Dear brothers and sisters in Islam,

Assalamu Alaikum. Let me take this opportunity to welcome all those that have joined the Uganda Muslim Brothers and Sisters (UMBS) forum . We are now over 30,000 members of Uganda Muslims spread all over the world.Please encourage your family and friends to join us for the good of Islam. We can be joined on Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

UMBS was started in 2010 mainly with the purpose of bringing all Uganda Muslims together. Below is a copy of the UMBS guidelines to help you find your way around the forum. Please feel free to contact us in case you need any further information.

What is Uganda Muslim Brothers & Sisters (UMBS) forum?

“Uganda Muslim Brothers and Sisters “(UMBS),* is a free-to-join, non-profit making e-mail discussion forum that is  intellectual and aligned religiously with the Islamic faith. UMBS is devoted to matters of interest to all Muslims in Uganda and Africa in general.Although it only concerns Muslims, it is interesting enough not only to remove some of the misconceptions one may have had about Muslims and Islam, but also prods one to go deeper to know more about them. UMBS therefore welcomes Muslims from other countries to join us.

UMBS is the only major Ugandan social network that enhances Muslim lifestyle instead of talking about purely religion or rambling politics. It has helped in uniting the widely dispersed and fragmented Uganda Muslim population to one virtual venue. UMBS forum gives power to the users to decide what content should be allowed or not, while they have all the power to ensure the content is accurate and closest to Muslim values. The users in UMBS also ensure that the forum has no place for sex, crime, or drug use-related content, neither is there a place for illegal content or content that spreads radicalization.

Aims of the ‘UMBS’ Forum

1. To promote better acquaintance, understanding, friendship,solidarity and cooperation among Muslims in Uganda and Africa.

2.To act as a link between Muslims abroad and Muslims in Uganda.

3. To provide Muslims with a platform to say things they want about their religious and political leaders.
4. To create a religious environment that is free from corruption, giving rise to fair competition;
5. Providing potential investors and financial institutions with information on the changes in global and regional markets and in agro industry systems which could mean business opportunities for those interested;
6. Provide space for Investors, Promoters and other stakeholders to dialogue and network on investment proposals privately or in open sessions;
7. To share research and knowledge about different issues inishallah;
8.To encourage debate on issues of public welfare, especially those affecting Muslims and their families.
9. To promote and strengthen links between Muslim voluntary organizations;
10. To attempt to ensure that Muslim’s interests in Uganda and elsewhere are taken into account in all policy making;
11. To provide a forum for frank and open discussion on matters of interest and concern to constituent Muslim’s organizations.

Membership

1.  Anyone who is a Muslim can become a member. In this context, the term ‘Muslim’ shall mean anybody who believes in Islam.

2.Anyone who loves Muslims or who has got Islam at Heart can become a member. If you describe yourself as religiously tolerant and fiscally responsible, you’re a Muslim at heart.

Mission

The forum’s mission is to unite Muslims in Uganda and help them find solutions to their problems.
Discussions/Debates

Islamic discussions connect you with other Muslims around the world to share your questions, insights, and views about important issues in the country and the world at large. You get a chance to read what others are saying about hot topics, get knowledgeable answers, check out comparisons, and swap comments in our easy-to-use group discussions. Please share thoughts that you think will add to the discussion and help other Muslims interested in that topic.

Debating is about developing your communication skills. It is about assembling and organizing effective arguments, persuading and entertaining an audience. Debating is not about personal abuse, irrational attacks or purely emotional appeals.

Argument is the process of explaining why a point of view should be accepted. It concerns the logic and the evidence supporting a particular conclusion. Use evidence (i.e. examples, facts, statistics, quotations of expert/public opinion etc.) to back up each point you make in your argument. Show how each piece of evidence is relevant and how it advances your argument. Make a point, give the reason for that point, and supply evidence to back it up.

The aim of this document is to give you an idea of how to discuss or argue at UMBS forum without offending others. It’s not just a simple case of writing the first thing that comes into your head. There are certain rules and guidelines which have to be adhered to if you want to have any chance in a competitive discussion. This is not the document with all the answers. It is only a rough set of guidelines to help get you started. Everyone should try to find their own strengths and failings. In general most discussions should be conducted in English though we allow the use of one or two sentences in own local languages.

