This area allows members of the IUCN to effectively share their ideas, experiences and recommendations to a global community of colleagues. The Forums are easy to use, and work much like electronic mailing list.

The first main difference between the forums and mailing lists is that in a web-based forum, members must visit the forum web site and post and view a message (rather than sending an e-mail message) that is automatically redistributed to all members on the list. This means that members should get into the habit of visiting the site to send and receive messages. There are several advantages to electronic forums. Using them, members do not clutter their e-mail boxes. Messages are stored in a collective area and won’t be lost, and members can search through archived messages to discover all submissions and discussions that have occurred. Unlike e-mail, the Forums also cluster initial comments (topics) and their replies together (threads), so that users can easily follow the discussions sequentially.

The second main difference is security. The Forums are divided into public and private discussions. Some discussions are completely open, while others are open only to a restricted list of subscribers (IUCN members). This allows for the creation of private or sensitive discussion areas where users can be comfortable dealing with complex issues in a way that is not possible in an open forum.

Several simple rules of Internet etiquette can optimize this experience for everyone:

1. Always be professional, polite and diplomatic: Some issues may involve strong differences of opinion. The purpose of discussion is to create shared understandings and find common ground solutions to wilderness issues. Members should not use inflammatory language or personal insults, and instead apply practical and courteous solutions for conflicts.

2. Privacy in the Forums must be fully respected: Members who engage in discussions or post in private areas expect that the area is only available to the designated. Those who make electronic documents or other material available in closed Forums and also wish to make them publicly available should contact the site administrator or moderator to have them deposited in the Library. All discussions and materials on this Website belong to the authors or copyright holders. Members should not forward any comments or materials in the Public or Private Forums without the expressed permission of the authors or copyright holders, unless these have been made available under a Creative Commons License or other explicit terms and conditions for open sharing.

3. Members of private forums should not allow others use their passwords to access these areas.