Astral Dynamics Down-Under Community FAQ

The final word for interpreting the intent of the forum rules lies with the administrators of this site, and with the site owner, Robert Bruce.

All forum rules apply to public forum posts, as well as forum private messages between members. Moderators cannot monitor the forum PM (Private Message) system. However the full rule set is in force there as well, and if people report abuse of the PM system to circumvent the rules, forum administration will act accordingly. Please report to a mod or admin any posts and private messages you feel are in violation of the rules.

We will monitor the Forums with a strict mutual respect policy. Personal attacks, slurs, innuendoes or put downs in any form whatsoever, whether in the context of jokes or not, are not acceptable. While humour is appreciated, members are asked to be discriminating so as not to offend anyone. No person should ever feel uncomfortable in these forums because of the style of another person's post.

By joining the Astral Dynamics forums you agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, racist, sexist, or sexually-oriented text, graphics of video content, or any material that may violate any applicable laws. Doing so may lead to disciplinary action, including being permanently banned (and relevant service providers being informed).

Although the Astral Dynamics moderation team appreciates and tolerates the diversity of experiences and world views expressed by our membership, this is a website specifically dedicated to spiritual matters, including astral projection and spiritual development. While the free exchange of ideas is encouraged and appreciated, proselytizing is not.

The Astral Dynamics forum is growing and we appreciate the fact that it attracts people of diverse religious and spiritual backgrounds, and we want to make everyone welcome. However, from time to time posters can become aggressive in their belief related statements, and this can make people that do not agree with such statements, either religiously or philosophically, uncomfortable.

A statement of belief is different than proselytizing, and should be understood as such. When someone makes a sweeping statement about a group that is condemning or intimidating, this is considered insulting, even if it is considered a religious statement, and is not acceptable to forum etiquette. This particularly applies to sweeping judgments made on the basis of religious beliefs, texts, doctrines, and dogmas.

Attempts to convert anyone to a religion, philosophy, or spiritual practice is not allowed. Learning about religious practices and beliefs is interesting to many, but being judged and/or scolded for being "wrong" or for being a "sinner", or being told one is "going to hell" is not acceptable.

It is equally unacceptable to insult anyone for their beliefs, regardless of how objectionable they might seem. So if you think someone else's religion is stupid or ignorant, it is NOT OK to say so. If you do find a statement of someone's beliefs objectionable, please ask a Moderator for an opinion before you take it up with the poster in question.

Please be tolerant and respect the beliefs of others, or their lack of belief.

Drug and substance usage is practiced by some shamanistic groups and individuals, to obtain spiritual experiences. While such practices are up to the individuals concerned, the discussion of these things is a matter of public concern. Detailed discussion of drug usage for the purposes of obtaining spiritual experience is not allowed on the Astral Dynamics forums. Our forums attract a wide age group, including children and teens. Exposing impressionable members to ideas and promises of spiritual experiences through substance use is not allowed. Such conversations should be conducted outside of the forums, and not posted in public. Conversations that discuss and/or promote drug usage are also illegal in some countries.

Please understand that this reasoning has *nothing* to do with respect issues for mature individuals or religious or shamanic type practices involving drugs and substances relating to spiritual experience, to all of which we have the utmost respect and consideration.

The 4 key points of this issue:

1: http://www.astraldynamics.com.au is available internationally to anyone

2: Many impressionable young people and teens frequent this forum.

3: Discussions on using drugs, illegal or legal, to achieve spiritual and OBE type experiences could legally be viewed as promoting drug use, and as promoting drug use to minors, in some countries.

4: To allow adult drug related topics and discussions in such a public and international forum, that discusses spiritual matters, would force us at the very least to seek extensive legal opinions from multiple countries, to impose and enforce age limitations and proof of age of membership, plus extensive legal disclaimers in multiple languages, international litigation insurance, lawyers, etc, etc, etc. This would be a proverbial nightmare.

This puts the discussion of drug use relating to spiritual experience in the 'too hard basket' of our forums.

Special note regarding Salvinia Divorum: This substance is illegal in Australia and several other countries. It is also illegal on some U.S. states (see: http://www.erowid.org/plants/salvia/salvia_law3.shtml). In light of this, it is considered an illegal drug and falls under the above rules. Please do not consider Salvia to be "okay" to talk about, regardless of how you personally feel about it or whether or not it is legal where you happen to live.

This decision is final.

For every sub-forum members wish to participate in, it is the responsibility of the individual member to first check that sub-forum contains moderator posts outlining special rules and conditions for that sub-forum, and to read and abide by those while posting in that sub-forum.

