If you would like to help make our regular astro-ph discussions better, follow these rules of thumb:

1. Read the abstract of the papers you vote for, and try to understand each paper’s results. Extra credit for actually reading the paper itself!
2. Vote early, preferably right after reading the day’s new postings. This will give people time to go over the papers that will be likely discussed the following day.
3. Read the abstracts that are already in the agenda, so that you will be ready to talk about those papers.
4. Suggest papers you want to know more about to your local experts. This will encourage people who know the subject to vote on the paper.
5. Comment on papers frequently. A few relevant references can really help non-experts participate in the discussion.

And that’s it!