movies that might be rated PG-13 that would not be appropriate to recommend for reasons of mature content, offensive nature, etc.

12. The current student community will be kept separate from the alumni community.

Alumni have their own members forum. If an admin has noticed it has been 12 months since a member's 12th Grade enrollment, they will be given access to the Alumni Forum. There will be a one-year grace period when the recently graduated member will have access to both the current student forums and to the alumni forum. After one year, they will lose access to the current student forums and only have access to the alumni community. (Moderators are currently an exception). Once that year has past, the alumni group with be their primary group (and their username will change color). This rule prohibits current students from PMing members who have alumni-only access and alumni-only members are prohibited from PMing current students. There may be certain forums that can have a special exception from this rule including the College and Career Development Forum.

13. Gallery images should be limited to those that fall within the scope of the album categories.

At present, we have "Photos of Members" which should be photos or artwork of an actual Catholic Harbor member, "Member Artwork" which should be original images created by a member, and "Photography" which should only be original photos. We have very limited media storage, so please do not upload more than one or two photos of the same subject at a time. Further, please refer to the Image Guidelines to make sure you image is appropriate to post on Catholic Harbor.

14. Overt flirting, pairing of members, or "shipping" is not permitted.

While some families allow students to date in high school, many do not and would not appreciate the implication that Catholic Harbor was being used to encourage this kind of discussion outside of a debate. Creating fake romantic couples, teasing members about being romantically interested in others, and even talking in detail about real romantic relationships are not allowed (simply stating a real relationship exists would be fine). Slightly related to this is joking or serious statements about finding members of the same sex attractive or about being a different gender--such jokes are inconsistent with the mission of this site and are also not allowed.

15. Accounts on Catholic Harbor are only to be used by the student to whom they are registered (though read-only access by parents or guardians is encouraged).

16. Use reactions responsibly.

The responsible way to use these is as they were clearly intended, and not in a sarcastic way, or in a way that would be interpreted as discourteous to the poster. In other words, don't do something like react with "Praying" or "Sad" to a debate post or opinion you disagree with.

17. Disruption to the Administration of the site is not allowed.

Disrespectful, disruptive, or harassing behavior toward Seton Home Study School staff members or the student moderators of the site is unacceptable. Disagreeing with moderators, admins, or even the rules of the site is perfectly acceptable, but rules must still be obeyed, official requests from moderators must still be followed, and disagreement should be expressed in a constructive manner. Such discussions should be contained to appropriate topics or personal messages.

[Mr. Warren]

A new rule, Rule #10 has been added:

10. Spam is not allowed outside of Spam City.

Spam posts are defined as irrelevant/meaningless posts that do not communicate a logical idea in connection with the original topic. Spam topics are those that do not communicate a logical or relevant idea within the context of a forum. "silly randomness" is usually an appropriate description. This Spam policy also prohibits identical posting and one-word or smilie-only posts outside of Spam City.

[Mr. Warren]

A new rule, Rule # 11 has been added:

11. Movie, TV, and music recommendations need to be kept family friendly.

Recommendations for R-rated movies or TV-MA shows are not allowed. On rare occasions, moderators have the discretion to allow discussion of R-rated movies like the Passion of the Christ. This rule isn't mean to imply that all R-rated movies are necessarily immoral, only that they are not appropriate for this community. Recommendations should not be made for movies that violate other rules of the site. There are many movies that might be rated PG-13 that would not be appropriate to recommend for reasons of mature content, offensive nature, etc.

[Mr. Warren]

A new rule, Rule #12 has been added.

12. The current student community will be kept separate from the alumni community.

Alumni have their own members forum. If an admin has noticed it has been 12 months since a member's 12th Grade enrollment, they will be given access to the Alumni Forum. There will be a one-year grace period when the recently graduated member will have access to both the current student forums and to the alumni forum. After one year, they will lose access to the current student forums and only have access to the alumni community. (Moderators are currently an exception). Once that year has past, the alumni group with be their primary group (and their username will change color). This rule prohibits current students from PMing members who have alumni-only access and alumni-only members are prohibited from PMing current students.

(As of the date this rule is created, we don't have any alumni-only members yet, but I suspect we will soon.)

[Mr. Warren]

New rule #13:

13. Gallery images should be limited to those that fall within the scope of the album categories.

At present, we have "Photos of Members" which should be photos or artwork of an actual Catholic Harbor member, "Member Artwork" which should be original images created by a member, and "Photography" which should only be original photos. We have very limited media storage, so please do not upload more than one or two photos of the same subject at a time. Further, please refer to the Image Guidelines to make sure you image is appropriate to post on Catholic Harbor.

