Rules of Engagement for the Blog

Members and friends are encouraged to send in essays and statements for inclusion in The Flame web log.  

Please e-mail  your items to the editor. We will acknowledge your submission within a day so that you know we got it!

The posting of opinions online is an experiment.  Our initial thought is that we will publish at most one or two pieces a week.  We will lead from The Flame to the full text published on the blog site.

Commenting in the Blog

Please feel free to add your comments and thoughts to the opinions expressed on the blog. 

Comments can disagree or agree with the original author.  However, all postings should be free of personal attacks, ad Hominem argument, and partisan political statements.  Reverend John Robinson has asked that postings be reviewed.

If you want your name associated with your comments, please include it in your comment!  The comment form does not have a separate field for you to enter your name. Our blog is currently hosted on LiveJournal, a community-based web log service. If you already have a personal blog on LiveJournal, you will be able post your comment with your LiveJournal ID.  Otherwise, please sign your comment if you want to acknowledge authorship.

Writing for The Flame Blog

Reflections and essays to share with the Unitarian Universalist community are welcome!  In keeping with the traditions of a liberal religious community, these editorial guidelines will be used:

• Articles should be written to either to inform or to persuade. Material should be free of personal attacks, ad Hominem argument, or partisan political statements.
• Public Policy statements should be written in way that does not assume that the reader already agrees with the author.  It's hard to do this sometimes, but ....
• Material should be written for a spiritual/religious community.  Consider that if an article's tone and content would be appropriate for a labor union, environmental group, music organization, etc. it might not be appropriate here. 
• Pictures, descriptions, or mention of any non-public individual, such as another member of the Congregation, should be made only with the consent of the referenced individual.  Basically, this means if you have a great picture of someone or a story to tell about them, make sure that they first say it's okay to share it. 
  
  News-like stories or photos of event participants generally do not require explicit permission for publication.
• Material sent in should be written by you -- not cut and pasted from another source.

When you submit something to The Flame you:

• Agree to allow editing to conform to the publication guidelines, space requirements, clarity, and other similar reasons.
• Agree that The Flame may copyright and/or reprint your submission on-line and in other forums the editors feel appropriate (such as submitting it to local newspapers, the UUA, or other venue). 
• Affirm that unless you state differently you are the author/creator of the submission and that there are no copyrights on the material.  If the material is copyrighted, please include the copyright information and your authorization to have the material used by The Flame. 

Your comments, suggestions, and input are critically important and welcome. Please click on the "Send e-mail" link on the left or contact the editor.