Guidelines for offers and requests - posting new notices
One FORM is used for all offers and requests (notices) in these forums.
Please double-check that you are in the correct forum before composing and posting a new notice. The form for writing a new notice will appear on your screen when you click on "New Notice", in any of the editing and translation forums.
Ten fields should be filled out. The notice cannot be posted if the "required" fields are not filled out. Your nickname (or real name) and password must also be entered.
For a more general introduction to this website see explanation of main menu and how this site works.
Below, we explain the use of forms in more detail.
Forms make it easy to convey the most essential information
The forms are designed to help you and the readers or your offer or request. An outline of the standard form is given below. If you want, you can print this article out and compose your notice on paper before going online.
By using the forms, we can be sure that at least a minimum amount of necessary information is conveyed in every notice, and that all relevant notices will be found when the search button is used.
Please note that our website search engine does not look at all fields. It does not look at items 3 (Country, city, catch-phrase - the notice title), and 6 (Preferred language(s) for correspondence), in order to avoid duplication and confusion in the search results, as explained next.
When replies are posted online to an offer or request notice, the notice title appears in every reply. The search engine would locate every reply containing the keyword used, as well as every notice. Regarding item 6, we are more interested in the working languages (item 8) than the languages preferred for contact, so item 6 is excluded from the search process.
FORM OUTLINE
- Nickname
- Password
- Country, city, catch-phrase (required)
- When available or needed (X day-mth-yr to Y date, or open-ended)
- Preferred contact address (email, reply to this forum, other)
- Preferred language(s) for correspondence
- Research area(s) offered or required (broad areas, e.g. physics, law)
- Working language(s) (e.g. A for editing, A to B for translation)
- Skill level(s) offered or required (learner, experienced, professional)
- Further details (something must be entered here)
Below this form you will see two further items:
Options: Show signature (this can be altered or added in your profile)
Notify by email when replies are posted It is best to choose both of these options so that people can be more confident about who you are, and so that you are notified when someone has replied to you notice online. The message sent to you by email is automatic, so you do not have to keep looking at the website to know if any replies have been made online. With "further details" in your notice, you can be creative and say more about yourself and the work involved. This will help readers to understand your offer or request, a first step in building trust (see also our article on building trust and working relationships). You can also use this space to say something about payment methods, if payment is offered or required (see comments concerning money and payments).