What shouldn’t I post?

Do not post:

Ø Profane or obscene, or spiteful comments

Ø Messages that abuse, denigrate or threaten others

Ø Any racist, sexist, discriminatory or otherwise harmful statements that are offensive

Ø Any personal information about children under 14 years old.

Ø Descriptions that intrude on the privacy of another person, including revealing personally identifiable information such as their name or address

Ø Text that promotes illegal or immoral conduct

Ø Repeated posts that make the same point excessively

Ø Repeated unwelcome messages that harass or embarrass other members or participants

Ø Any form of “spam,” including advertisements. Any body posting an advert will require the permission of the head moderator.

Ø Messages from other forums that break any of the rules of UMBS

# Messages that have got nothing to do with Islam or Muslims in Uganda. For example, politics should not be posted on the forum unless if its relevant to the Islamic causes in Uganda or internationally.

Defamatory content

There are now over 30,000 members on UMBS forums and therefore it is not possible for us to be aware of the contents of each member discussion. Accordingly, UMBS operates on a “notice and take down” basis. If you believe that any part of any member discussion is defamatory, please notify us immediately—send an email to abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com All members need to help the moderators through team work to make this forum a success.
How do I reply to a discussion?

Click “Reply” at the end of a message in your inbox to post a response. Your reply is placed at the end of the discussion. Anyone reading your post will also be able to click “In reply to an earlier post” to display the message to which you responded.

How do I start a new discussion?

On the UMBS site or in a discussion forum, start a new discussion below the list of recently-active discussion titles. Once you click in the discussion topic text box, you’ll also see a box to enter the initial post. You can also do this by sending a new message to the forum email(if you a member of UMBS-Google):

uganda-muslim-brothers-and-sisters@googlegroups.com

For facebook and Twitter, the instructions are very simple and clear for anyone.

What if I find an inappropriate post, or one that detracts from the
discussion?

If you find a post that you feel is obscene, threatening, pornographic, defamatory, another person’s words, or otherwise violates UMBS forum guidelines outlined here, please report it to abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com . When the forum becomes so big, members will have a chance to nominate or vote for the moderators/moderator of their choice.

If you don’t agree with any behavior on the forum, please don’t respond via the forum. Send all complaints to the head moderator privately. So use them for only inappropriate comment and not to the forum-as it distracts members from discussing important issues and we concentrate on complaints.

Unsubscribing

If any member wishes to unsubscribe from the forum, they are instructions at the bottom of every email message to help you on this. Please don’t send your UNSUBSCRIPTION MESSAGES to the forum. If you get any problems with unsubscription, please contact the moderators privately but do not send messages to the forum. Please don’t send political messages to the forum unless if they have got something to do with Islam

How do I get back to a specific post?

You can visit the forum website, sign in and search for this post and then reply to it. All archives can also be accessed in this way.

What do I do if my message was deleted?

We regularly investigate messages that have been reported to moderators violating our guidelines. If you feel your message was removed inappropriately, contact us using the above mentioned email address.
General Guidance – Good Practice

1.Please only send messages in plain text mode. This makes it easier for everyone to read and respond to your message.

2.Only reply if you have something new to add – don’t send messages just saying “I agree with Sheikh kaketo” or similar – unless sheik Kaketo is isolated and really needs support. Silence is generally taken to imply agreement!

3.Reply to the forum not to the sender of the message – messages to the UMBS forum are intended for public discussion. Your email package should pick up the “Reply to:” line in the message header or you may need to change the reply address, but you should always reply to the forum unless you have something personal and private to say to the sender . But you have to join before the forum will accept your messages.

4.Keep your messages within the general topic area of the forum

5.Special note: Announcements

Announcements of local and national events etc are welcome but please send only the very basic details and include date, place, topic, type of event, and where to get more details

6. When replying to a message please use the same “subject” line so that people will find it easy to follow the “thread” of a topic.

▪If you are introducing a new topic choose a new subject line that makes the subject of your message clear to all.

▪Always choose a new subject line when your reply moves the topic away from what most people would expect from the existing subject line or when you have replied to the same subject line more than twice.

