The backside of CTH is very busy…. ergo:
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood”.
1.) First, please READ THIS ENTIRE THREAD – and the full text of any discussion thread you wish to participate in.
Skipping to the comments to express an opinion without reading the content of the discussion is not helpful.
Often, unfortunately quite often, we find many of the points injected into comments are already outlined in the construct of the thread itself; questions asked while the answers are in the primary post.
2.) STAY ON TOPIC – please do not post something unrelated to the specific matter and content of the thread subject. There is a ALWAYS a daily open thread available for any subject you feel should get attention. Never place unrelated, “O/T”, or “Off Topic” comments on a thread unrelated to the topic. It is not ok to say: “sorry, O/T but”… or any iteration therein, it is actually quite rude.
The Treehouse operates on the ‘old school‘ standards and practices of civil discourse amid the original blogging community.
3.) NARROW YOUR THOUGHTS – Quality beats quantity. Please construct your comments to target specific areas and not broad generalizations about the discussion topic at hand. If you have four or five disconnected points, break them up into individual comments.
4.) AVOID GENERALIZATIONS – Do NOT speak in riddles. Words like “he, she, they, it, them” should rarely be used. Spell out “who” using the name, spell out who “they” are at the beginning of every sentence in your paragraph; so that there is clarity as to who you are talking about. Avoid using acronyms.
5.) BLOCK PARAGRAPHS – Do not post huge blocks of text. Think of the reader, and modify your presentation for understanding, not for exclaiming. Do not write to yourself, you are writing to others, so please structure your thoughts so other people can grasp and enjoy. NEVER post massive blocks of text without paragraph breaks.
Do not post huge blocks of text
6.) PARAGRAPHS – Should NEVER be longer than two or three sentences taking up three to five standard lines of text. Again, you are writing to be understood, the emphasis should be on the reader comprehending what you are sharing.
Do not post huge blocks of text
7.) SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION – This is not school and we do not demerit for poor spelling, nor do we allow anyone to call others out for the same. However, if your construct is too poorly written the context is lost and important details can be missed. Read the comment carefully before you send it. Proofread it again. Does it make sense?
8.) TIME – Everyone ‘s time is valuable. Many of our discussion threads are 500 to 1,000+ comments long. We try to limit the comments to 500 and then post another related thread, but with some research threads it is challenging to do so because we do not want to break a continuity.
9) CITATIONS – There’s a big difference between an opinion and an assertion of fact. Feel free to provide opinions; however, if you are making an assertion of fact you must attach a citation for review. If you do not have a citation – don’t post; this avoids spreading rumors, gossip and unfounded claims. Also related, do not post links without an explanation of the reason, purpose and content that is behind the link.
10.) THOUSANDS ARE WATCHING – For every person writing a comment, there are easily hundreds of thousands of reading lurkers on every discussion thread. There are over 190,000 CTH subscribers and a community reach of well over 15 million/mo. Do not write anything you would not say in your own living room. Do not disparage our conversation with vulgarity, profanity, or any expressions of any “ism”.
11.) MODERATION / FILTERING THE HATE – Because of our honest approach at seeking facts and truth, and openly discussing various analytical theories along the way, we are bombarded by those with ulterior motives which include:
- Intentional efforts to distract
- Intentional diatribes to affix labels to our objectives
- Intentional expressions of rabid hate, vulgarity, and threats.
- Trolling and professional obfuscation.
- Concern Trolling as a tool of distraction and derailing conversation.
- Psy-ops and intentional efforts to diminish fact-finding.
We do our earnest best to stop the agenda-horde at the moderation gates, however sometimes they get through. If you see something untoward say something. When a new comment surfaces that we view is likely presented only to argue, we watch carefully – but we also are not perfect. You can help. Feel free to alert us via email.
12.) MANNERS MATTER – Simple kindnesses and courtesy should always be present in tone and content. When writing, ask yourself before you hit send: does this add value?
