Introduction
Wahey, welcome to the Occult Research Society! As implied by the name, this guild is for anyone interested in occult-based topics. That's a pretty broad term, encompassing everything from areas such as religion (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Thelema, Wicca, Santeria), magick (Chaos Magick, Ceremonial Magick, hoodoo, Hermeticism, eclecticism), the paranormal (Ghosts, demonology, psionics, past-life experiences), and all the overlapping areas between!
We're very much a scholarly kind of guild - most of all, we're geared towards essays, debates, experiments, courses, ideas, theses, and pretty much anything that could be summed up as "research". Idle banter's encouraged, of course, but we're more interested in circulating research within the guild in order that someone will stumble over it and say "Hey, this is really handy!".
Rules
Follow Gaia's Terms of Service. It goes without saying, but just in case, I'll restate it right here. As well as our own guild rules, you also have to follow Gaia's.
Be polite and courteous to other members. We're all here to learn, and the guild's basic premise to share knowledge. As such, you're entitled to your own opinion, but not if it's there just to be offensive. Offer constructive criticism, show some civility, and help other folk along as they're learning. Personal vendettas, ego-bashing trips, insults, anti-member rallys and factions have no place in this guild.
Share opinions with others, don't enforce them on others. There's rarely a right-or-wrong answer when it comes to the occult. The truth is, everyone thinks they've clocked exactly how X, Y or Z works, but remember, that might just work for them, and not others. As such, don't approach discussions looking to tell people exactly how something works - show people evidence and let them decide for themselves, the same way you did. If you're teaching, remember to state that it is just your opinion you're teaching, based on your evidence (or faith). If you're looking to learn, then do so - by all means, challenge views, but also remember that all anyone's looking to do is provide you with some extra knowledge, not convert you to their way of thinking.
We're not a roleplaying guild; we're dedicated to the actual pursuit of occult knowledge. 'Nuff said.
Keep your posts as legible as possible. Grammar, syntax, spelling and punctuation are good. Chatspeak is not; you're in no rush to finish posts, so take the time to reread what you've written, maybe even copy-paste it into Word and spellcheck it. By and large, people will take your grammar as a measure of how intelligent you are - unfairly so, perhaps. Nonetheless, if you make sure that your orthography's all up to par, you're that much more likely to have your post not casually handwaved aside.
If possible/relevant, post links to your sources or other references. It's tremendously helpful, as it means skeptical researchers can double-check your sources, and interested researchers have somewhere to go for further information. Also, if you're reposting material that's not your own, give credit where it's due! Plagiarism is bad, citing sources is good.
Don't jump into a conversation just so you can whip out a snide remark at someone for something they said in order to a) show them up, and b) prove them wrong. We're here to learn, not show off how much more we know than someone. If you find flaw in someone's argument, don't immediately try to make it into some huge affair with comparisons to nazism, fluffy/moonbeamishness, Christianity and the like. Just say "I disagree", and say why. That's all you really can say. Remember folks, there's never one set way to do anything in magick and psionics, and if you'll permit me to use a phrase that I don't mean strictly literally - the world works differently for everyone. I'll get on that in a second.
More or less, all I'm saying is we shouldn't say s**t just to make ourselves seem more adept than others. None of this "that's stupid", or "obviously you're not good enough at psionics to know about it", or "you're all blind morons!" and such. A little snide remark now and again, sure; every sentence containing some loaded phrase pertaining to another person's idiocy, no, cheers.
Just because you think something isn't worthwhile does not mean it is not worthwhile. Like I said, the world works differently for everyone. I can't divine the future with runes - that does not mean runes are an ineffective means of divination, it means I'm runically inept. Odin pats me on the back and offers me his sincerest apologies as he weeps from his one eye for me. Likewise, you may not believe in the christian God. That does not mean he doesn't exist. It also doesn't mean anything remotely related to christianity is a lie and thus worthless or ineffective in magick and so on (cf. the goetia, for example). So, before you jump into someone's argument to argue against one of the premises that isn't actually being disputed - stop. If someone asks for information regarding a topic, give it to them: don't take it as an oppurtunity to attack the topic itself if that's not what they asked for. If you believe it's impossible, say so, but help them out anyway.
No whipping out any "that's immoral!" remarks when someone clearly doesn't care. You can decide someone's morality on the day you stop believing that fairies exist. Again, if you think something shouldn't be attempted, say so, but help anyway.
Avoid telling people "Actually, that's..." as much as possible. Nine times outta ten, it ends up of the form "Actually, that's not fire magick, that's djinn magick.", or "actually, the bible states such and such", or "Actually, you weren't on the astral plane, you were on the 14th Indigo Elf plane, obviously." Magick, Psionics and Religion are incredibly open to interpretation. There is no 'actually'. There is 'maybe', but no 'actually'. As such, don't treat your classifications as if they were the be-all-end-all of magick and psionics. Remember, the world works differently for everyone, and rarely is anything set in stone that way. 'Actually' is one of those loaded phrases that's often used to mean "Well, you're wrong, and I'm right, so let me teach you what I think." Different folk have different ideas about the way magick works, and how it's classified. Yes, a spell to summon dryads may be "Green Magick", but that's just a classification you've adopted to help you understand better. It doesn't mean that the world/universe as a whole classifies it that way. The Numinous ain't so neat like that. Obviously, there's something a tad fallacious in my argument here; "Actually, Christians believe in Jesus" is true and not open to interpretation, so dismissing sentences that start with "actually" is a terrible idea. Instead, look at them with a hint of scepticism, and if you aren't sure about what the person is claiming, ask for evidence. If none can be provided, it's probably an arbitary/made-up classification. That's not to say it's worthless, but hey, I'm throwing that out there.