Yep, that’s right…that old, cheeky Cheers theme song has been a recurring annoyance in my head since I started thinking about and researching forums for this blog. There’s a good reason for that – it seems that in a lot of the tight-knit forums focusing on highly specialized, exclusive sets of skills, like methodically playing World of Warcraft, most everyone already knows each other, since many of the same people tend to post (sometimes, in alarming amounts…how do you have time for anything else?). That’s one reason it can sometimes be intimidating to enter into a new forum; if you post something you’re not completely confident about, it’s almost like the other forum members can smell your fear, not to mention even a morsel of inaccuracy, and call you out on it. This is especially true in forums with topics as controversial (ha) as World of Warcraft and other video games (the latter forum, for instance, instantly reminds us amateur or non-gamers that it is a “Forum for MATURE Gamers.”)

Of course, there are forums out there that I might be more apt to call home, a place where I feel I can relax and enjoy a hot cup of coffee, as opposed to feeling on edge and out of place. WritersNet, for instance, is a website with a long list of links to forums where I could definitely kick up my feet. In WritersNet forums, writers, editors, and publishers of all kinds and at all stages are encouraged to share advice on “the craft and business of writing.” While some of these may be aimed at more “mature” writers, there seems to be at least two forums to coincide with almost every writer’s experience level.

Still, even if you’ve found your perfect forum fit, there are still some unspoken rules for posting that you should be aware of. Here are some forum etiquette suggestions:

-Do not post personal information about othe posters (this seemed like common, everday sense to me, not just online, virtual sense, but people seem to feel passionately about this rule).
-You can disagree, but be respectful of others; do not virtually shout at others  (i.e., use all caps and many exclamation points) or use profanity.
-Do not post the same thing over and over again. It uses up bandwidth and, most importantly, it’s annoying.
-Do not post in all caps. Ever. This is a personal pet peeve of mine, as it is rude, HARD ON THE EYES and usually adds unecessary emphasis to at least some parts of a phrase.
-You want to be as knowledgeable as possible before posting to a new forum, especially very exclusive ones relating to things like video games and politics.
-Last but not least, I have to throw in that in the more serious forums, credibility can be severly compromised by recurring and egregious grammar and spelling errors. Remember: “Let’s eat Grandma!” and “Let’s eat, Grandma!” Punctuation saves lives and your credibility in forums.