[Mr. Warren]

There was a slight rewording of Rule #5:

5. Catholic Harbor is a community designed for current students and graduates of Seton Home Study School.

Membership in this community is limited to those students officially and currently enrolled in Seton Home Study School. Membership, however, is not guaranteed by Seton and is not a benefit of enrollment. Membership may be cancelled at any time at the discretion of the student moderators or admins for any reason. Upon registering, all users must supply their family numbers and names for use by the administrators to verify their school status. If a member ceases to be enrolled for some reason other than graduating, their account is subject to closure. Actively encouraging members not to continue their education with Seton is not permitted, though constructive criticism is allowed at the discretion of the moderators.

[Mr. Warren]

Rule #3 has an addition to help clarify.

3. Catholic Harbor members are expected to act in a Christian and moral manner.

This includes, but is not limited to, "adult or mature" discussion material, off-color jokes, improper images, disgusting or otherwise offensive posts. Please remember that this is a semi-public, mixed-gender forum and try to keep the conversations modest and appropriate for all. Topics about 6th and 9th Commandment issues would likely fall into this category, so please avoid or be very careful about such topics. Not only do we have a wide range of ages, but parents also have different ideas about what appropriate discussion is. What might be acceptable in one family to discuss, might be seen as inappropriate in another.

[Mr. Warren]

Rule #12 has had an addition allowing certain forums to be an exception to the rule.

12. The current student community will be kept separate from the alumni community.

Alumni have their own members forum. If an admin has noticed it has been 12 months since a member's 12th Grade enrollment, they will be given access to the Alumni Forum. There will be a one-year grace period when the recently graduated member will have access to both the current student forums and to the alumni forum. After one year, they will lose access to the current student forums and only have access to the alumni community. (Moderators are currently an exception). Once that year has past, the alumni group with be their primary group (and their username will change color). This rule prohibits current students from PMing members who have alumni-only access and alumni-only members are prohibited from PMing current students. There may be certain forums that can have a special exception from this rule including the College and Career Development Forum.

[Mr. Warren]

The Spam Rule has been updated to add a no tag-spam clause and to clarify a little.

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10. Spam is not allowed outside of Spam City.

Spam posts are defined as irrelevant/meaningless posts that do not communicate a logical idea in connection with the original topic (that can include posts that are meaningful but completely off-topic). Spam topics are those that do not communicate a logical or relevant idea within the context of a forum. This Spam policy prohibits identical posting and one-word or emoji-only posts outside of Spam City. Spamming a member's private messages or notifications via tagging is also prohibited (even tag-spamming in Spam City is not allowed because the notifications are delivered outside of Spam City).

 

 

[Mr. Warren]

and another quick edit to the same rule to explain tag-spamming as "(tagging a member you have no reason to think wants to be tagged)"

[Mr. Warren]

New Rules #14 and #15 added

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#14 Overt flirting, pairing of members, or "shipping" is not permitted.

While some families allow students to date in high school, many do not and would not appreciate the implication that Catholic Harbor was being used to encourage this kind of discussion outside of a debate. Creating fake romantic couples, teasing members about being romantically interested in others, and even talking in detail about real romantic relationships are not allowed (simply stating a real relationship exists would be fine). Slightly related to this is joking or serious statements about finding members of the same sex attractive or about being a different gender--such jokes are inconsistent with the mission of this site and are also not allowed.

#15 Accounts on Catholic Harbor are only to be used by the student to whom they are registered (though read-only access by parents or guardians is encouraged).

 

[Mr. Warren]

Spam Rule altered to remove one-word Spam Rule and reference to Spam City.

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10. Spam is not allowed.

Spam posts are defined as irrelevant/meaningless posts that do not communicate a logical idea in connection with the original topic (that can include posts that are meaningful but completely off-topic). Spam topics are those that do not communicate a logical or relevant idea within the context of a forum. Spamming a member's private messages or notifications via tagging is also prohibited.

 

[Mr. Warren]

I am seeing way too much of this, and while it had already been posted as a notice in the Admin Info Forum, it is now enshrined as law.

16. Use reactions responsibly.

The responsible way to use these is as they were clearly intended, and not in a sarcastic way, or in a way that would be interpreted as discourteous to the poster. In other words, don't do something like react with "Praying" or "Sad" to a debate post or opinion you disagree with.

[Mr. Warren]

In consultation with @Mr. Sparks, a new rule is added, Rule #17:

17. Disruption to the Administration of the site is not allowed.

Disrespectful, disruptive, or harassing behavior toward Seton Home Study School staff members or the student moderators of the site is unacceptable. Disagreeing with moderators, admins, or even the rules of the site is perfectly acceptable, but rules must still be obeyed, official requests from moderators must still be followed, and disagreement should be expressed in a constructive manner. Such discussions should be contained to appropriate topics or personal messages.