“Seek first to understand, then to be understood”.
1.) First, please READ THIS ENTIRE THREAD – and the full context 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 very often, we find many of the points injected into comments are already outlined in the construct of the thread itself. -or- 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.
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 – Don’t 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.
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 presentations such that 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 understand, not 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.
8.) TIME – Everyone ‘s time is valuable. Some of our discussion threads are 500 to 1,000+ comments long. Please try not to duplicate the commentary that might already exist and has been missed because the entire thread has not been analyzed. 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.) THOUSANDS ARE WATCHING – For every person writing a comment, there are easily 100,000 or more reading lurkers on every discussion thread. 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”.
10.) 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 hoard 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 only presented to argue, we watch carefully – but we also are not perfect. You can help. Feel free to alert us via email.
11.) 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?
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 the important part:
[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 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. Please be respectful.