No one owes anyone an explanation for downvotes and they can be given for any reason, from serious disagreement to an avatar that doesn't amuse you.  Don't ask about down votes in the threads - that's not drift it's disruption.  Also remember that people accidentally downvote when on mobile so if it happens and there is no other reason to believe your post is objectionable do everyone a favor and let it go

What you call gossip, we call keeping our eyes on a dangerous religious movement. We believe that criticism, snark and laughter is the best way to call attention to some serious problems such as child abuse, rape, oppression of women, loss of rights, and the groups who perpetrate these things. We are shining a light, because it burns away the darkness.

Keep your flame lit, and you will never feel darkness. ~J. Parker

Welcome to a free speech zone. We don't censor except for a few rare occasions that have more to do with protecting individual privacy rights than keeping this website so the average viewer can look at it with the kiddos in the room.

FJ has it's share of "hot" topics and those are a few of them. If you really want to know more, check out the Dreaded Topics of Doom to find out why people scream in fear when you say "peanut butter.

Free Jinger is a community whose purpose is to snark on fundies and some posters are more aggressive in doing so than others. While legitimate debate about acceptable targets of snark is always welcome (past examples include whether or not it is appropriate to snark on a fundies weight given the strong culture of fat-shaming in the U.S. and abroad, and if it is dangerous to speculate on the sexual orientation of minors being raised households where homosexuality is seen as a grave sin), accusations that posters are being mean and should be nicer are generally not well tolerated. Posters here are adults and dislike being spoken to as if they were toddlers who need to learn to play better with others.

Someone may accuse you of having a pet fundie if you’ve made a post that defends or excuses the harmful beliefs of a particular fundie just because you personally like them. Please understand that while you might find something about a specific fundie appealing enough to give them a pass on their dangerous beliefs, the board is unlikely to feel the same way and other posters may question what they see as favoritism or hypocrisy on your part.

Posters on FJ really love to shorten things down and give people nicknames. We have a FreeJinger specific dictionary.  We also have an acronym extender (for lack of a better description).  It will put a line under any of the defined terms and if you mouse over them it will give you the full descriptions.  You can see this in action in the title of this FAQ.

For common internet slang and abbreviations Urban Dictionary is a good place to start looking.

Rufus is the deer that Jinger hit on her way to Jessa's first birth.  He is first noted here:

As the talk went on, Rufus developed a mythology all his own, becoming a deity in Duggarville:

Then, eventually, he was given an (awesome) origin story, courtesy of @Carm_88:

(Meme courtesy of @Coconut Flan)

You can find all of that under the Resources link on the site header.  

Choosing a User Name - helpful tips.  Highly recommended because once you choose one it's yours forever.

Welcome New Members -  loaded with useful info about integrating successfully into the community

Free Jinger History - the history of FJ (yes, self-explanatory but I couldn't leave one entry without exposition)

Connect with FJ -  contact info for membership questions, tech support, info on FJ's presence on social media, and swag.

Who's Who - fundamentalist family and organization summaries

Terms of Use (ToU) - what you agreed to when you joined

User titles based on post count.  See the SOTDRT for a comprehensive list of the titles/levels.

You can find a list of the current staff at http://www.freejinger.org/staff.