Effective communication is a skill that takes work, experience and perseverance to achieve. A question always in the back of my mind is what is the communication intended to achieve?

The Community Guidelines tell us: "This is, first and foremost, a self-help support community. That means if your message (post or PM) isn't about offering support to another person or asking for it, it's potentially not appropriate for our community."

"Offering support," therefore, is a requisite to posting philosophies. There are many definitions and nuances to consider when determining what "support" means in the context of this site: http://www.onelook.com/?w=support&ls=a

The lack of consensus about what it means to "offer support" makes improving the level of support being offered more difficult. I view offering support as help and kindness that you give to someone who is having a difficult time. If I cannot be helpful and kind, I do not respond.

These links may pique your interests in the context of philosophical approaches to support:

http://www.mentalhealthpeers.com/pdf...portUnique.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_support