Guidelines for responding to feedback
Updated May 1, 1997
Please attempt to follow the guidelines listed below when answering feedback to the Talk.Origins Archive.
- Try to keep your responses brief. The feedback page is not meant to be a forum for discussion or lengthy explanations. That's what the FAQs and the newsgroup are for. There may be exceptions to this rule -- for instance, when there isn't a good FAQ that answers the reader's question -- but in general try to keep your responses down to two or three paragraphs. One good way to shorten your responses is to provide references to relevant talk.origins FAQs.
- Avoid responding to a letter that someone else has already responded to unless it is absolutely necessary. The new feedback system allows you to respond to feedback that another person has already answered. However, you should only use this new feature when it makes really good sense to do so. For instance, if the first response only answers one part of the reader's comment or question, you may want to add your own response to deal with another part. But in general, try to keep it down to one response per feedback letter.
- Include links to talk.origins FAQs wherever possible. It is common for readers to send feedback before locating an existing FAQ that adequately answers their questions or comments. Please make liberal use of links to archive FAQs and articles. You can also link to other locations on the web, but give preference to articles in the archive whenever possible. Use the HTML anchor syntax to reference a web page. (For example, <A HREF="/faqs/faq-god.html">The God and Evolution FAQ</A> becomes The God and Evolution FAQ.).
- Edit the reader's feedback if it is too long. People who submit feedback are urged to keep their letters short. They are also warned that their letters may be edited for length. Do not hesitate to edit a feedback letter if it is too long or if you only plan to deal with a small portion of the letter. The feedback pages should be interesting to read, so there shouldn't be a lot of irrelevant material. Other things you should consider editing out of a user's feedback are greetings and closings.
- Be cordial. If you find yourself wanting to rip the reader's head off for his or her ignorance, give yourself some time to cool off and come back to the letter at a later time. Responses to feedback should be as polite as possible. We don't want to alienate anyone with a derisive tone; too many people already see scientists as arrogant.
- Avoid irrelevant feedback. Please do not respond to letters that deal solely with topics that are irrelevant to talk.origins or this archive. A typical example of such a topic is the existence of God. The archive receives many letters from readers trying to proselytize.
- Avoid responding to people who write many letters. Sometimes people use the feedback page to vent their frustrations, and in the process they send the archive a new letter each week (or even each day). Try to avoid responding to these people. The feedback page should not be dominated by one individual's letters.
- Complete all fields in the response form. When you respond to feedback, you'll be shown a form with several text-entry fields. Make sure to complete them all. If you're the first person to respond to a letter, there will be two large text boxes, one containing the reader's letter, and another for your response. You may edit in both boxes. If you're the second (or later) person responding to a letter, there will be three text boxes, one containing the reader's original letter, another containing the letter as edited by the last person to respond, and a third one for your response. Only changes to the second and third boxes will be saved in this case.
- Use italicization and boldfacing commands sparingly. Feel free to use the HTML italicization and boldfacing commands. For example, <I>This text will be italicized</I> and <B>this text will be boldfaced</B>. But don't over-use them. Too much font play can distract from the point you're trying to make.
