RhemaSouth.co.za Content Policy

RhemaSouth.co.za is a website in service of Rhema South Family Church for communication, self-expression and freedom of speech. We believe RhemaSouth.co.za increases the availability of information and makes possible new connections between people.

In order to uphold these values, we need to curb abuses that threaten our ability to provide this service and the freedom of expression it encourages. As a result, there are some boundaries on the type of content that can be hosted with RhemaSouth.co.za. The boundaries we've defined are those that both comply with legal requirements and that serve to enhance the service as a whole.

Content Boundaries:

Our content policy play's an important role in maintaining an acceptable experience for you, the users. Please respect these guidelines. From time to time, we may change our content policy so please check back here on a regular basis.

Pornography and Obscenity:

• Pornography and Obscenity: - Users may not publish written, image or video content that contains nudity, sexually graphic material, or material that is otherwise deemed explicit or suggestive by RhemaSouth.co.za.
• Pedophilia, Incest and Bestiality: - Users may not publish written, image or video content that promotes pedophilia, incest and bestiality.
• Child Pornography: - RhemaSouth.co.za has a zero-tolerance policy against child pornography, and we will terminate and report to the appropriate authorities any user who publishes or distributes child pornography.
• Explicit Material: - Uses may not publish written, image or video content that contains intentional cleavage, lingerie, intimate apparel, see-through material, sexual positions, sexual attitude, nor abuse of any type.

Denominational Abuse:

RhemaSouth.co.za defines denominational abuse as: "those of one religious sect attacking, being rude toward, threatening, or repeatedly challenging those of another religious sect".

These are the most predominate types, but not an all inclusive list, of Denominational Abuses:

• Anti-Christianism - Anti-Christianism is a negative bias against Christians and/or the religion of Christianity.
• Anti-Catholicism - Anti-Catholicism is an institutional, ideological or emotional bias against the Roman Catholic Church and its followers.
• Anti-Evangelicalism - Anti-Evangelicalism is hostility toward those who usually have a tendency in conservative Christianity.
• Anti-Pentecostalism - Anti-Pentecostalism is hostility toward those within Evangelical Christianity that place special emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as shown in the Biblical account of the Day of Pentecost.
• Anti-Protestantism - Anti-Protestantism is an institutional or emotional bias against Protestantism.
• Anti-Semitism - Anti-Semitism is hostility toward or prejudice against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group.

Public condemnation of non-Christian beliefs and doctrines are not acceptable.

Content Abuse:

RhemaSouth.co.za defines content abuse as any method used by a member which abuses the members of RhemaSouth.co.za

These are the most predominate types of Content Abuse, but not an all inclusive list, of Content Abuse:

• Spam - Spam is the indiscriminately sending of unsolicited content.
• Hate Speech - Hate speech is a term for speech intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a person or group of people based on their race, gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, language ability, moral or political views, socioeconomic class, occupation or appearance (such as height, weight, and hair color), mental capacity and any other distinction-liability. (source: Wikipedia)
• Profanity - Profanity is someone who posts words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors which is socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude and vulgar or desecrating or showing disrespect. RhemaSouth.co.za has in place a system to censor out a large amount of curse and foul words. Users may not attempt to defeat our software which censors out these community unacceptable bad words. While our system does work hard to prevent profanity, it will most likely never be 100% successful.
• Trolling - An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion. (source: Wikipedia)
• Flaming - Flaming is the hostile and insulting interaction between Internet users. Occasionally, flamers wish to upset and offend other members, in which case they can be called "trolls". Most often however, flames are angry or insulting messages transmitted by people who have strong feelings about a subject. (source: Wikipedia)
• Cyber-bullying - Cyber-bullying involves the use of published information and communication, by an individual or group that is intended to or may harm others through personal, group, or corporate attacks or other means. (partial source: Wikipedia)
• Category Abuse: - We do not allow the publication of Blog Entries about a given topic that is outside the boundaries of the Blog Category.
• Malicious Codes and Viruses: - We do not allow spamming, transmitting malware and viruses, publishing hyperlinks that have a destination that infects users computers, or publishing malicious codes.
• Marketing Scams and Deception: - We do not allow the publishing of marketing scams, tier scams or any other form of deception.
• Usernet, RSS, Syndication: - We reserve the right not to allow publishing (manual or automated) of content from usernets groups, newsgroups, rss feeds, or any other syndication method(s).
• Sexual Identity: - We do not allow the publishing of content that is associated with sexual identity, homosexual orientation, same-sex relationship, transgender, cisgender, asexual, the alternative lifestyle, or any other sexual orientation content.
• Dating Services: - We do not provide our Services for purposes of being a Dating Service Provider.
• Normal Writing: - Users should post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing" by not posting excessive numbers of emoticons, large, small or coloured text in places it does not belong, and users should not SHOUT (type in all capital words) or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?).

