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Page updated:
30 October 2002

TELEWORKING

European Telework Online:
Online discussion of telework, telecommuting, e-commerce and related topics

Good practice Guidelines for Online Discussion
and
- Rules of the Telework Forum -

The free of charge provision of these resources is made possible by our sponsors:

Good practice Guidelines for Online Discussion
and
- Rules of the Telework Forum -

These best practice guidelines have been distilled over five years experience in managing and supporting the European Telework Online discussion facilities, which currently include email based forums in three languages. The main English-language telework forum has more than 600 subscribers. A further 2,000 people receive the Announcements. To join the group, see How to join in the right hand panel.

For the benefit of all subscribers these guidelines are gently enforced in the main European Telework Online public discussion forum. Many other online forums have found these guidelines useful and have adapted them for their own use. With Communities Online, European Telework Online is supporting a project to provide comprehensive guidelines for people and organisations that wish to run successful online forums.

Don't be put off reading these guidelines by their apparent length and detail - most of it is common sense, the rest will greatly help you to enjoy a fruitful participation in ours or other forums and online forums.
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Guidelines

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General Guidance - Good Practice

  • Keep your messages short - if you want to write an essay put it on a web page or somewhere else where people can look at it if they choose, then send a short message to the forum announcing it
    Note: Articles relevant to telework, teletrade, telecooperation and related topics are welcome at the European Telework Online site, please send (in any standard format but preferably html) to eto-info@eto.org.uk. Alternatively, put a link to your own website in the Resources Database.
  • Even if you are using a MIME compliant email program please only send messages in PLAIN TEXT mode. This makes it easier for everyone to read and respond to your message.
  • Only reply if you have something new to add - don't send messages just saying "I agree with Fred" or similar - unless Fred is isolated and really needs support. Silence is generally taken to imply agreement!
  • Reply to the forum not to the sender of the message - messages to a discussion 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. The forum address is teleworkforum@eto.org.uk. But you have to join before the forum will accept your message!

    Note: Please don't use "Reply to all". This will send a copy to the forum plus a copy to the sender. The sender will get two copies. If the sender also uses "Reply to all", you will get two copies: this can escalate and be a real nuisance to everyone concerned. Post messages only to the forum unless you have a really good reason to copy someone else!

  • Keep your messages within the general topic area of the forum - telework, teletrade or telecooperation and related matters of general interest at European or international level. There are lots of other discussion and announcement places for other topics and general messages.

  • Special note: Announcements

    Announcements of local and national events etc are welcome but
    (a) please send only the very basic details (put the rest of the information on the web);
    (b) please make sure you send announcements to eto-notices@eto.org.uk not to the discussion forum.
    (c) Include date, place, topic, type of event, and where to get more details - preferably a www address or an email address.
    Please enter the details in the Events Calendar before you send us your announcement.

  • 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. (see below for when to "change topics")
  • 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

    Example: Someone has been writing about
    - "How to get more people teleworking"
    - The subject has moved to a discussion of "barriers to telework
    - From there it has moved on to "the lack of cheap Internet connections in some countries"
    As soon as you realise that your message is really about "Internet availability" not about telework, change the topic!

    This is an example of "topic drift". Never be afraid to change the subject line to something more suitable when this kind of drift has taken place, even if you are not the first person to write about the new topic.

  • 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.
  • 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. Some would say this is the most important guideline of all!
  • Never be rude or dismissive about someone's messages - if you have any complaints about other people's behaviour 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, Fred Bloggs

    or simply

    Fred Bloggs

    This helps to make the discussion friendly, since people can then say "I agree with Fred that . . . " or "Hello Fred, thanks for your useful comment. My own view is that . . . " This is particularly important if your name isn't clear from your email address. For the main Telework Forum we insist that people sign with their names, it is not an appropriate place for anonymous debate.

    Note: If you have a particular reason for needing to remain anonymous write to the Forum manager and we will try to help. For example if you live in a country where open participation in international debate could cause you problems with the authorities!

Please do not use the forum for . . .

Please avoid using the European Telework Online discussion forum for the following purposes:

  • Sending attached files - the forum server will not pass attached files through to the subscribers. If someone raises a question that you think can best be answered by reference to an existing document, we suggest you either:
    • Post a message in the forum telling them it exists and how to get a copy or preferably;
    • put it on the www and provide the URL in your message
    • put an entry about it in the Resources Database or the Events Calendar as appropriate

      If your document is of general interest regarding telework, teletrade, telecooperation or related issues, and you can't put it on the web direct, send a copy to us at eto-info@eto.org.uk and we will consider mounting it at the ETO site. Note that you must provide or obtain clearance from any copyright owners.