13.) NO PERSONAL ATTACKS – Ever. The fastest way to lose commenting privileges is to ridicule, bully or personally attack another person’s opinion or comment. Unfortunately people, often good people, let their passion interfere with good manners and personal judgement. If you cannot be polite or respectful, pause – and – do not comment.
14.) TONE and HONESTY – Often the information and research CTH provides are about challenges we face and/or events that are hidden from larger review. It can be frustrating to see the scale of corruption; however, only you control how that information is absorbed by you. The truth doesn’t care about our feelings. Try to keep an even keel and optimistic disposition.
15.) DEVICES – It is a reality that many people use their phones to browse information and/or comment. Cellular phones and iPads are okay for reading, but also present challenges in commenting. Please make every effort to avoid the run-on issue of text from these devices. Put extra spaces in your paragraphs. Also remember your service provider (ISP) may have filters to limit the websites they permit you to view. It’s not CTH, nine out of ten issues are related to your service provider. This issue is worse in 2020 for obvious reasons.
SUMMARY: The Tree House community has historically accomplished a lot. Through exhaustive research and analysis our accuracy and reputation for truthful fact-finding, regardless of where it leads, is well regarded. Retain that distinction of intellectual armament.
We are The Conservative Tree House, not because of political affiliation, but rather because the word “conservative” expresses our outlook. We would rather be deep, than wide; we would rather be honest, than popular; we avoid semantics in favor of accurately presenting both intention and meaning.
We are bold in our willingness to go into conversational places where others do not, and we are brave enough to stand firm for principles which are time tested.
We would rather advertise our outlook, so the viewer can understand our perspective on a particular subject, than deceptively claim we are something else and deliver an inherently biased view. The entire spectrum of the MSM is based on the latter.
Every reader knows where we stand on any given issue, and our opinions -while they may be unpopular- are based on solid research and analytical insight into the subject matter at hand. This is why our predictive analysis is routinely more accurate than others.
Lastly, this Treehouse is a conversation. Hopefully, just like sitting on a porch with friends. Because the “conversation” is the ends and not the means, this approach inherently means YOU are important; do not diminish yourself:
[Remember] …”However each of us got here, it’s probably a fact that we have the turmoil of those storms in common, perhaps some unease that we could share and always, we also find fresh ground to cover from day to day.
We’re developing valuable relationships as we trust one another in our community in the woods. The chatting in the branches encourages, strengthens and equips for some serious walking.
We think the Treehouse is a good intellectual armory for those who doing long distance walking for the sake of our nation. We hope you’ll think so, too. Find yourself a good branch….or just pull up a rock to the campfire”.
Wolverines faithfully patrol the perimeter.
Humor is good way to avoid fear. Be kind and please be respectful… Manners really do matter… after all, this is a fellowship.
God Bless the last refuge. Thank you all involved in the CTH missions.
Remember Trenton 1776, on this 2020 Christmas years night.
History may repeat itself?
Please read rule #2.
Or Rule # 4 (Do NOT speak in riddles.)
Well said sir.
Thank my eyesight you got the word break situation sorted out. My eyes were close to bleeding. Now if you could just sort out the line spacing and the font i might not go blind 🙂
You are doing a great job Sundance. I love this site.
Line spacing just requires two [enter] strokes to make a space between paragraphs.
I mean the spacing between lines not paragraphs, Just a couple of pixels so the descenders don’t blur into the ascenders.
I know it is traditional in CTH to use a serif font but a sans serif is easier to read on a screen.
Are you using a desktop and if so what browser?
Laptop windows 10 new explorer with chrome engine and chrome. Both render similar..
I’m using an iMac w/Safari as my browser. I think there ought to be comparable facilities with your browser.
1) The menu bar for Safari includes File, Edit, View, History … Under View, there are two entries: Zoom In, Zoom out. “In” will make the text on a page larger. Click multiple times to get the size font you want. Note: This is only good for the current page you’re viewing. Open a new page and you’ll need to repeat the previous step.
