Contents
- Organization & other administration
Members
- Membership expectations
Membership restrictions
- Content Restriction
Sponsor Selection
The book club will be an online organization. The book club will be hosted by Christina and Paul Pehrson, and the forums for the club will be located at http://bookclub.pehrsonfamily.net. The book club will be hosted in a forum-type environment.
Paul and Christina Pehrson are the top-level administrators for the book club and its forums. All users are considered “members.” The member who selects a book will be called a “sponsor.” Sponsors will be administrators for the category that discusses their book.
The sponsor will work with the administrators to determine the length of time to be spent on a particular book. For example, Pride and Prejudice will require more time to read and discuss than will The Little Prince.Therefore, there will not be a set amount of time for all books. Each book will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and may be broken into parts as necessary. The time frame for each book will be announced when the book is announced in the forums.
The sponsor will start a post (in a category that created for thatbook) about the book he/she is sponsoring. Members will be expected to use the proper category in responding to posts. Posts that are off-topic or inflammatory may be edited or removed by an administrator without warning.
Members
Membership Expectations
Members in the book club will be expected to abide by the following governing principles:
- Treat all members with respect
The online book club format will only work if members treat each other with respect. Disagreements are to be kept strictly impersonal. There will be absolutely no name-calling, ridiculing, demeaning, or otherwise destructive behavior allowed in the forums. Users who violate this rule will be, on the first offense, warned privately; on the second offense, warned publicly; and on the third offense may be subject to removal from the forums. Posts that violate this rule may be edited or deleted without warning. This policy will be enforced by administrators and book sponsors.
Remember that tone in written communication is different than tone in verbal communication. When you make a comment to the fourms, readers may not know if your tone is joking, sarcastic, or intentionally mean. Therefore, all posts are required to have a positive tone; use good judgement when writing posts. Posts that are sarcastic are considered a violation of the previous paragraph, and may be removed without warning.
If you choose to critically discuss parts of the books you don’t like, please be as constructive as possible. Remember that people will find faults with the books you select, and a discussion of “how stupid” a book is does not promote the sense of community we are attempting to build.
Read the books suggested by the club
In the process of belonging to a book club, you will be asked to read literature that you wouldn’t normally select for yourself. That is part of the growing experience that is inherent in belonging to a book club.When sponsors select books that nobody reads, the sponsor can feel offended, and the members who don’t read the book miss out on the opportunity to learn and grow.
We expect members of the bookclub to read a majority of the books presented by the sponsors, and to read them within a reasonable amount of time. If a particular book crosses your moral or ethical line, you are obviously not expected to read it. However, we encourage you to discuss your concerns with the book’s sponsor. Even if you become “bored” by a particular book, we encourage you to not just stop reading. Try to figure out what merits the book has, and then discuss them, along with your critique of the book in the forums.
Post to the forums regularly in appropriate ways
We hope that for every book you read you will discuss your thoughts in the forums. We ask that you post at least once for every book/section that we are reading. Getting a lively conversation started is part of wha tmakes a book club fun; so be sure to participate regularly!
Posts are organized into categories by book that is being read. If you want to respond to a specific post, then reply to that topic. If you want to discuss something new, create a new topic in the proper category. Please remain on topic! If your post merits a new topic, please create one. If your post is a response to a previously posted comment, please reply to it!! This helps keep the forum clean and organized.
This may seem obvious, but we will not allow any posting/uploading of objectionable content. This includes content that contains offensive language/swearing. This is also not an appropriate forum for jokes/internet forwards, etc. unless they are directly germane to the discussion of the book. The administratorshave the final say on content that is considered “objectionable.” Posts found to be in violation of this policy may be edited or deleted without warning, and the member’s posting privileges may be removed. If you have concerns about a specific post, please contact either the book’s sponsor or the book club administrators.
Membership restrictions
Membership in the book club is considered open. You may invite others to join the club; All users will be required to register in the forums, and part of the registration process is verifying the user’s e-mail address. Forum members’ e-mail addresses will be kept private (stored in a database, and not viewable in the forums), and won’t be given to any third party for any reason. Book club administrators may occasionally contact members by e-mail with news/updates about the book club. Forum members who do not wish to be contacted by e-mail may remove their e-mail address from their profiles after they have registered with the bookclub.
[Added Nov 2006] Due to increased SPAM in the forums from people who are first registering as members, new restrictions are being put into place. New members will have to be approved by a member of the Admin team. New users posts will be moderated until it is clear they are here to contribute to the discussion.
Book Selection
Content Restriction
One of the hardest parts about creating a book club is determining the types of books you want to read in your club. Participating in a bookclub is about expanding your horizons by reading books you would not normally read. Sponsors therefore have a responsibility to select books that are intellectually stimulating and are worth discussing. When a sponsor is selecting a book for the club, they are expected to consider the book’s content, and to judge whether or not a majority of mostly conservative readers would be offended by its content. Books that are excessively graphic in their portrayal of violence, or books with explicit sexual content are examples of books that will likley offend a majority of mostly conservative readers, and should probably be avoided. If you are a sponsor who selects a book that you think may have offensive content, you should probably discuss the book (either with the administrators, or in the appropriate forum) before announcing a final selection.
Once a sponsor has made a final selection on the book to be read, we ask that members trust the sponsor, and make a sincere effort to read the book. If you have concerns with the book as you are reading it, you are encouraged to discuss those concerns with the sponsor. This can be done through a private e-mail to the sponsor, or in the forums. The sponsor may be able to give you guidance (e.g. “skip chapter 7—-it’s reallygraphic/boring/etc.”). If you find that you have concerns with a large number of the books being selected, we encourage you to discuss those concerns in the forums. Book sponsors may be unaware of your concerns.
We also recognize that we won’t be able to please all bookclub members with every book. We hope you will stay and participate, but if this isn’t the right bookclub for you, that is okay. We can part ways amicably.
Sponsor selection
The administrators will be in charge of selecting the sponsors. If you would like to sponsor a book, please contact the administrators. We will try to rotate through the members as much as possible, with preference going to those who have specifically asked to be a sponsor. When a sponsor has selected a book, they will contact the administrators, who will create a new category on the forum main page, and will make the sponsor an administrator for that category. The sponsor will work with the administrators to determine the length oftime to be spent on a particular book, and will announce the time frameand book information in the forums.