After a long time with DGI becoming a glorified current affairs board and being the home to CHF's biggest disputes and the greatest amount of CHF's nonhistorical pollution, we have finally passed rules aimed at restoring DGI by curtailing the nasty political disputes that it became home to. The new rules have been appended to the forum rules at the bottom, and can also be seen in a pinned thread on CHF.

We hope that these rules will help to enhance your experience on CHF and return focus to history. Have fun!

For those who don't like to follow links, here is the new section of the forum rules:



Political discussion

CHF is a forum devoted to Chinese history and traditional culture. It attracts people from different backgrounds and origins, from different places and all walks of life, and with various political leanings, faiths and nationalities, who visit it for different reasons. As a result, CHF is more prone to misunderstandings and disputes than communities whose members share similar views and backgrounds.

Quarrels have plagued CHF since its creation, causing some members to leave and others to be banned. These endless disputes have also created unnecessary work for the staff. More importantly, the harsh tone of some discussions has tended to make CHF less appealing, because heated arguments often prevail over calm and interesting discussions.

We have noticed that most squabbles occurred around subjects that are only marginally related to CHF's core interests. In order both to reduce the dominance of quarrels and to refocus on CHF's original mandate, threads focusing on the following subjects will now be forbidden: current events, the general merits of political systems (democracy vs. dictatorship, left vs. right, capitalism vs. socialism, etc.), sexual orientations, religious faith today, and contemporary ethnic issues (discussions of "racial types," current ethnic conflicts, etc.). The posting of newspaper articles with the sole aim of generating debate is strongly discouraged. Staff members are authorized to delete any new thread that breaks these rules. In accordance with CHF's goal of remaining accessible to people of all ages, explicit discussions of sexual activities will be edited out. Discussions of sexuality in history are suitable as long as they obey that principle.

Exceptions to the new bans may be made, but only when a specific authorization is granted by an Administrator. Members can apply for exceptions in this special thread: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php...c=27768&hl= . This thread should be used to ask for permission to discuss a particular topic, not to make a first post on that topic. If permission is granted, a staff member will open a "stub thread" where the member can then insert his or her first post. Even after permission is granted, staff members will make sure these special threads do not degenerate into debates on the banned topics.

Although it is obvious that disagreements will always appear on an Internet forum, we believe there can be debate without acrimony. Disagreements on historical issues are perfectly legitimate, and should even be encouraged if all participants agree to base their claims on evidence (that is, historical sources or the works of historians, not just strong statements of opinion) and to remain civil (no inflammatory rhetoric, no belittling of the opposing party, etc.). Members are encouraged to be particularly tactful when discussing controversial subjects like past grievances and ethnic disputes which still continue today. We understand that a historical discussion might, at some point, allude to some current events or politics. In such case, members should stick with the principles, and try to avoid polemic. We also hope that legitimate threads (notably those devoted to "what if..." counterfactuals) will not turn into endless and ultimately pointless East vs. West comparisons.

With these new guidelines, CHF hopes to create a friendly environment that will encourage open-minded inquiries and constructive debates about Chinese history and traditional culture.

By posting on CHF, you automatically agree to these new rules.

Excellent! CHF is a better place for learning now, and hopefully this will repel many would-be troublemakers from coming to CHF simply to cause a ruckus.

I am all for freedom of speech, but there are other places to vent one's spleen, and CHF can do without trouble makers. I agree with Eric and hope that this will make CHF a better place to study and learn.

Yep, that ought to stop them. Just keep away from politics.
although discussing the current economic crisis in the US is okay in my books, but now that Congress is involved, we all know how well that's going to turn out.

These are reasonable rules. It will make China History Forum live up to its name: a place to discuss Chinese History and Culture.