When speaking about the current Holy Father or any previous Pope, he will be spoken of respectfully. In this regard, outside of the "Diocesan vs SSPX vs Sedecavantism vs Novus Ordo" sub-forum, sedevacantists are to post with the premise that the acclaimed Pope is the true Pope.

Any criticism of Papal actions must be done respectfully with due consideration given both to the person and office of the Pope, remembering that he is the Vicar of Christ and holds the Keys. This means referring to him as an heretic, accusing him of heresy, etc. is not allowed on this forum. Sarcastic or vitriolic comments, or anything not worthy of the dignity of the Papacy is not allowed. He should always be given the benefit of the doubt for his actions, as far as reason allows, out of respect for the Throne of Peter and the Magisterium.

No blasphemy, sacrilege, obscenity (a few "bad words" here are OK), prurience, or posts that seem to the moderators 1) to promote Church-banned ideologies (Communism, Nazism, socialism, usurious capitalism, Jansenism, religiously-based Zionism, dispensationalism, Noahidism, Freemasonry, racism) or 2) to promote un-Catholic attitudes and acts (vengeance, encouraging unjust wars and violence, Puritanism, misogyny, needlessly offending those who struggle with same sex attractions, needlessly inflammatory language, etc.) or 3) to needlessly expose the forum to undue scrutiny (e.g., by loose talk of insurrection, revolution, civil war, baseless conspiracy theories rather than simple reporting of facts that readers can piece together for themselves, etc.). 4) No discussion of race issues in a manner the average, reasonable, prudent man would find insensitive. Moderators also frown on those who are pugilistic, sniping, snarky, always looking to find sin or scandal, never give the benefit of the doubt, vicious to good-willed non-Catholics and non-trads, and so forth. People like that will not likely last long around here. Discussion is better than arguing! If this place ceases to be joyous and fun in addition to being serious, then fuhgetaboutit. Sourpusses begone!

Another thing frowned upon around here is needlessly making enemies, the "gang-banging" mentality of group-think, the overly-critical, knee-jerk bashing of certain persons or groups that are unpopular with some trads. Slander, detraction, and attitudes that convey the idea that "X is wrong about Y; X said Z; therefore Z is wrong" are not only illogical, they're mean-spirited. Even broken clocks can be right twice a day. Please try to discuss issues instead of arguing against people. We want this place to be warm and friendly and fun.
 
And, please, for the love of all that's holy, cushion personal opinions and conclusions about where and how to worship, etc., in phrases such as "in my opinion" or "it seems to me" or "this is what my family has decided to do" -- and don't pretend to be speaking authoritatively unless you are known all over the world as the Holy Father. Don't generalize your personal experiences, callings, preferences, and sense of aesthetics in this regard such that what you've decided right for you and your family in terms of worship, penance, devotions, how to dress modestly, which music to listen to, whether or not to watch TV, etc., is a must for all Catholics everywhere. The old "I live on Communion Hosts and water like St. So-and-So. Everyone must! It's Church teaching! Anyone who doesn't do that isn't a 'real Catholic' or a 'real trad'!" routine won't fly here. Purveyors of such arrogance and judgmentalism will get gone.

This forum is for mature conversation about real life, including frank discussion of sexual matters. The forum is for adults, with most of us having grown up in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Leave the fake coyness, the shocked expressions, the tongue-clucking, the swooning, the unwillingness to properly name body parts, the Holy Card Impersonator schtick, the "Why, I nevah" stuff (especially when you most certainly have), and other such silliness to other people's forums. Prudery won't be tolerated. Leave any Puritanism back in the hands of 17th c. Calvinists and Jansenists; we are 21st c. Catholics here, and as Hilaire Belloc wrote:

"Wherever the Catholic sun does shine,
There's music, laughter and good red wine.
At least, I've always found it so:
Benedicamus Domino!"  

   
Moderators have the right to remove posts that violate the rules, and other posts that are disruptive to or harm the purposes and "culture" of this forum -- and to do so without having to explain. If a post is removed or edited, do not PM moderators asking why, and don't ask why in the forum. Moderators should be respected and not sassed or argued with about how they moderate. Moderators also have the right to ban -- and will ban -- members who consistently post against rules or who disrupt the "culture" of the place, setting a tone by their posts that the moderators think does not serve the cause of Tradition or which helps create an atmosphere that does not live up to the goals of the forum owner. Do not expect an explanation as to why a ban was made.
 
