Posted By Steve There is a bit of a useful spin off from having the occasional flick through these forum threads. You can quickly spot the same recurring names, and I actually divide them into two groups. Those who my gut instinct tells me, are genuinely knowledgeable, and who use the facility on an ‘as needs’ basis to propagate professional discussion. Then there are those who seem to spend an inordinate amount of (work?) time on the forum engaged in what looks ‘one upmanship’ rhetoric, which really, isn’t discussion is it?. Also, who’s doing the day job? The ‘spin off’ though, is that it’s a helpful filter when one starts scouting for prospective safety professionals. Even without understanding the detail of the item under ‘discussion’ its very easy to gauge a person’s management skill and integrity, from the way they portray themselves on public forums like this. Just a thought, colleagues......

Posted By Kirsty Davies2 Hmmm! Interesting!!! I've never seen any posts of lot of people after 5pm. Does this mean that they use their work times? Anyway, what's wrong with it? Atleast, it's better than playing games (Plus this gives a learning tool)

Posted By Adam Worth On other forums I've been apart of people are 'ranked' by the quality / quantity of their posts. Maybe we need some ranks :) Something to aim for... oh look it's almost home time.

Posted By Tarquin Farquor How about a 'rate this response' or 'rate this poster' facility, similar to that for ebay etc.

Posted By Tarquin Farquor Sorry Adam, I see you've already mentioned that. In which case I support your comments. What is oneupmanship? Is there a definition for it? Is there also oneupwomanship? What about if non same genders are trying to get one over on each other? Should the term be oneuppersonship? For me I rarely post on the forums know, which catagory should I be in 'You decide' (in a big brother voice over affect style. Ps: this is my own time and I appreciate that I probably haven't contributed to the aim of your posting (apologies). TF

Posted By Graham Bullough By strange coincidence I saw this thread immediately after posting a response to the thread about "Presenteeism", in which I included a suggestion that spending time responding to threads is a form of presenteeism, i.e. being at work but not doing the work. No doubt I can alienate yet a few more readers by suggesting that thread posters and responders can readily be classified into "slapdash" and non-slapdash" according to the number and degree of typing errors present. Everyone, including me, makes mistakes, but some of the typing errors (including ones in the thread subject headings) suggest that their writers simply couldn't be bothered to glance through what they've typed before hitting the transmit button. Another classification for some responders could be "negative" and "positive". Negative responders can be recognised by sneering comments and/or responses which contribute little or nothing to knowledge and understanding about occupational safety and health (OS&H) via this forum. To those who might regard my comments above about major typing errors as sneering, I would claim that they comprise constructive criticism. It's also worth drawing attention to the fact that everything posted on this forum is liable to be read by a wide audience within and beyond the field of OS&H. Most responses are neutral to positive, including the jocular "Friday" type postings which provide some light relief and help to demonstrate that most of us are normal people with a sense of humour - a useful asset for work and life in general. Some postings, thank goodness, are highly positive. One example of this was the response by Nigel Bryson in two of the recent threads about the "Fun Police" TV documentary in which he made various good practical suggestions about actions which each of us can take, as individuals and collectively, to improve awareness and understanding of OS&H. I've never met Nigel, but he certainly conveyed to me a positive attitude from what he wrote and suggested. What sorts of impressions do the rest of us create with what we write on this forum?

Posted By Decimomal We mustn't assume of course that all posters are at work when they contribute. There could be all sorts of combinations: Holiday Day Off Part Time Workers Long Term Sick Unemployed - Redundant Retired Living in a different time zone My mistake is that I tick the box when I contribute and then can't resist looking again when my e-mail pings.

Posted By Kirsty Davies2 Who is committed enough to participate in the forums on Christmas day?