Include a direct link to an external reference or site
Concise arguments, questions, and a good title go a long way toward promoting a conversation. If you refer to an outside reference or site, include a direct link to it. You can use HTML, which is a hypertext language, to easily create a link in your post. The coding will look like this:
<A HREF="Internet Address">these words will show up as the link</A>
Yes, all those carets, quotation marks, and slashes are part of the code. Here’s a before and after example:
Before
This is a great discussion! You might also be interested in <A HREF=" http://news.morningstar.com/news/ms/Strategist/Dogs/strategistdogs.html">this article</A> on Morningstar.com.
After
This is a great discussion! You might also be interested in this article on Morningstar.com.
It's cumbersome to type in a complete Internet address, commonly called a URL, so here's a shortcut: Open the site you want to link to in your browser and highlight the URL in the browser's address line. Then click the right mouse button to bring up the Copy/Paste menu, and choose Copy. Return to your message in Morningstar Office and position your cursor to the spot in your message where you want to create the link. Use the Ctrl/V command to paste the URL into your post.
Click the Preview button, located below the Conversation Message window, to make sure everything appears the way you intended.
Target your audience
Please post your topic only once, to the appropriate forum. Posting the same topics to multiple forums breaks up the replies and makes for a less cohesive conversation. That’s why a moderator will delete multiple posts, leaving only one available for replies. It’s okay to re-post a topic that lacked an initial response or originated in the wrong forum. But please use the forum descriptions to guide your post to the right audience.
Some general "netiquette" tips
PLEASE DO NOT TYPE IN ALL CAPS – it's the online equivalent of shouting, hard on the eyes, and is generally just a rude thing to do.
Stay on-topic. If you want to digress, you might think about starting a new topic.
When in doubt, use an emoticon. Those smiley faces won’t seem so silly after you’ve had a few joking comments misconstrued :^)
Write to be understood. Remember to kindly use the space bar, return key, period, and question mark in your posts—your readers will appreciate it!
Read it back before you post - every one makes the occasional spelling or grammatical mistake, but please take time to read your post before posting it for all to see!