2) Another option is to use your browser’s Preferences. Under Safari’s Preferences there is an entry called Advanced. This has an option termed Accessibility which states: “Never use font sizes smaller than”. Then there is a box containing a number which is the current font size. You can adjust this. If it is 12, try 14. If not larger enough, try 15 or 16. Keep trying until you find one that suits. You might want to have a CTH page open when experimenting with this. Note: This change will be for any and all webpages you open, even if you close your browser.
3) Another option under Mac’s System Preferences there is an entry “Accessibility” (not to be confused with the one of the Safari browser). I would think your browser would have something comparable. This has various aids for using a computer with such as VoiceOver, Spoken Content, and Display. Looking over this might also be helpful.
Hopefully, you might find something of this to ease your use of not only this sight but in general computer use.
Thank you for this reminder which is always appreciated and needed for our Treeper family.
Occasionally we veer off the path, but are grateful for your hand out to pull us back on.
Yes! Thank you for revisiting the rules and expectations. We all benefit from the reminders. When I taught middle school, I ran a “tight ship.” Even though my classroom was a respectful and safe place to learn, every once and awhile I had to stop and revisit the rules and expectations. That strategy was a winner.
Thanks again for all you do in keeping this site the great refuge it is!
Thank you once again. I often need reminders. SD and all the moderators are the best. Except for the one moderator who hurt my feelings. I swear it was not my hand you found in the cookie jar! Lol!
“Do not post huge blocks of text.”
If your paragraphs disappear, USE THE EDIT FUNCTION to restore them by hitting the return/enter key TWICE.
Those regular spaces in the comment box disappear after you hit “Post Comment”
I notice the word ‘wrap’ problem is resolved. Wonderful!
My one recommendation, if I may: add a ‘page’ marker at the beginning of each comment page – the gadget appears at bottom of each comment page and it is so helpful to navigate. It would be useful to have it on the top of each page as well.
Remember the number of primary comments per page decreases as 2ndary replies are added. So what was on page 4 now, may be on page 7 in 2 hrs.
Thank you Sundance…
I have seen too many good websites degrade into meaningless mud fights
insufferable troll havens and mindless click-bait.
Understood.God bless you for the work you are doing.
Don’t forget, you can [CTL] + [Z] to undo, multiple times; and [CTL] + [Y] to redo.
Very grateful for the Treehouse, and the moderation which keeps this a friendly, high-quality place to find a comfy branch and hang out with like minds, kindred spirits, and friends for world-class conversation! 🙂
We now have bullets and numbered points.
I have still not recieved any type of notification when someone replies to my comments.
I don’t understand the difference between “notify of new follow up comments” and “new replies to my comments”, and how do I do both?
And if I click on the grey/green bell icon next to the post comment box, what does that do?
A “notification” system IS in the works Doc. We have to add the bells and whistles carefully so as not to sink in a sea of bandwidth. Every new feature has to be tested and carefully added to the system. Tough work building your own site.
I am super impressed with what you’ve accomplished.
As above. I’m not complaining, just making sure there is awareness. I am not only super grateful, but impressed at the CTH admin, minion, elves, angels, workerbees, and the helpfulness of this community.
I am well connected in social, family, and spiritual networks — but even with that, ya’ll are one of the most nurturing families I have. You fill a need where most of my other networks are filled with naysayers, or people who want to commiserate.
What I need is a network who brings me closer to the truth with reliable, verifiable information, an effective place where my writing falls on ears connected to brains who can take effective action, or give me reliable feedback when I am off track either with my cognitive perspective, or my reactive feelings.
You give me hope, mostly based on solid information, and when it is hope porn, the collective brains in the network eventually flush it out. I think even Sundance has been wrong a few times, but together, we are Truth Seekers
Most of us have faith in the Author of All truth as in Abe Lincolns “Maker”, but we have a love, understanding, acceptance, and encouragement for those wallowing in doubt of the existence of an Almighty designer.
I pray for this family nearly every day, many of you specifically by name. I miss gunnery sergeant, and others that seem to have disappeared.
… Testing because my posts don’t seem to be coming through today.
