From the Desk of the Owner, 11/16/2023
UBRON no longer accepts new members.
UBRON will be permanently closed as of December 31, 2023.
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WELCOME TO URANTIA BOOK READER'S ONLINE NETWORK!
BRINGING READERS TOGETHER
To meet the constant challenging needs of evolutionary growth, we have periodically presented updated statements of UBRON's purpose, mission, values and guidelines to you.
This communique is the second update after the sad passing of our original programmer and owner, Bruce Schuman, Sept. 2022 and the subsequent sad loss of our original manager, Patrick McNelly, Oct. 2022. We remain forever grateful for their loving service to UBRON and its many members over the years.
I will continue to volunteer at UBRON the same as I have done since 1999. I am the owner, manager and administrator and I am very happy to continue my service here.
You are invited to join us as we bring people together and share this magnificent book, The Urantia Book.
We, the members, shall employ the tradition of utilizing the Golden Rule and as such we will continue following the same basic honor system where members are expected to "self-govern" unless some extenuating circumstance arises, …as has been in place for many years.
We can always see the guidelines at the link here on the website. Members may continue to contact me at my email address to see what can be done in cases where it is needful to address problems on the site. UBRON's goals are:
1. Learning about and helping others learn about "The Urantia Book" 2. Fostering the Religion of Jesus and the Golden Rule 3. Building the Fatherhood of God and family of humankind worldwide
The founder of UBRON, Susan Sarfaty, created a motto for UBRON: "If it ain't love, it ain't real."
Please read the goals above and the full guidelines below and decide if UBRON's goals match yours. If so, please join us! Please note by making posts on our forum, you agree to our guidelines.
If not, we wish you all the best as we part ways.
Thank you for all you do to help spread the greatest teachings on the planet!
In Service, With Love as Always,
Holly Carmichael, Owner, Manager, Administrator hollyjan1@yahoo.com
<><>Urantia Book Reader's Online Network<><>
WELCOME TO URANTIA BOOK READER'S ONLINE NETWORK (UBRON)!
Bringing readers together! Come in and surf around!
UBRON is privately owned. You are a guest here and as a member have agreed to adhere to our guidelines, goals, and purpose.
PURPOSE AND MEMBERSHIP
The main purpose of UBRON is to provide a benign, independent, safe, place for people honestly interested in "The Urantia Book" to come together to share and to learn about it. We encourage all members to help each other.
We are here to help readers from around the world write in to share about their insights and questions about the book, on how to spread the teachings to the world, and we aspire to be an example of how we can live these teachings every day in our interactions here. Therefore, when making posts, uploading pictures, documents and sharing links, please make sure you understand our guidelines and that your contributions are within those parameters.
Members are not required to believe in "The Urantia Book", but all are required to and must agree to respect our purpose and honor our guidelines as we interact with one another here.
WHY MEMBERS ONLY
Membership on UBRON is currently free, and all members are literally guests of the administrator, Holly Carmichael. Please treat this network like a friendly living room and remember the honor system. The main reason you are here is to be about "The Urantia Book" and to network with other readers.
The members only policy is necessary due to the sometimes unstable nature of the way the internet can be abused and in no way constitutes UBRON membership to be an exclusive club or a cult.
FORUM, FOCUS GROUP, ACCOUNT & SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT
Members must manage their own subscriptions to the Topics, Polling, and Focus Groups. You will not receive e-mail from the forum unless you choose to in your account settings.
The UBRON Forum is set up on a topic and Focus Group basis, and there are several topics in the drop-down menu to choose from when you create a post for discussion. The topics are wide ranging, and descriptions for each are found at the link. We hope your posts are thoughtful, informative and enjoyable fare for the many readers who come along.
Please log in and manage your account. Take some time to familiarize yourself with how UBRON works at the website. Understanding what it offers, how it works, and where things are is critical for an optimal experience. Information is available on several "Help" menus on the UBRON main page.
Leave your e-mail options set to NO if you do not want to get messages sent directly to your e-mail account. If you leave your e-mail settings set to NO, you must still be subscribed to a study group or to a topic to be able to participate on it here on the website.
