English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

These recommendations come from careful consideration of the typical rhetorical situation of discussion boards--public spaces where people with shared interests or values and special expertise gather to discuss the topics that interest them. The style and tone of posts is usually more formal than you might find in chat rooms, where the focus can be more on immediacy and fast give-and-take.

1. Read the user guidelines for the board or forum and be sure to follow them.
2. Read through all the messages in a particular thread before posting a response.
3. Provide enough context in your message (by quoting from a previous post, for example) so that all readers understand what you’re responding to or what you’re proposing.
4. If you can’t stay on topic, begin a new thread and give it a subject line that conveys the topic clearly.
5. If you want to reply to a person but your message seems too personal or might stray off topic, consider sending a personal message instead (through email or, if possible, using the board’s internal message server).
6. Take the time to preview and edit your messages before you post or publish them.
7. When your message is posted to the board or forum, open it and read it to see if it says what you intended. If it doesn’t, re-edit it.
8. Return frequently to the board or forum to see how others have responded to your post or how the thread has continued.
9. If people respond to your post, keep the discussion going with another message (if appropriate).
10. Don’t be so eager to reply to posts that you overwhelm everyone with responses to every message that gets posted. Give other people opportunity and time to reply.

Consider also these student-generated guidelines for a class forum, as well as examples of good (and not-so-good) discussion practices.