Third test post after clearing cache and cookies …
Haven’t been able to successfully post here for the last 24 hours or so.
I just pulled all three from our bin…. 🙁
Welcome back from the Netherlands, Phoenix!!
Testing using a different browser, none of my posts have been going through for the past day or so …
Again….was in the bin. 🙁
Every time I see that pic of VSGPDJT on the computer I think he’s googling “how did Humpty Dumpty get his wall?” ? saw a meme like that and about died laughing. ??❤️?
It is a great set of rules and, more importantly, a grand description of how civilized people speak to one another.
Thank you.
Regarding #7, since I am not addressing anyone personally, I hope it is OK:
coarse is something rough.
Of course is something entirely different.
This Truly is my Refuge !
Thank You Sweet Sundance and Stellar Crew
for EVERYTHING ????
Read and understood. Thank You
Thank you for re-posting the rules and guidelines again.
I love the photo of the cat touching the camera with the dogs behind it watching which usually accompanies this heading. Would love to see it!
Even though this is about rules, I notice multiple posts about how to work the comments section. several remarks about something not working while commenting. There a 34 comments as I read this and it has turned into a discussion about working the new comment box. Something Sundance has posted at least 2 full articles about. So now, don’t feel so bad about breaking the rules. It make me part of the “in crowd.”
Thank you for all you do Sundance and crew to make this site what it is. It’s like no other and a pleasure to be here.
While CTH is the first news site I open each morning, I have neither the bandwidth nor the patience to watch 25 minute videos. (Old school satellite Internet) . Forgive me please if I comment only on what little text may accompany such posts. .
Sundance, again thank you for reminding us of the rules of civility! May we all show the Treehouse the respect it has earned!
Excellent advice and a most reasonable set of requests/requirements. Too bad so few sites are so well run.
Thanks for those comments Sundance. It never ever hurts to be reminded of our collective purpose and the manner in which we get to the truth with respect and dignity.
Word break is fixed for comments.
I noticed they are not fixed for bullets yet. Is that easily fixable? This is not a complaint — only to bring it to awareness.
I am MORE than grateful for the site, the immense effort for migration to a secure platform, and the speed with which even better features were added and dysfunctional ones fixed, the responsiveness to the Treepers.
Discussion boundaries is just another thing that sets this group apart. I can barely
stand to read comments on other sights because so many are crude, rude, and unacceptable.
One thing I was looking for when I was directed to CTH was intelligent conversation. Thanks
for all the hard work and timely reminders.
Would it be a good idea to include a forum for discussion? The idea is that we often have discussions in the post discussion area that are hard to follow and are dropped as new posts become available. Today is a good example with the post about Sidney Powell. Would there be benefit to having a discussion area for the 2020 elections, with a subarea on voter fraud and then categories under that.
it woud help clean up post discussions by keeping them more on point, and also provide a place for ongoing discussions. The only negative I see is it would take more resources to host it and human resources to manage it. I’m sure a few people would volunteer to be mods.
Woot
That was excellent advice that is sorely lacking everywhere on the internet threads today.
Like the guy that invited his friend down to the council meeting where he was going to make a speech . After the speech he asked his friend , be honest how did I do . The friend said Well first you read the speech , second You read it poorly and third it wasn’t worth reading at all .
And this is why I so love our Last Refuge. Thank you God!
Big controversy about the Cleveland Indians dropping the name indians, as a native of Cleveland, may suggest they drop the name Cleveland and save the residents additional embarrassment.
Could you moderate Face Book? It’s hard to be civil among the non-civilized, sometimes. Love the rules, love your site, and hope to contribute among your sophisticated readers.
tried the “questions” thread for this, but the comment box does not show up for me.
any suggestions as to what i’m doing wrong?
also wondering why my comments disappear immediately after posting.
does not give me a moderation message.
could it be that the, um, fabricated email address i gave actually belongs to someone of ill repute??
