DISCLAIMER
Before considering membership, readers should understand that membership in the Religion Detox Network is totally free of any obligation up front or later on. Membership is required only because the software that enables networking requires that people create a unique identity that enables others to explore networking possibilities with them. Creation of this identity is accomplished through creation of memberships.
At no time will the Religion Detox Network ever solicit money from members nor will it ever offer products for sale. Because we will never participate in Commercial Religion, members will never see any advertisements for any products, religious or otherwise, on Religion Detox Network pages. There are occasional links to external resources (e.g. Bible study, dictionaries, etc.) that contain advertising and products, but the Religion Detox Network has no agreements with those links that result in financial gain. Consistent with this policy, members will never find a “donate” link on the Religion Detox Network website.
Here are the steps to becoming a member of Religion Detox Network membership:
Click on links above or scroll down to find these articles.
ACCESS FOR MEMBERS AND NONMEMBERS
Most pages of the Religion Detox Network can be viewed by any visitor to the site. Pages that are not visible to everyone are the personal profiles of individual members — unless individual members choose to make their profile information available to all visitors. Private communications between members are never public. All forum postings are visible to members and nonmembers.
We will discuss the processes for registering as a member and editing personal profiles further down on this page. The following table reports the fixed rules about access to member information:
All pages — except personal profile information of registered members — are accessible to all viewers
Personal Profile information of registered members is limited to the information that each member chooses to disclose.
Registered Members control who (i.e. Members Only, Everyone, themselves) has access to their Personal Profile information.
The Member List (first name only) is open to Everyone (i.e. full public viewing) and All Members.
The public (i.e. Everyone) will see only the First Name of any member — unless a member has authorized that certain profile fields (e.g. Last Name, City, County, etc.) may be seen by Everyone or All Members.
MEMBER REGISTRATION
Before reporting the steps for registering as a Member, it is important to recognize that the conventional concept of membership does not apply to membership in the Religion Detox Network. The unique features of membership in the Religion Detox Network are the following:
There is no cost.
There will be no requests for money or prayers.
There will be no gifts or premiums sent to members.
No books, music, or other commodities will be offered for sale to members.
There will be no Religion Detox Network meetings or conferences.
Members will not receive any other special benefits or offers from the Religion Detox Network or any commercial or religious entity.
The only special rights Members have are the ability to comment in Forums and make networking connections with other members.
Here are the steps for registering as a member:
Begin by clicking on the “Register” link in the right hand sidebar Under “Log In/Register“. This displays a page called “Create an Account.”
In the column under the heading “Account Details,” entries must be made in all of the boxes (i.e. First Name, Email Address and Password). For “username” create a unique username that you can remember.
In the column under the heading “Profile Details,” only your first name is required to register. The default visibility for your first name is “Everyone.” That means anyone, including non-members, who visit the Religion Detox Network web site can see that someone with your first name has participated in forums. But non-members will not be able to see your profile details. Visibility of your first name will always be Everyone. It cannot be changed.
The rest of the information in the “Profile Details” column is optional. When making the decision to enter optional information, members should remember that making networking connections with other members will be difficult without this personal information. It is possible, therefore, that some members may want to enter only a little information when they first register and then change their entries and visibility (i.e. Everyone or All Members) at a later date. See “Editing Your Profile” below for instructions on how to do this.
Click on the “Complete Sign Up” box after all the desired information has been entered.
After registering, you will receive an email asking you to “Activate” your account. When you click on the email link, your account will be activated and you will be able to make comments in forums and explore networking opportunities with other Members.
After registering, members may contribute to any forum.
Members should read Cautions before posting to a forum.
EDITING YOUR PERSONAL PROFILE INFORMATION
When first registering to be a member of the Religious Detox Network, only your first name is required. All of the other Profile Details are optional entries that can be left blank and edited (i.e. changed) at a later time. Here is the process for editing Profile Details:
Begin by Logging In to the Religion Detox Network.
Click on your highlighted name above the Log Out link and proceed to step 4 below.
Or follow these steps once you are logged in:
Click on Member List in the drop-down box under “Networking” in the main menu at the top of any Religion Detox Network page.
Find your first name in the Member List by doing one of the following:
Search for your first name in the “Order by” search box. Alphabetical may be the best first option for searching.
If there are several other members with the same first name it may be quicker to search by looking for your last name — if you entered it when you first registered. But last names are not available in the “Order by” search box.
To search for your last name you must enter it in the “Search Members” box that appears above “Personal Profiles. But you can search for your last name only if you entered it in your Personal Profile earlier. Members who are not ready to be publicly identified may enter their last name but select “Only Me” for visibility. Doing this make it possible to access your profile by searching for your last name without making it public.
If you have made entries in any of the other optional fields (i.e.. City, County, State or Province), you may search for the word you entered in one of those fields also. Doing this will produce a list of all members who entered that name in their profile fields. Then you may find your name in that list.
Once you find your name, click on it. This will take you to your account page.
Click on “Profile”. This takes you to your Profile page where you can see all the entries you have made in your profile.
