This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: New blog articles in Microsoft Tech Community.
First published on MSDN on Feb 16, 2017
Hello! This post continues the conversation in this series of blog posts:
- Forum Moderators Best Practices Part 1 – Behold the Forum Moderation Guide!!!
- Forum Moderation Best Practices Part 2 – Propose an answer and then mark it 7 days later
- Forum Moderation Best Practices Part 3 – Are you marking a third-party solution as the answer? Use caution!
- Forum Moderation Best Practices Part 4 – Ask the OPs to mark their own answers
- Forum Moderation Best Practices Part 5 – Mark other peoples' answers as much as possible!!!
- Forum Moderation Best Practices Part 6 – Let your Vote be Heard! (I wonder what it’s saying.)
We’ve been digging into one article in particular, where we (Microsoft TechNet/MSDN forum owners) hammered out some hard guidelines:
Let’s look at the next two guidelines:
6. Try to propose and mark the answers of others in the community. For example, if someone else partially answered a question, and you want to add to it, then propose both answers, not just your own. And when it comes time to marking answers, make sure you mark the other person’s answer as well (not just your own). You should be willing to unpropose and unmark your answer when appropriate. It’s a team effort.
7. You should unmark answers/proposals VERY rarely (and communicate first) . Obviously unmark answers and proposed answers if you accidentally marked them as answers but didn’t mean to (try not to do that). If you unmark an answer that was marked by the Asker/OP, then you’re being disrespectful to them. They are the client in this scenario. You’re trying to help them, not fight them. So instead you can propose additional answers, mark additional answers, or explain in a reply why you think another post is an additional answer. Another scenario where you might want to unmark an answer is if another Answerer/Moderator marked something as an answer (or if anyone proposes an answer) but was wrong (the reply is incorrect and doesn’t help in any way or the Asker came back later and said that it wasn’t an answer). If the Moderator has a reason for proposing/marking an answer, you need to discuss that reason before unmarking answers/proposals. Do not start a marking/unmarking answers war (or even a proposing/unproposing war). Instead, email the Answerer/Moderator and explain what you want to do first. It’s always better to move slowly and carefully. Think of this as a marathon and not a sprint… communicate first and act second.
So here's the background story... most of you know this, but you'll likely run into moderators who propose their own answers all the time and mark their own answers. The worst is when people only propose and mark their own answers! It really seems like they're trying to game the system and not really helping and not marking the true best answers.
However, perhaps they're just being lazy. They know their answer is right (or at least think it is, or they wouldn't have written it), and they don't want to take the time to read other answers and evaluate what the best answer is. If that's the case, then I'd recommend not proposing or marking any answers. If you're not going to spend the time to do it fairly, then perhaps you should only read and mark an answer that isn't your own (in other words, if you only have time to evaluate one answer, pick one that isn't yours). At least it's fairer and kinder that way. No one is going to accuse you of gaming the system that way (obviously).
Personally, I propose and mark my own answers A LOT. But, I propose and mark other peoples' answers 100 times more. So if you're proposing and marking your own answers one out of 100 (and you're clearly evaluating each answer), then I don't think anyone is going to even bat an eyelash at you proposing your own answers (again, if it's one out of 100).
So the general and expected behavior is to simply put others above yourself and treat it clearly.
There are many scenarios where you can't get anyone else to propose or mark answers (or it's kind of a waste of time in a few cases, where the only mods you can find really shouldn't be bothered), and no one else is really answering a question... thus there's a reason why you can propose and mark your own answers. There's a value. So the ask to moderators is to use the feature/ability wisely, with tact, kindness, and a splash of humility.
Thank yoU! Yes, the "U" is capital. Because it's you/U.
Read the next blog post in this series:
May the Forums be with you. (Plug in and don't be a rogue one.)
- Jedi Ed
PS: Where does Qui-Gon keep his jam? In a Jar-Jar.
This post is part of a conversation in this series of blog posts:
- Forum Moderators Best Practices Part 1 – Behold the Forum Moderation Guide!!!
- Forum Moderation Best Practices Part 2 – Propose an answer and then mark it 7 days later
- Forum Moderation Best Practices Part 3 – Are you marking a third-party solution as the answer? Use caution!
- Forum Moderation Best Practices Part 4 – Ask the OPs to mark their own answers
- Forum Moderation Best Practices Part 5 – Mark other peoples’ answers as much as possible!!!
- Forum Moderation Best Practices Part 6 – Let your Vote be Heard! (I wonder what it’s saying.)