Community Guidelines

Our Standards

TruthBeTold exists to facilitate rigorous, honest inquiry into biblical truth. These guidelines ensure our community remains productive and respectful.

Questions Should Be:

  • Specific and clear — Ask focused questions that can actually be answered
  • In good faith — Genuine inquiry, not rhetorical gotchas
  • Substantive — Provide context and explain why this question matters to you
  • Well-researched — Show what you've already considered or tried

Answers Should Be:

  • Rigorous and evidence-based — Cite sources, engage with scholarship
  • Charitable to objections — Address the strongest version of opposing views
  • Honest about limitations — Acknowledge uncertainty where appropriate
  • Clearly written — Well-organized, accessible to educated lay readers
  • Focused on truth over tribe — Intellectual honesty > defending "your side"

Prohibited Content:

  • Personal attacks — Attack arguments, not people
  • Spam or self-promotion — Don't use the platform to advertise
  • Bad faith engagement — Trolling, derailing, or refusing to engage seriously
  • Plagiarism — Always cite your sources
  • Low-effort responses — "Just read the Bible" is not an answer

Editorial Review

Moderators review answers for quality and may:

  • Pin exceptional answers that meet our highest standards
  • Request improvements to answers that show promise
  • Remove answers that violate guidelines
  • Lock threads that become unproductive

Consequences

Repeated violations may result in temporary suspension or permanent ban. We're more interested in building a healthy community than punishing mistakes, but we will act decisively against bad-faith actors.

Questions about these guidelines? Ask in the Meta category or contact moderators.