Be respectful, be nice, don’t be disruptive.
If there are problems, I may have to block non-students from posting in this category, so please don’t ruin it for everyone.
Pseudonyms are fine as usual, but I’ve disabled anonymous mode accounts (like anonymous77) from posting in the tutoring category.
And there are special rules for posting in someone else’s tutoring topic. It’s allowed, but:
The student (or I) may ask specific people (or everyone) not to post in their topic. Exclusions can also be based on subject (disallowing posts about some subjects, or only allowing posts on specified subjects). No reason is needed to exclude people or posts
It’s important that students feel free not to respond to or engage with comments in their topics. To help with this, comments from others are not allowed to ask questions, make requests, or tell the student what to do or think. What you may do is share helpful thoughts and analysis in a positive, non-judgmental way. If you see errors in a student’s work that you think they’d want to know about, you can explain your criticism without being mean or presenting yourself as an authority.
One of the best kinds of comments is sharing your experiences working on the same issue the student is now working on. If you speak about what worked or didn’t work for you, or how you overcame the issue, that can be especially helpful.
As an alternative to clarifying questions, you may point out ambiguities or incompletenesses. E.g. you could comment that you see two ways to read something and explain the two ways without requesting that the student clarify what they meant. Pointing that out could be helpful, and the student might or might not volunteer a clarification.
Remember that someone else’s topic is about them, not about you. Don’t try to draw attention to yourself. Don’t clutter up the topic. If you want to say something that’s somewhat off-topic or tangential, consider posting about it in a different topic (you can branch to a new topic, use a quote, or just talk bring up the issue elsewhere).
If you’re interested in tutoring, see Asynchronous Tutoring Offer and Tutoring Calls Offering.