If you are going to be away from your computer for any length of time, please log in and set your e-mail options to NO to avoid clogging up your personal inbox. Often we get returned mail because in-boxes get full.
If you change Internet Service Providers, please be courteous and change your UBRON e-mail address as well or your account will be set to "Bad Address" status. You never need to create a new profile even when the listed email address is no longer in use.
Choosing "Forum e-mail," subscribes you to email messages of the posts on We encourage the full and appropriate use of the settings & tools in your profile, which are dedicated to providing you with the best experience.
UBRON has a Library hosting Links and Documents and a Gallery for photos. You the members may add and delete material and links appropriate for our purposes. Please keep your stuff up to date.
GUIDELINES
UBRON will follow this set of guidelines in cases where posting and membership privileges are in question.
Our guidelines are posted here to ensure that you know what is expected of you.
As an internationally based community, we welcome people from all faith traditions and backgrounds. Feel free to discuss how you came across the Urantia Book, and how its teachings have changed your life or just use it to network with other Urantia Book readers. The Urantia Book is spreading into many other countries, and we have many members across the globe.
For now, we utilize the Golden Rule and a basic honor system where members are expected to "self-govern" unless some extenuating circumstance arises. You can always see the guidelines at the link here on the website. Members may contact the Admin to see what can be done in cases where it is needful.
UBRON reserves the right to add, change, modify, suspend, boot or permanently delete any member account deemed necessary in accordance with our guidelines as well as within any practical limitations of the site, the law, the software or any part of operations.
PROBLEM SOLVING
It is your responsibility to know the guidelines, the mission and the purpose of this site. You agree to be self governing insofar as possible. You are expected to be aware of what to do if a situation arises that you can not handle amicably yourself.
It's always best to try and settle your differences without involving the moderators or the membership, but sometimes this becomes impossible.
If you encounter a problem with another member you should not try to problem solve it on the forum. We are humans, and people encounter difficulties when trying to work together. Because we do not screen the posts and do not police the forum, it may become needful for you to notify one of us to the issue. If you don't we may never know about it.
We do not consider arguing and bickering on the forum to be appropriate and if you respond in kind on the forum to someone who has been rude, unruly or nasty then you are perpetuating the offense. Rather than get into trouble over it, try our suggestions below.
Self Governance Topic: We will not discuss details of any of our moderation decisions as regards specific individuals on the public forum, but we may utilize the "Self Governance" topic to discuss the general guidelines issues at hand if necessary without naming any member publicly. In the event of disputes or clarification on any of the guidelines we may use the Self Governance topic to present our views in a civil manner. We have the final word in the matter in accordance with these guidelines.
We expect all members to conduct themselves in a civil, friendly, and respectful way when writing posts. Imagine the forum as the living room of the owner and you are a guest there. Think before you post. Is your post respectful? If not, do not post it. The ideal is to keep the forum a wonderful place to come to. The Golden Rule is our umbrella. Self-governance means you are responsible for your own conduct. It is likewise appropriate to help each other if the need arises.
We encourage you to try a Jesusonian approach to solving problems among members of UBRON because it's inappropriate to do it on the forum. If you have an issue with someone, it is not appropriate to fight about it on the forum. Instead, you could opt to go privately with one another to deal with it in a friendly way to try to better understand one another. By taking personal or chronic differences of opinion with another member off-list, the rest of the readership will not be exposed to inappropriate, lengthy, and/or redundant personal arguments and bitterness that derail our reason for being here. You also have a chance to win them over as a friend. When so doing, try to be loving, courteous, civil, and polite.
If, after considering this an option, you decide you do not want to do it, it is, of course, freely your choice & up to you. However, be careful not to then fight it out on the forum. You could end up suspended or booted or banned. The topics at UBRON are not there for that purpose. Their descriptions are found at the link. See "GUIDELINES" below for more information.
It is not the responsibility of UBRON mangers, owners or administrators to problem-solve matters that may develop between members. Posts are not pre-screened nor are they policed. We neither have the time or ability to do this. We prefer your conduct and behavior are that of self-governing, peaceable, adults who are friendly and generally kind & helpful. But, if a difficult situation develops you may certainly contact Holly privately to see what can be done.