  • Advertising - other than short, informative notices about telework, teletrade or telecooperation related events, programmes, publications and new products and services. If you wish to advertise products and/or services world wide, regionally or on a country-by-country basis, see Advertising at this site.
  • Questionnaires of any kind - if you are seeking respondents to a questionnaire read the ETO FAQ: How can I get help with my telework research project?
  • Requests for help with private MBA, PhD or commercial research - information about and requests for help with significant new telework-related research projects are welcome, but not questionnaires, again please read the FAQ mentioned above before posting requests for help of this kind. Joining the discussion or provoking a relevant discussion is much more productive than a simple request for help.
  • General non-telework issues on the Information Society or other EC or national programmes - the European Commission runs an ISPO (Information Society Project Office) forum for Information Society discussion purposes
  • 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 organisation) 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; 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, but please send them to eto-info@eto.org.uk not to 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!
  • Forwarding messages or announcements you receive from other people or lists etc. If anyone wants to join the discussion they are welcome to join the forum. Announcements should be sent to the announcements list (post to eto-notices@eto.org.uk). By all means use the forum to pass on snippets of useful information - specially as a stimulus to discussion - but think first whether the item can be better circulated as an announcement; the announcements are seen by all the discussion forum subscribers but also by a much larger network of people.

About "quoting" in replies to the forum

A common practice in newsgroups, forums, email discussion lists 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 its 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 Telework Forum. Here are some basic guidelines for "quoting":

  • Only quote when its 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 phone time for everyone to download, more file space for anyone who wants to keep the messages for posterity, and no value whatever.
  • Quoting may be more appropriate on a very busy forum, where there may be several threads running and people have difficulty keeping track of the discussion, but even then please use it selectively. Quoting may be appropriate in the kind of forum or newsgroup where people drift in, ask a question and drift out again. The Telework Forum is much more stable than this.
  • Don't relay whole texts from outside the forum to the forum (including messages from other lists or private messages you receive). Quote selectively from outside texts in the context of a relevant discussion, and tell the forum where to find the original text or the discussion forum where it originated.

Quoting messages outside the forum

The author of a message sent to the discussion forum is the copyright owner of that message but by posting it in a publicly accessible forum has effectively placed it in the public domain. Our understanding is that anyone can subsequently quote from any message, but should state:

  • who was the author
  • the date
  • where it was published

Example:

"The moon is made from green cheese" (Stuart Ringpuller, 31 February 1998, European Telework Online discussion forum, http://www.eto.org.uk)

Care should be taken not to quote out of context in a misleading way. For example if Stuart Ringpuller actually said:

"It's as crazy as saying that the moon is made from green cheese"

it would be very misleading to quote him as saying:

". . . the moon is made from green cheese"

Reposting of notices

Any announcement made by European Telework Online is placed in the public domain and may be freely used, including reposting to other lists. The normal accepted way to do this is to say where you acquired it and how to find that source at the beginning or end of the notice, for example:

Reposted from European Telework Online discussion forum
(http://www.eto.org.uk):

followed by the text of the message

or

text of message, followed by

(Reposted from European Telework Online discussion forum
http://www.eto.org.uk)

About signature blocks

We ask that participants "sign" their messages with their usual name (for example "Best wishes, Fred Bloggs", see above) and there is no objection to adding a short "signature block", for example:

Best wishes,

Fred Bloggs
Painter, Decorator and General Household Repairs
fred.bloggs@somenet.co.de
http://www.fredbloggs.co.de

However please don't make your signature block much longer than this 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!

A special note for fluent English readers/writers

The main Telework discussion forum has a European and International focus and the more than 1000 subscribers come from some 80 countries world wide. Many subscribers have English as a second or even third language. In some cases they have excellent and valuable contributions to make but they need time to read what has been written and compose their response.

In contrast, those who are very fluent in English find it easy to read the message and dash off a reply, so that on some occasions we find that the discussion of a topic moves forward at a great pace - two people may exchange views in the forum more than once in a single day.

Someone who may be trying to make a considered response could be deeply frustrated by this, since the discussion has moved on and the exchange of messages means he or she has to rewrite their contribution. This is a particular problem for someone whose English may not be as fluent as yours. It also means that the practical limit of discussion capacity in an email based forum is taken up by only a very few people.

For these reasons we ask that fluent English readers and writers please:

  • Constrain your contributions to the public discussion forum to a maximum of two 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, since we will make space for useful insights from those whose English is slower (or who like to think before the speak (and write)!).

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

Some Frequently Asked Questions:

  • Why does European Telework Online use simple email discussion lists - why not something more sophisticated?

  • Why is the main Telework Forum English language only? Why can't we post messages in (for example) French?

  • What are the purposes of European Telework Online and its public discussion forums?

    Please see our FAQ pages for the answers.

For comments or questions on this page, please use the feedback form
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