diff --git a/discussion_policy.htm b/discussion_policy.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14eb913
--- /dev/null
+++ b/discussion_policy.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+<html>
+
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
+<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0">
+<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
+<title>Boost Discussion Policy</title>
+</head>
+
+<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
+
+<table border="1" bgcolor="#007F7F" cellpadding="2">
+  <tr>
+    <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="../c++boost.gif" alt="c++boost.gif (8819 bytes)" width="277" height="86"></td>
+    <td><a href="../index.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>Home</big></font></a></td>
+    <td><a href="../libs/libraries.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>Libraries</big></font></a></td>
+    <td><a href="../people/people.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>People</big></font></a></td>
+    <td><a href="faq.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>FAQ</big></font></a></td>
+    <td><a href="index.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>More</big></font></a></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<h1>Boost Discussion Policy</h1>
+<p>Email discussion is the tie that binds boost members together into a community.
+If the discussion is stimulating and effective, the community thrives.&nbsp; If
+the discussion degenerates into name calling and ill will, the community withers
+and dies.</p>
+<h2>Acceptable topics</h2>
+<ul>
+  <li>Queries to determine interest in a possible library submission.</li>
+  <li>Technical discussions about a proposed or existing library, including bug
+    reports and requests for help.</li>
+  <li>Formal Reviews of proposed libraries.</li>
+  <li>Reports of user experiences with Boost libraries.</li>
+  <li>Boost administration or policies.</li>
+  <li>Compiler specific workarounds as applied to Boost libraries.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Other topics related to boost development may be acceptable, at the discretion of moderators. If unsure, go ahead and post. The moderators
+will let you know.</p>
+<h2>Unacceptable topics</h2>
+<ul>
+  <li>Advertisements for commercial products.</li>
+  <li>Requests for help getting non-boost code to compile with your compiler.
+    Try the comp.lang.c++.moderated newsgroup instead.</li>
+  <li>Requests for help interpreting the C++ standard.&nbsp; Try the comp.std.c++
+    newsgroup instead.</li>
+</ul>
+<h2>Prohibited behavior</h2>
+<p>Prohibited behavior will not be tolerated.&nbsp; The moderators will ban
+postings by abusers.</p>
+<h3>Flame wars</h3>
+<p>Personal insults, argument for the sake of argument, and all the other
+behaviors which fall into the &quot;flame war&quot; category are
+prohibited.&nbsp; Discussions should focus on technical arguments, not the
+personality traits or motives of participants.</p>
+<h3>Third-party attacks</h3>
+<p>Attacks on third parties such as software vendors, hardware vendors, or any
+other organizations, are prohibited.&nbsp; Boost exists to unite and serve the
+entire C++ community, not to disparage the work of others.</p>
+<p>Does this mean that we ban the occasional complaint or wry remark about a
+troublesome compiler?&nbsp; No, but be wary of overdoing it.</p>
+<h3>Off-topic posts</h3>
+<p>Discussions which stray from the acceptable topics are strongly discouraged.
+While off-topic posts are often well meaning and not as individually corrosive
+as other abuses, cumulatively the distraction damages the effectiveness of
+discussion.</p>
+<h2>Culture</h2>
+<p>In addition to technical skills, Boost members value collaboration,
+acknowledgement of the help of others, and a certain level of politeness.&nbsp; Boost
+membership is very international, and ranges widely in age and other
+characteristics. Think of discussion as occurring among colleagues in a widely read forum, rather
+than among a few close friends.</p>
+<h2>Guidelines for effective discussions</h2>
+<p>Apply social engineering to prevent heated technical discussion from
+degenerating into a shouting match.</p>
+<ul>
+  <li>Questions help.&nbsp; If someone suggests something that you don't think
+    will work, then replying with a question like &quot;will that compile?&quot;
+    or &quot;won't that fail to compile, or am I missing something?&quot; is a
+    lot smoother than &quot;That's really stupid - it won't compile.&quot;&nbsp;
+    Saying &quot;that fails to compile for me, and seems to violate section
+    n.n.n or the standard&quot; would be yet another way to be firm without
+    being abrasive.</li>
+  <li>If most of the discussion has been code-free generalities, posting a bit
+    of sample code can focus people on the practical issues.</li>
+  <li>If most of the discussion has been in terms of specific code, try to talk
+    a bit about hidden assumptions and generalities that may be preventing
+    discussion closure.</li>
+  <li>Taking a time-out is often effective.&nbsp; Just say: &quot;Let me think
+    about that for a day or two.&nbsp; Let's take a time-out to digest the
+    discussion so far.&quot;</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Avoid Parkinson's Bicycle Shed.&nbsp; Parkinson described a committee formed
+to oversee design of an early nuclear power plant.&nbsp; There were three agenda
+items - when to have tea, where to put the bicycle shed, and how to
+ensure nuclear safety.&nbsp; Tea was was disposed of quickly as trivial.&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Nuclear safety was discussed for only
+an hour - it was so complex, scary, and technical that even
+among experts few felt comfortable with the issues.&nbsp; Endless days were then
+spent discussing where to put the bicycle shed (the parking lot would
+be a modern equivalent) because everyone
+understood the issues and felt comfortable discussing them.&nbsp;</p>
+<hr>
+<p>Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->28 December, 2000<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="38518" -->
+</p>
+
+</body>
+
+</html>
