Forum netiquette

It’s a good idea to remind those who post in your forum about good behaviour.

Switch editing on, go to your course’s homepage, click on the icon of three vertical dots next to the forum and click on Edit settings from the drop-down menu.

You may want to copy (or adapt) the following text in the Forum introduction field.

Please use this forum to ask questions or discuss any issues that arise as you study. You should be aware that the forum is moderated, so please keep all posts course-specific, and always remain respectful to your fellow learners.

If you’d like to post a question or comment, click on the button Start a new discussion, making sure that you include a title in the subject line.

The word ‘netiquette’ (short for ‘net etiquette’) refers to the rules of good online behaviour. Although the principles of online communication are similar to those for face-to-face conversation, there are differences. For example, other people can’t see the expression on your face or hear your voice, so what you write sets the tone of the conversation.

Good netiquette involves doing the following:

• Thank, acknowledge and support people: People can’t see you nod, smile or frown as you read their messages – so if they get no acknowledgement, they may feel ignored and be discouraged from contributing further. Why not send a short reply to keep the conversation going? If the online group is small, this can make a big difference. But bear in mind that in a large, busy forum, too many messages like this can be a nuisance.
• Acknowledge before differing: Before you disagree with someone, try to summarise the other person’s point in your own words. Then they know you are trying to understand them and will be more likely to take your view seriously. Otherwise, you risk talking at each other rather than to each other.
• Making your perspective clear: Try to avoid speaking in an impersonal way, e.g. using phrases like ‘This is the way it is …’ or ‘It’s a fact that …’. That will sound dogmatic and leaves no room for anyone else’s perspective. Why not start with ‘I think…’? And if you are presenting someone else’s views, you should say so – perhaps by formatting it as a quotation.
• Clearly showing your emotions: Emotions can be easily misunderstood when you can’t see faces or body language. For example, people may not realise you are joking, and one person’s joke can seem offensive to someone else. Emojis (which can be added in the text editor by going to Insert/Emojis…) can be used to express your feelings. Other possibilities are punctuation (‘?! #@*!’), or typing ‘<grin>’, ‘<joke>’ or similar. You should also be aware of your audience. Your co-learners may be from widely differing cultures and backgrounds; what you find funny may be offensive to them. AND FINALLY, DON’T WRITE IN CAPITAL LETTERS – IT WILL LOOK LIKE YOU’RE SHOUTING!
• Avoiding ‘flaming’: If you read something that offends or upsets you, it is very tempting to dash off a reply – but don’t! Online discussions seem to be particularly prone to such ‘flames’, often an unwitting breach of netiquette will escalate in a flaming spiral of angry messages. So, if you feel your temperature rising as you write, save your message, take a break or sleep on it.

Here’s some final advice:

• Use ‘threading’ properly. If someone replies to a message and someone replies to the reply, and so on, then the whole chain of messages is called a ‘thread’, which the forum software makes is easy to follow. If you are introducing a new topic or issue, start a new thread with a new subject line.
• Before you write a message, take time to see what is being discussed. ‘Lurking’ (reading messages without posting anything) is quite acceptable online.
• Keep messages short – people don’t want to read large chunks of text on screen.
• Write a good subject line (title) for your message – people often haven’t got time to read messages unless the subject line looks relevant.
• Keep to one subject or topic of discussion per message.
• When replying to a message, only quote part of the earlier message if you need to – if you include everything, subsequent messages get longer and longer.