Very good reminder and I am printing the guidelines
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have traditionally provided DNS – Domain Name Servers and when your router connects to the ISP it is provided the ISPs DNS servers. All your devices use these servers to lookup hostnames much like looking up a number in the phonebook. When you go to CTH’s web address a lookup is performed against the ISPs DNS servers which then return the IP address for CTH. When CTH changed to a new hosting provider that IP address changed. Every website has a unique IP address and DNS is what binds http://www.servername.com to that particular IP address precisely like a phonebook.
ISP DNS has always been sort of janky, slow and unreliable but there are also concerns about privacy as the ISP could be tracking users web surfing via DNS. They know who you are and they know every website you browse as well as any other Internet addresses you are using. There is no privacy with DNS. It’s like the old CIA story about how they spied on the books you checked out of the public library. The other concern is an ISP may use DNS to block you from resolving particular sites.
There are multiple open public DNS service you can change to. Several of them are now offering encrypted DNS and they typically run faster and more efficiently than any ISP. For the most part you can simply configure your router to use one of these alternative DNS providers and your ISP will be none the wiser. Even better if the traffic is encrypted. FireFox recently added the option of using it’s own DNS entry configuration inside FireFox. That means that FireFox will bypass your ISPs DNS servers and use the one you configure in FireFox.
Search the Internet for DNSSEC and DNS over HTTPS for information how to setup secure DNS.
DNS over HTTPS is DNS, but encrypted over the HTTPS protocol. That means queries and responses sent between endpoints and DNS servers are no longer plain text. (no more eavesdropping by ISPs, etc)
DNSSEC is a protocol extension to a DNS server that allows you to establish a chain of trust, so that the endpoint receiving a response from a DNS server can be confident that the response can be trusted. (verifies DNS chain hasn’t been hijacked by a malicious 3rd party)
DNS – Domain Name Services powers the entire Internet. Back in the day, Sun Microsystems claimed to be the DOT in .COM. That’s because the authoritative servers behind the COM domain name were all running Sun’s Solaris operating system and every query for a dot com domain name was coming from those servers (not every query makes it all the way to the authoritative servers as queries are cached down stream).
Quad9, Cloudflare, NextDNS seem to be the leading ones to support DNS over HTTPS and DNSSEC. But Big Tech is Big Tech. Google has their own public DNS as well as many others. Big Tech cannot be trusted. Running your own DNS servers might one day be required if forced underground.
wow, JB!
not sure that is meant for me, but VERY informative.
i think you have explained at least part of my problem.
i run cellular only, with (no surprise) verizon as my ISP, and they have not been particularly friendly to CTH.
i do take as many precautions as possible to protect privacy, but am aware that VZW can track every keystroke, and all that implies.
thanks for the info, reassuring to know not much i can do about it at this point.
anyway, a little CTH is better than no CTH!?
You can set set custom DNS primary and secondary DNS entries on your cellular router or smartphone to:
Quad9
Cloudflare
OpenDNS
that’s a great solution for the smartphone only crowd.
will read up and give it a go.
thanks again!!
Sundance- is there any way to make the upvote turn color if it is hot. I’m on a phone and the print is so small I cannot see if a like I gave is recorded.
Thanks!!
Hit not hot
My best source for insight comes from the Scriptures and CTH is a strong second. Scripture speaks of world history entering a time of Global gov’t, economics and religion just prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. We don’t know exactly when this prophecy will reach it’s culmination, but we can see it’s inexorable progress in the affairs of man. I sense that many here and others will play a part in the “rule of a rod of iron” promised in Revelation 2:26-27. Of course, that is then and this is now. A lot of “Christians” are clueless as to what is happening and have fallen “asleep” and their lamps are flickering out. The message I sent our President, I share with you: “Don’t give up”
For those of us who might be from Rio Linda, I looked up what “sorry, O/T but…” means. So O/T = Off / Topic. In this posting O/T is actually On / Topic!
Blessed Chanukah, Christmas and New Year to all Treepers.
Thanks for explaining so well the do’s and don’ts
“Civil Discourse”? What’s that? I thought it was no longer fashionable…
Thank you for all you do, Sundance.