Please respect copyright in this forum. That means: don't copy someone else's words without proper referencing, be it a book, movie script, poem, or song. It is permissible to quote selections of copyrighted work for the purpose of critical review. You must properly reference such material giving author, publisher, date published, and source. Under copyright law you can quote a limited portion for review purposes.

Note that international copyright laws apply immediately, including to forum posts, PM and email. The moment you write something, it is covered by copyright law, regardless of whether a copyright notice is given or not.

For more information on international copyright laws, see: Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works

If site staff apply any of the above-given rules, and a member is seen in breach of those rules, a reply post, PM or edit will be marked clearly as a moderation notice. This is to prevent confusion as to whether a moderator is just discussing something with another member, or is actually moderating a post, thread, or the member in question.

Moderators and administrators do not claim to know the absolute truth. Moderation decisions and actions are not judgments. Decisions may not necessarily appear to be just in an absolute sense, according to the relative perspectives of individuals. Moderators' and administrators' decisions will be based on their best judgment at the time, and decisions and actions are aimed at maintaining fairness and security, and keeping the peace, rather than personally attacking individuals, or the beliefs of individuals.

If a moderator or administrator is perceived by a member to have broken the forum rules, or to have made a moderator or administrative decision that does not comply with these rules, the member may question this by posting in the Forum Feedback for discussion. (No continued discussion or bringing up of ancient history of months ago is allowed). The poster will quote the moderator's post in question, and reference the thread in which the incident occurred, via a link, and describe the perceived misconduct in accurate and non-ambiguous terms. The moderator or administrator in question is bound to reply to such questions in a reasonable timeframe.

While the administrators and moderators of this forum will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. Therefore you acknowledge that all posts made to these forums express the views and opinions of the posting author and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster, (except for posts by these people) and hence will not be held liable.

Moderators and/or Administrators will step in if content is perceived as hazardous or illegal. It cannot ultimately be known which content is hazardous for any person, or illegal in which country, but these decision will be reserved to Moderators and Administrators.

Please report possibly hazardous or illegal on-site content with a link to the thread and a quote of the content. Such reports can be sent as private messages to moderators or administrators.

The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions and rules.

As a member you agree to any information you have entered above being stored in a database. While this information will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent, the webmaster, administrators and moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to this data being compromised.

This forum system uses cookies to store information on your local computer. These cookies do not contain any of the information you have entered above; they serve only to improve your viewing pleasure.

Anyone using any kind of anonymiser service which hides the origins of their post will be instantly banned. Any member found to be trying to conceal their identity in any way for purposes of avoiding or negating the application of forum rules will be banned.

Using an account for spamming, harassment, circumventing a ban, circumventing the site rules, or hacking the site, will result in an instant ban and posts may be deleted. Further action may be taken, depending on the nature of the breach of forum integrity and rules in question.

The e-mail address you provide is used for confirming your registration details and password (and for sending new passwords should you forget your current one). Also, it will be utilized by the forum software engine to notify you, for example, when a private message arrives you will be notified via this e-mail address.

E-mail addresses are never shared with third parties.

You must ensure that the e-mail address you use in your profile is valid. Invalid email addresses may result in accounts being closed.

You agree that the webmaster, administrator, and moderators of this forum have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time should they see fit. Explanations for such actions will be posted by moderators and administrators in a reasonable timeframe and as appropriate.

Users may not edit their own posts in ways which remove content so that a thread is no longer readable or no longer makes sense, or editing material to change the original content in a way that causes later posts to be rendered ridiculous, pointless, or in a different framework.

Users who abuse their ability to edit their own posts are subject to moderation and may lose their ability to edit.

You must post a minimum of 20 posts before you will be allowed to post URLs, or have URLs in your signature. Posts and signatures which violate this rule may be edited at the discretion of the moderation team or may be removed entirely.

If you have some valid reason to post a link and you have fewer than the required 20 posts, you may, prior to posting the link, contact an administrator, who may or may not choose to allow the link. Permission is granted on a case by case basis after review.

These rules and guidelines may change in the future. Changes will be announced in the "Announcements" forum. When announced, new rules and guidelines will be binding, but not applicable to posts made prior to the release of said new rules and guidelines.

If a forum administrator interprets a rule or guideline in more detail, as situations arise, where it is in doubt whether the rule is broken, the administrator's interpretation is binding, without further announcement or discussion. Questions regarding such actions can be placed in the forum feedback section for clarification.