Useful guidelines

To avoid any accusation of bullying, please follow these guidelines closely:

• Begin every post with IMHO to indicate that you are not implying that your opinion has any validity and, indeed, you are not even sure that you have the right to have an opinion, let alone express it.

• Agree with all previous posts, especially if they contradict each other.

• Do not agree with the same person on more than two threads in a single day as this is clearly ganging up and forming a clique to threaten and distress other posters.

• Never ignore a post as this not only indicates that you have nothing worthwhile to say in response but also, obviously, implies that you consider yourself to be superior to the poster.

• Never ask for clarification of a post, especially if it is particularly vague, equivocal, ill-informed or fatuous.

• Never clarify or attempt further to explain anything in a post you have made, particularly if it has been wildly misrepresented in a reply. In fact, agree that the misrepresentation is what you really meant to say in the first place and express gratitude to whoever pointed this out.

• Do not be offended or hurt by blatant insults crossed through or thinly disguised as jokes, as this reveals that you are not just a bully, but humourless as well.

• Never point out factual inaccuracy, lack of logic or syllogism in a post as this deliberately undermines the validity of that post.

• When a poster tells you that she has received personal messages of support of her point of view, graciously accept defeat, apologise immediately and withdraw from the threat. Do not under any circumstances respond that you have also received personal messages of support as this is evidence of cliques and ganging up.

• In the unfortunate event of someone accusing you of bullying another poster, apologise profusely and publicly to both of them, ignoring any protestations from the poster named that she did not feel bullied. Do not post on that thread again and, ideally, do not post on any thread for at least a week as an act of contrition.

• When someone declares that enough has been said on any given topic, agree instantly and stop posting immediately.