Discussion Forums on the Corporate Intranet?

WallyHartshorn asks: "We are about to implement discussion forum software on our intranet at work. In preparation for this, I have been given the task of writing up a policy document. I'm curious as to what kinds of experiences other people have had with discussion forums on their company's intranet. (Just to clarify, I'm not seeking software recommendations) How much do they get used? What types of discussion areas seem to be the most useful. Forums for specific committees? Forums for specific departments? When a discussion area is to be used for a specific committee, is it useful to make the discussion area open for anyone to participate, or does that disrupt the discussion among committee members and make them less likely to voice their real opinions?"

"We are also going to have a general discussion area for socializing and discussing topics unrelated to work (weather, sports, movies, whatever). Is this generally a good idea, or does it cause too many problems and result in too much wasted time?"

Companies that have an intranet may benefit from having such a system, however like any tool, these can be abused (loss of productivity and political infighting for example), and such issues should be taken into account before the system is deployed. What policies can be attempted on such systems which will mitigate some of the drawbacks of discussion forums without curbing the benefits?

Comments

Liability potential can be HUGE

[Raetsel]

If your discussion threads are purely professional, you don't need to worry. If you can get your users to do this, please let me know how you did it... you might even get a Nobel Prize for an achievement on that scale.

The liability of discussions groups and archives of such came out quite vividly with Netscape vs. Microsoft vs. The World. There was an internal news server, and two of the groups on that server gained Microsoft's attention: 'Bad Attitude' and 'Really Bad Attitude'. Microsoft subpoenaed the whole thing, and Netscape got a lesson in uniform application of their Document Retention Policy.

• (Jamie Zawinski's
• account of the fiasco)

The basic point here is...

• Discussion groups meet the legal standard for "written communication" They can be subpoenaed. You can go to jail for contempt of court if you try to refuse.

  So...

• Make a retention policy and stick to it!
• Certain topics/information have statutory retention lengths. Make sure you're legal, and going to keep whatever branch of the government happy (SEC, IRS, FBI, ATF, TLA...)
• On the other hand, if there is something ethically questionable or possibly criminal discussed, you can be held liable for destruction of evidence if you know the contents, and then erase the messages. If the CEO comes down and says "Erase everything in company.financial.off_shore_bank.secret_accounts", don't read it first.
• Similarly, be mindful of what's on your backup tapes, and where they are. If there is confidential intellectual property discussed, take the extra steps to safeguard it.

  Last thing,

• Remember that retention policy!

Well, that's my two cents. Good luck!

What I did...

[GreyyGuy]

I put together something similar for the company I work for. The topic of a specific policy for the discussion areas never came up, but then the company has a pretty simple electronic messaging policy which covers email and internet/intranet activity.

One other thing that I think keeps people on their better behavior is that they are required to sign into the webpage to post a message, and their name gets attached to everything they put out there.

Something that you might be more concerned about is getting people to use it. The areas I have setup are for this global company with probably around 1000 or so people reading the website and discussion area but there are usually only 3-5 posts a week. A discussion area needs a large population to get a lot of activity, or at least a small population of outspoken individuals who are comfortable using the website as a communication tool. The group I work with is just finally coming around to using the web as a means of communication but it has taken nearly a year for people to get interested in it and using it.

Good Luck with your effort!