Private and Confidential Information: We do not allow the publishing of people's private and confidential information, either your own or that of others. TO PROTECT OUR USERS: ANY TRANSMISSION OR PUBLICATION OF ANY EMAIL ADDRESSES, PHONE NUMBERS, PHYSICAL OR MAILING ADDRESSES, INSTANT MESSENGER USER NAMES, AND/OR OTHER 'methods of contact' ANYWHERE WITHIN OUR WEBSITE WILL BE CONSIDERED A VIOLATION OF THIS POLICY. SAID VIOLATION MAY RESULT IN TERMINATION OF SAID USER ACCOUNT WITHOUT NOTIFICATION. RhemaSouth.co.za has a zero-tolerance policy for the publication of private and confidential information.

Unlawful Use of Services: Our products and services may not be used for unlawful purposes or for promotion of dangerous and illegal activities. Your account may be terminated and you may be reported to the appropriate authorities.

Signatures: Signatures are blocks of text you may place at the bottom of published content. Signatures may contain up to two lines (one line being that displayed on a browser opened to 800px width) of normal size text. Signatures may not contain any image. Signatures may not contain a website/hyperlink of any kind. You may not include text in a way which suggests you offer official support, software, or services of any kind.

Localization: RhemaSouth.co.za requires that users publish content that only contains English (either American or Britain) language at all times (hacker lingo not allowed).

Blogging Vs Discussions: To many there is a fine line between what defines the difference between a "Blog" and "Discussion Forum" content.

It is our belief that a "Blog Entry" is best defined as a researched topic that contains commentary combined together with text, images, links, and other related media, to form a multi-paragraphed chronological publication of comments and thoughts by the author.

It is our belief that a "Discussion Thread" is primarily intended for the purpose of receiving feedback, comments, and to directly initiate 'discussion' from other people.

RhemaSouth.co.za reserves all right to remove any Published Content that we feel does not contain the necessary content to qualify as either a Blog Entry or a Discussion Thread as defined within this Section, from within their respective areas of RhemaSouth.co.za.

Advertisement, Fundraising, Marketing, and Philanthropy: RhemaSouth.co.za prohibits all three of these type of activities on our website. No Published Content should contain any hint of these three forms of monetary and/or goods exchange, except within provided "For Sale" and "For Trade" Services available to those users with granted privileges.

Fundraising is the process of soliciting and gathering money or other goods by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gather funds for not-for-profit organizations, it is sometimes used to refer to the identification and solicitation of investors or other sources of capital for for-profit enterprises.

Marketing, is the process of moving people closer to making a decision to purchase, use, follow, refer, upload, download, obey, reject, conform, become complacent to another person's, society's or organization's value. Simply, if it doesn't facilitate a "sale" then it's not marketing. However, the most widely accepted definition of marketing on a global scale comes from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) in the UK, which is the largest marketing body in the world in terms of membership. The definition claims marketing to be the "management process of anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer requirements profitably".

Philanthropy is the voluntary act of donating money or goods or providing some other support to a charitable cause, usually over an extended period of time. In a more fundamental sense, philanthropy may encompass any activity which is intended to enhance the common good or improve human well being. Someone who is well known for practicing philanthropy may sometimes be called a philanthropist.

RhemaSouth.co.za does not allow the publication of website links (commonly called 'offsite linking') if the purpose is to fundraise, market, advertise, or seek or offer philanthropy. RhemaSouth.co.za does not allow the advertisement of website links if the purpose is to promote a personal website that is owned by the Publisher. RhemaSouth.co.za does not allow the advertisement of website links if the purpose is to promote a business or ministry website if the Publisher is associated with the specific business or ministry.

Policing:

RhemaSouth.co.za reserves the right to terminate the account of any user who violates one or many of these policies at any time, for any reason without notification nor explanation.

RhemaSouth.co.za reserves the right to modify this agreement at any time without notification to our users or the general public.