▪Use plain English – remember that people from 80 or more countries may be trying to make sense of your message. Some of them may not be completely fluent in English. Please refrain from using a language people don’t understand in your messages.

▪Be thoughtful and generous in your response to other people’s messages – try to consider what might be useful in what they are trying to say even if you disagree with it.

▪Never be rude or dismissive about someone’s messages – if you have any complaints about other people’s behavior take it up with the forum manager rather than trying to deal with it yourself. Being rude or dismissive leads to “flaming”. Even if it doesn’t, it makes lots of forum participants very uncomfortable, not only the person you are being rude about!

▪Always sign your messages – please add your name at the end of your message, in the way you would normally introduce yourself, for example:

Best wishes, Abdullah Gayi

or simply

Abdullah Gayi

This helps to make the discussion friendly, since people can then say “I agree with Gayi that . . . ” or “Hello Gayi, thanks for your useful comment.My own view is that . . . “.This is particularly important if your name isn’t clear from your email address.

▪ If you have a particular reason for needing to remain anonymous, it is very fine and let members know.

▪ Please don’t make your signature block so long and please don’t add irrelevant material, especially advertising copy, clever formatting etc. All this does is increase the traffic level on the network and the forum server
- if you want to impress people with your understanding and know-how, the best way to is through the relevant content of your messages!

Please do not use the forum for:

♥Advertising – other than short, informative notices about programmes and events of interest to Ugandans

♥Questionnaires of any kind

♥Requests for help with private MBA, PhD or commercial research

♥Discussing the purpose and/or management of the forum, or the more general topic of how to run discussion forums. Experience has shown that such debate (discussion within a forum about its own purposes and organization) is sterile and very off-putting for subscribers who joined to discuss the forum’s stated topics. The purpose of the forum is stated in its home page on the website; these rules set out the way it operates. The rules are enhanced from time to time and we welcome suggestions for changes to the rules or indeed the purposes of the forum.
Please help us maintain the overall quality and interest of the main topic discussions by avoiding “why are we here?” types of debate in the forum itself!

About “quoting” in replies to the forum

A common practice in this forum is “quoting” – you include part of the previous person’s message and then reply to it. This is helpful in providing context for your reply but it’s often overdone and can be irritating, for example:

You quote the whole of the last message; Then the next person quotes the whole of your new message including the whole of the earlier one that you quoted; The next person quotes all of both messages . You can easily see how this might escalate! In ordinary email, some people always quote the message they are replying to. This is a matter of taste but please don’t do it in the UMBS Forum. Here are some basic guidelines for “quoting”:

♣Only quote when it’s necessary – often the meaning and context of your message are clear without any quotes;

♣Don’t quote the whole message – it may be quicker and easier for you but remember several hundred people may be reading your message, if you want them to pay attention to you and your ideas, an extra few minutes to help them will be time well invested;

♣Never put the whole of the prior message at the beginning or end of your message; this is never necessary and just adds more traffic to the networks, more file space for anyone who wants to keep the messages for posterity, and no value whatever.

♣Quoting is more appropriate on a very busy forum but we are not yet there, where there may be several threads running and people have difficulty keeping track of the discussion, but even then please use it selectively.

How to join the UMBS forum debates?

Please join debates on UMBS forum at:

Grouply:

http://umbs.grouply.com/

Google based forum:

https://groups.google.com/group/uganda-muslim-brothers-and-sisters?hl=en

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/114514221938101

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/UMBSFORUM

Online Net

http://ugandamuslimbrothersandsisters.onlinegroups.net/groups/uganda-muslim-brothers-and-sisters

How many messages?

◘Constrain your contributions to the forum to a maximum of four messages a day.

◘Avoid “replying to a reply” on the same day that you posted your original message – allow 24 hours for other contributions before you move the discussion forward. We believe this enhances the overall value of the forum to you as well as to others.

*Note, the above are not intended as “hard and fast” rules. Common sense should prevail, but please treat these suggestions as a general guide and respect them.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

HEAD MODERATOR

*UNITED KINGDOM*

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Blogs:

http://ugandansatheart.org.com/

http://semuwemba.wordpress.com/

http://ekitibwakyabuganda.wordpress.com/