While in your Profile page, click on “Edit”. This takes you to a page titled “Editing ‘Personal Profile’ Profile Group” where you can review all profile options — including visibility options (i.e. “This field can be seen by..)
Find the Profile Field or fields that you want to change.
If a profile field box is empty, you have not made an entry in it before. You can make an entry in any field box at any time.
When deciding on the Profile Field boxes in which you want to enter information about yourself, keep in mind that profile field information helps other members decide if you are a candidate with whom they might want to communicate regarding networking. The more information you provide, the easier it is for them to make a judgment about your fit as a potential networking partner.
After entering something in an optional profile entry field, you will need to decide who can see this entry.
If you want to change who can see the visibility of any profile entry, click on the “Change” link that appears after “This field can be seen by..” and choose your preference for visibility of that field from the choices (i.e. Everyone, Only Me, All Members) in the drop-down box.
You may choose to have different levels of public visibility for different profile fields.
When deciding on who can see your profile information, keep in mind that profile field information helps other members decide if you are a candidate with whom they might want to communicate regarding networking. The more information you provide, the easier it is for them to make a judgment about your fit as a potential networking partner.
After making all the desired changes, click on the ‘Save Changes” box to save them.
After saving your changes, click on “Profile” at the top of the page. This takes you back to your profile page where you can see your Profile the same way that any other Member will see it.
If after reviewing your public profile, you want to make more changes, click on “Edit” and repeat the process.
EDITING PROFILE VISIBILITY
Individual members have three choices for making their Personal Profiles visible:
Everyone (i.e. All Members, all non-members and the individual member)
All Members (i.e. all persons who have registered to be a member of the Religion Detox Network)
Only Me (i.e. only the individual member)
Settings for choosing these choices may be changed at any time by starting out in your Personal Profile page. See EDITING YOUR PROFILE INFORMATION above for instructions on getting into this page.
While in your Personal Profile, you can easily make changes in the visibility of your profile information by clicking on “Settings” which takes you to a page where the visibility of each profile field appears in a format which is easy to change.
Members who are initially reluctant to make their profiles visible to anyone other than themselves may later decide to make some or all Personal Profile facts visible to “All Members” or “Everyone.” Doing this is a way of making a statement that you are confident and unashamed about your Current Religious status. It is also a way of indicating to other members that you are open to receive inquiries to network from other Religion Detox Network Members.
Members who are exceedingly confident and unashamed about their views about religion and their Current Religious status may choose to make their Personal Profile information visible to everyone who visits the Religion Detox Network. By revealing their identities with first and last names they make it possible for all visitors to know their experiences and opinions through their forum comments. Visitors may also learn more about them by clicking on their names to see their Personal Profiles.
Of course there is risk in revealing sensitive personal information about religious attitudes and opinions. The risk is that friends, family and others who are still religious might be offended by comments made by members who are done with religion or express doubts about it. The potential for such offense is very great since most religious people become very defensive when they sense any challenges to their long-held beliefs. It is good, therefore, for Members who make their profiles public to be prepared for adverse backlashes from family and friends who are not like-minded about religion. When such adverse responses are evidence that Religion is the Enemy.
On the other hand, making such public disclosure might also open doors to fruitful conversation with others who have doubts about religion.
SETTING EMAIL PREFERENCES AND CHANGING PASSWORDS
While in your Personal Profile, click on the link called “Settings.” Clicking on “Email” takes you to a page where you can set your preferences for receiving email notices. Choose your “Yes” or “No” preferences and click on “Save Changes.”
In the “Settings” page there is also a “General” link which is where you want to go when you want to change your email address or your password.
In the “Settings” page there is a “Forums” link which reports all the forums in which you have made comments.
SENDING MESSAGES TO OTHER MEMBERS
As members read forum comments they will identify other members who seem to have personal histories, observations about religion and Biblical interpretations with which they are in agreement. These members may be good candidates for Networking.
The easiest way to begin communicating with these Members is through the “Private Message” feature that appears in the “Activity” and “Personal Profile” pages. Clicking on the “Private Message” box will take you to a page where you can compose a message to send to another member.
Clicking on the “Notifications” link goes to a page where all incoming and outgoing communication routed through the Religious Detox Network is found. This is also the page in which one member may communicate with another member by email.
REASONS FOR EXPANDING YOUR PROFILE AND MAKING IT MORE VISIBLE
The ultimate goal of the Religion Detox Network is to connect people who are no longer religious so that they can explore God’s alternative to religion by studying together.
HOW TO DELETE A MEMBER ACCOUNT
Deleting a member account is easy. Follow these steps:
Log in.
Click on your highlighted first name above the Log In link. This will take you to your Profile page.
Click on “Settings”
Click on “Delete Account”. This will take you to a page that warns you of the consequences of deleting your account.
If, after reading the consequences listed in the box, you still want to delete your account, click on the box next the statement “I understand the consequences.”
Then click on the “Delete Account” box. Your account will now be deleted.