All public behavior and posts on UBRON are expected to follow the "GUIDELINES" below.
Decisions about membership privileges are solely up to the discretion of one or more of the Owner, Manager, and/or the Administrator. You may correspond privately about such matters when a certain individual may be concerned. We recommend civility and respect if you do. We do not discuss it on the forum.
While the Golden Rule is the umbrella for our guidelines, we have identified and listed some specific things UBRON does not consider to be acceptable here, but there are yet other unsavory things we may or may not have listed, but may or may not deem appropriate as applicable:
This is not a forum set up for selling general goods and services such as AVON products or E-Bay Shops, although there is a topic called the "Business/Commercial" for members to link to their web sites, discuss their private business ventures, and to let other members know about their commercial interests. You may share your charities and relevant pursuits on the appropriate topics. This is certainly encouraged.
Contentious discussions -- particularly discussions related to external political issues and the internal political and/or legal issues confronting the Urantia movement must be kept friendly and to a minimum but generally they deteriorate and are often not appropriate. It is more centering to focus on the book instead. Most of the time we do not tolerate political posts.
Alleged messages or "transmissions" from "celestial beings" or from the Teaching Mission or channeling or channeled messages or other similar fringe groups would better take place in other groups dedicated to these issues. While UBRON does not take any official position on these matters, there are other places more appropriate. We are about "The Urantia Book" not those other agendas. If you do not feel this policy best serves your purposes and needs, then we wish you well as we part ways.
Discussions on the public Forum of the decisions of the owner, list manager or administrators (See Self Governance)
Going off on a tangent for a bit is fine and understandable in most cases, but completely changing the topic should be avoided - just start a new thread on the appropriate topic.
Discussion on the Forum of recently suspended members
Fake accounts, false names
Libel, slander or defamation posts, posts that belittle others
Agendas other than ours
Ganging up, don't join in a bunch of emails ganging up on one post. We may choose to turn off all member posting priveleges until things settle down.
Advertisements especially if they are unrelated to the Urantia Book Community
Chain letters
Having more than one profile/account/membership is not allowed.
"Auto-reply out of the office messages." If we receive such messages, your dynamic e-mail option will be set to "No." Your email address will be set to "bad address" status.
Posting private messages on the forum from others without their permission - including messages posted from other lists without the permission of the sender
Off-color jokes or slurs of any sort
Nudity or porn
Swearing or cursing or generally offensive language
Threats against anyone
Name calling, offenses and insults, personal attacks
Obvious copyright violations
Messages that deal with illegal activities or any other illegal activity
Intentionally sending viruses or hoaxes
Altering other member's emails
Irrelevant memes, photos, library uploads, etc.
Fighting on the forum
Managers, administrators, and/or the list owner reserve the right to determine if the content of a message is inappropriate for this forum. We reserve the right to determine appropriate action either by a general warning on the forum or something private.
If you receive a warning about a post on UBRON, you are strongly encouraged to stop such behavior immediately and seek resolution off-list. Do not fight it out on the forum.
Sometimes it takes several days to resolve an issue. Repeated or extreme violations will potentially result in permanent "read only" status or you could be permanently banned, or have your profile deleted. You may be asked to submit in writing your reason(s) why you want to continue to be a member.
We reserve the right to suspend any part of or all membership privileges with no explanation, at any time, as we deem wise and appropriate for the well being of UBRON. We recognize these decisions necessarily involve subjective interpretations, and we make no claim to flawless judgment. If we have been in error, we will do our best to correct our errors.
No messages sent to the Forum or Study Groups are pre-screened or censored by the UBRON management, so it is your responsibility to follow our guidelines and be self governing.
Joining UBRON constitutes an agreement with these policies. If the preceding guidelines are unacceptable to any member, please let me know and we will set your membership options accordingly.
Opinions expressed by members of UBRON are their own and not necessarily those of the owner, administrator, manager or the superb teachings in The Urantia Book. UBRON is not required to store any of your information, photos, posts, polls, profiles, or uploads to the website at any time. It is your responsibility to keep track of your information. Please refer to our disclaimer in the document library.
NO DONATIONS - The donations links have been purposely disabled. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT PREVIOUSLY!
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