Test the water before diving in.

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Standard netiquette holds that before plunging into active participation in an online forum or a listserv, the prospective participant should first acclimatize him or herself with the general tenor of the group. Read the threads for a while, and then start to participate. (Actually, the usual advice, written years ago, says "read the FAQ", but hardly anyone writes these anymore.)

But that sort of advice is directed more toward people who are experimenting on their own. As I've already noted, I've usually observed people starting out in forums in a classroom setting, and in a setting such as this there's only a limited amount of time that can be devoted to them. So usually we devote only a few minutes to observing before I ask them to start responding to, and posting new, messages. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised that most of these people rarely go on to seek out forums that actually interest them. And that's a pity.

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Go to: ... what's next?, or
Go to: on erasing an online forum.