• Excessively long messages (exceeding 4 sentences) reduce the readability of the Bulletin and may be given a lower priority in typing or translation; or have a policy accepting only single sentence messages (see Forms / D1).

• An excessive number of messages from the same participant on the same point. An editorial decision may be taken to omit most of them or simply to refer to the fact that more messages on the same point have been received from the same source (see Editorial Pre-Processing / E10; Identity / E2)

• Abusive personal messages (e.g. derogatory criticism of a speaker) may simply be omitted if public airing of the opinion is unlikely to produce further productive interaction or be relevant to the group as a whole. But the person being disparaged may welcome the opportunity to respond in an appended note; some speakers welcome hecklers, and this is likely to be even more true with written comments.

• Deliberately abusive impersonal messages may also be omitted. But if there is a grain of truth in the statement it can make interesting reading, possibly with an "editorial comment" attached. Some organizers may welcome the opportunity of responding to such messages in an "appended note".

• Embarrassing messages or sensitive issues, such as the question "Who is funding this conference?" may either be omitted, carefully answered or referred to the person in question to handle privately.

• Personal and dating messages again may simply be omitted or included depending on their content. A message such as "Anyone free for dinner in town after the Wednesday plenary?" may be acceptable. Qualifications as to desired respondents may not. (This is a problem faced and solved in different ways by newspaper advertisement editors).

Deliberate misuse of another's name is only likely to arise in rare cases. Falsification of identity may be detected by an observant assistant when the message is delivered or processed. Then it can quickly be corrected by a verbal announcement and a written message. This problem is more serious if the message is printed and person has already left the conference. A simple solution is described in Identity / E2.

Tampering with message boxes and removal of messages from boxes is again only likely to occur in special situations. Boxes can be locked or supervised, or abandoned altogether for hand collection.

Given the "pump priming" precedent (see Pump Priming / E3), participants may wish to ensure that the process as a whole is not subject to editorial manipulation. It is in this connection that the editorial committee option could be valuable (see Editorial Committee / E4). Sticking the original messages onto a wall display also allays fears (see Wall Space / Horus Wall Display / I7)

Written by Nadia McLaren, Union of International Associations, with revisions and HTML layout by Robert Pollard, Information Habitat: Where Information Lives.