 

Specific Rules 
 

1. Don't be shy! Please participate; that's what will keep the board alive. Read an interesting article? Post it! See a movie? Write a review or talk about it in the Art and Entertainment forum! Want to read a work of fiction and talk about it with others? Start a book club! Want to read St. Augustine's "City of God" with people? Ask someone to start a formal study -- or start one yourself if you have the expertise! Got a joke? Tell it in the Pig Roast forum! Learn something recently? Teach it! Find an interesting video at Youtube or Google? Embed it to share with others!
          
2. Don't just post URLs with no summaries, no effort at explaining what the URLs link to. Preferred is the posting of entire articles (or, if they're extremely long, their relevant parts) -- and especially preferred is the posting of articles accompanied by some of your own commentary. It makes things much more interesting and stimulates responses! And please cite sources!
       
3. Use descriptive titles in your subject lines. For ex., if you have a question about Confession, instead of writing "Question" for your subject line, write "Question about Confession." 
     
4. Don't type in ALL CAPS, especially in subject lines. Use capital letters for emphasis. Don't use smilies/emoticons in subject lines.
      
5. If you post a link to a PDF file, warn people that it is, indeed a PDF file. Please. Oh, please.
    
6. Don't bump threads unless, and only unless, it is to bring to others' attention something that is timely or in some other way relevant. If you post something and no one responds, then no one wants to talk about your post, apparently.
       
7. Don't derail threads. Stay on topic. And, especially, don't derail threads with unnecessary personal attacks.
       
8. When replying to a post, try to eliminate as much as possible any excess, unecessary quoting. If you are only responding to one line in someone's long post, just quote that one line. Avoid "me too" type replies.
       
9. Take personal sniping and unnecessary name-calling to e-mail or PMs. No one wants to hear it. Grow up, grow a thick skin, and try to handle things yourself. I dislike "mommified" boards and don't want to run one. This is a forum for adults, not whiny crybabies who need Mommy to protect them from insults.
        
10. On reporting posts: Don't report posts just because someone hurt your feelings. Man up. Rub some dirt on it and move on. And don't feel singled-out if a post you make gets reported, gets a reaction from me, and someone else's post with the same sort of content doesn't get reported and doesn't get a reaction from me. I don't read every post so sometimes things get by me.
        
11. When posting, watch your mouth. Be careful with and don't overuse "dirty words"; people are reading over your shoulder and many do get offended by such things. People who "cuss" too much (as determined by moderators) may be banned. I may sometimes use a word replacement feature that the forum software provides to replace letters in certain words with asterisks.
        
12. This board is an English language-based board. Don't post things in other languages unless you provide translations, are asking for translations of Church-related materials, are attempting to show a primary source in a contentious issue, are doing so ordinately in an otherwise English post, are posting in a sub-forum set up for other languages, or are posting things in Latin in an appropriate way and in the appropriate place. If for such a good reason you need to post in a non-English language, indicate so in your subject line, e.g.: Pope's Letter to Artists (Spanish)
     
    Note, though, that there are many people who post here whose first language isn't English; we have members whose first language is French, German, Dutch, Polish, etc. So if you come across a misspelled word, the occasional bit of bad grammar, an apparent insult, etc., make sure the issue isn't a matter of someone trying to express himself in a language he doesn't think in.
     
13. Don't set up different usernames. One account per person. 
       
14. If you decide to leave the forum, don't ask me to delete your account. I don't do that. Just leave and all will be well. And on your way out, do not advertise for another forum, as in "I am leaving this forum and going over to Forum XYZ." That is uncool.
       

P.S. All must pay proper obeisance to Marta the Cat, the site owner's cherry pie-loving, mighty mouse 1 huntress and FE's village mascot. Miss Puss shall not be mocked!    1 By "mighty mouse huntress" it is meant that she is a mighty hunter of meeses. She has not slain Mighty Mouse. Yet.

One More Thing...

I don't know who this cat is, but the picture is too perfect:

C r a z e d  F i s h - E a t e r  C a t
 

 
Kitty likes the Fish Eaters theme song, we're sure.
It's ole Fats Waller, so if you don't like crazy jazz, you don't want to hear it!
But if you do, click here to download the MP3. Right click and choose
"Save Target As" to save to your hard drive.