The following is from a previous announcement of ours. Some new information has been added. All the information is as relevant as ever.

It will serve as a reminder for old regulars and news for you new folks.

PLEASE READ THIS!!!
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CONSTRUCTIVE DEBATE

For those of who you are not completely familiar with the Rules and Guidelines, we would like to point out one key element:



This line is the first line of the rules for a reason.

This forum does not exist as a place for people to rant in an immature way. America's Debate is for people who can handle intelligent, civil debate focused around fact. If you are interested in another form of debate, please go elsewhere.
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OFF-TOPIC POSTS

We have read a lot of posts to the effect of "I know this is off-topic, but...".

These posts are unacceptable. If you know that the post is off-topic, then you know it is against the rules.

Posts like these will be deleted in their entirety, and strikes will be issued.
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AND YOUR QUESTION IS...?

We have noticed that more and more new topics consist only of lengthy opinion statements. This is not a blog spot. If you need a place to vent your frustrations and make a lengthy opinion statement, we suggest you look elsewhere.

New topics must have a clearly defined question or a clearly defined issue up for debate. Any topic without an obviously stated point of debate is not constructive and will be closed and/or deleted.

It is certainly acceptable to post a link and solicit members' opinions, but make sure you let us know that is what you expect. Simply posting a link to an article does not constitute a good topic.

I would also suggest that when a moderator or admin asks a member to clarify the debate question, everyone else refrain from posting until the original poster has had an opportunity to clarify him or herself. While we could all speculate on what the original question may have been, there is no point in wasting time and space doing so.
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YOUR POSTCOUNT

Q: Are there any benefits of having an increased post count?

A: NO!
Lately, however, we suspect that some members are intentionally posting poor-quality posts in order to increase their post count. This is baffling. There is absolutely no reason to do this. Getting your name in the top 10 posters list for the day or ever means NOTHING. It gets you nowhere.
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LINKING TO AMERICA'S DEBATE

We encourage people to link to America's Debate from their own sites. We also encourage you to invite your family and friends.

We highly discourage posting any links to America's Debate at any other forum or website that does not strictly follow our rules.

If you want to post a link to America's Debate at another site, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does this site allow profanity?
2. Does this site allow racism, ageism, sexism, or negative blanket statements?
3. Does this site allow personal attacks?
4. Does this site allow content that conflicts with the America's Debate Rules and Guidelines / TOS?

If the answer to any of those questions is YES, DON'T POST A LINK TO AMERICA'S DEBATE. Doing this in the future will result in disciplinary action.
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Thank you for reading all the way through this.

We've gotten quite a few new people since I last posted this. I think a refresher never hurts. PLEASE READ IT (especially the "constructive debate" part)