IMPORTANT: Revised Community Guidelines and Policies!

[Navy for Moms Admin]

Updated 10 July 2009
Message from Rear Admiral Robin Braun


N4M Members,

As I mentioned in my previous message, we have been conducting a very thorough review of the Community Guidelines to ensure we continue to provide our members the most rewarding experience possible while respecting the freedoms our Sailors serve to protect.

As you know, the purpose of NAVYForMoms.com is to bring together Navy parents and the parents of recruiting-age young men and women to discuss the multitude of leadership, training, and career opportunities our Navy offers and the great pride Navy parents have in their children. NAVYForMoms.com exists to allow families an open forum to discuss what life in the Navy is really like.

Today, I am pleased to announce the completion of this review and the adoption of new Community Guidelines for the NAVYForMoms.com website.

The goal of the new Guidelines is to facilitate open discussion without compromising the purpose of the website, namely the exchange of information relating to service in the Navy. As I noted in my previous message, your personal freedoms are extremely important to the Navy and my hope is that these updated Guidelines provide the best possible balance between the defense of those liberties and the integrity of the website.

I encourage everyone to review the revised Community Guidelines and to become familiar with acceptable use on the NAVYForMoms.com website. The new Community Guidelines may be reviewed here.

I would like to draw your attention to the discussion of off-topic posts and the need to keep discourse civil. These rules are intended to ensure that members get the quick and useful answers to their Navy-related questions in the friendly and collegial atmosphere that has come to define NAVYForMoms.com.

Please know that NAVYForMoms members’ suggestions played a critical part in the revision of the Guidelines, and we will continue to rely on your honest feedback as we strive to provide the best possible user experience.

As always, I would like to thank you for your continued support of the Navy family and our men and women who serve our great nation.

Rear Admiral Robin Braun, USN
Commander
Navy Recruiting Command

[Mary, Proud Mom of Nick]

I personally applaud this decision and only wish we would have come to this decision before scuttlebutt was even created. Enough people have been offended and have walked away from their membership. There are plenty of sites that we can discuss both politics and religion. This site is for learning, sharing and supporting our military members and their families. Looking forward to returning the site to a Navy focused community.

[Gloria P.]

Great decision. I feel if you want to talk about anything political then you should find some other site to do it in. I'm here to support our sailors has most N4Ms are.

[Storymom]

Yay...support ya all the way! Go NAVY!

[Navy for Moms Admin]

You are free to disclose your political or religious affiliation in your profiles if you chose. As far as bringing it up in conversation - I'm not sure what type of non-political conversations would require prefacing your political belief so I would be hard pressed to think of a reason to announce it elsewhere. I am fine with members making comment such as "I am a Christian", "I pray that God...", so long as their statement is not belittling others or positioned to declare or debate the superiority of their religious belief.

[Navy for Moms Admin]

Minette - See my comment posted above Melissa's for an answer.

[Navy for Moms Admin]

Caroline -
All groups will be closed by Wednesday that are of a political nature. We wanted to give members who have formed friendships within political-minded groups time to create new groups based around non-political conversations.

[TexasDocMom]

"Get the real story on Navy life from Moms who live it everyday".

Just not from this website.

[Kelleypen]

I haven't become involved in any of the religious or political debates, so it doesn't bother me, but during the election, when I saw moms linking their name with one candidate or another, it did bother me a little. So thanks. There are other places where that kind of debate is more appropriate.

[Navy for Moms Admin]

Ladies -
Please read carefully over the section of the guidelines that relates to the politics/religion issue. I'll repost here:

•Don’t Debate Politics or Religion:
The Navy is nonpartisan and so is N4M. We are a community centered on support. Political and religious debating contradicts our purpose by creating unnecessary divisions among site members. This site is about the men and women who volunteer to serve their country, not about political parties or personal opinions of our elected officials.

Not Permitted:
• Posting political or religious discussions in the Forums, Groups or Blogs
• Forming political or religious groups

Permitted:
• Posting prayers, if your message is supportive to members or our Sailors
• Posting Navy-related news articles in “The Daily Brief” portion of the Forums
• Posting political articles, only if you close the posting to comments and debate
• Posting articles as long as you appropriately source them

[TexasDocMom]

Kathleen Reynolds Northern ,it's a pleasure to meet you. You are dead on with your explanation. My tax dollars fund this federally mandated site...if the 50 states have to follow federal regs, why would not this web site?

I think the PTB expected all women to roll over and play dead when told to by the big bad boys in charge...suck it up and go back to the kitchen when told to do so. Our job is mainly to give birth to future sailors and maybe do a bit of sewing on the side.

Hire a lawyer? with 18,000 women on this site, I'm bettin' there are lawyers around every bend...who said we have to go hire one?? My daughter, Inga's daughter...lots of moms and daughters are out in that world.

18,000 women, and only 170 comments so far...this could get very interesting.