Presented for your amusement: During my past couple of years in graduate school, studying integrated marketing communications, I've been subjected to reading sometimes insufferable meanderings from some of my fellow students on a discussion board. Their sins and follies will be clear.
1. Spell properly.
2. Use good grammar. The style of a post can be less formal than an academic
paper, but that is not carte blanche for language abuse.
3. The word "media" is plural. It is not "mediums" or
"medias."
4. How you feel is irrelevant. How you think
may not be. Likewise, what you believe seldom counts. What
you know and can prove matters.
5. Don't use clichés.
6. Don't use big words when small ones will do. Smart people can spot posers.
7. Superfluous "quotes" are "irritating."
8. Don't dance. Be succinct. Indulge in no tangents! Stick to the point.
Always refer to the original question.
9. Adding "Thoughts?" at the end of a post does not stimulate
conversation in a meaningful way.
10. "Good post!" or simply agreeing with a post doesn't advance
the discussion. Don't apple polish. Being respectfully critical enhances
the conversation.
11. Make posts relevant to the original question. Focusing upon an example
case without relevance to the question is worse than no post at all, because
everyone is forced to read something that doesn't have any significance
to the question.
12. References to the lesson, assigned readings and relevant outside sources
are helpful.
13. When quoting outside sources, use only relevant portions. Ellipses (…)
are a reader's friend.
14. Long quotes from outside sources without your thoughtful commentaries
do not prove you know the subject.
15. Don't use Wikipedia as a source.
16. Don't quote yourself.