Van Halen test

[Former Member]

Let's make sure everyone read the Rules of Engagement.

I issued the Van halen test as an idea: [Van Halen Test|https://ideas.sap.com/ideas/2234]

Feel free to up or down it.

Edited by: Maen Anachronos on Dec 21, 2010 1:42 PM

[Former Member]

I have a "How to" question 
In this case, the SAP Discussion Forums allow you to quickly locate information. Organized by topics in an easy-to-follow format, they are designed so you can share ideas, opinions and information, find other knowledgeable users and participate in conversations. 

I think that removing this text from the support message creation page on sapservice would help to prevent thousands of "give me the step by step procedure for the same" threads....

Regards,

Olivier

[matt]

How about a flag on the user's profile. Whenever they ask a question that's not in accordance with the rules of engagement, the moderators set the flag. When the user next posts, they have to click away a popup box which has the RoE, perhaps with a title in red saying "Really, you do need to read these". Everytime they get this popup box, the button to press to dismiss it could vary.

So the first time the question is "Have you read the RoE this time" (Y/N). They must click on Y to continue. The next time the question is "Will you break the rules any more (Y/N) ". Now they must click on N to continue.

btw - I'd never heard of the Van Halen test. I totally approve. But I don't like M&Ms of any colour.

[brad_bohn]

But I don't like M&Ms of any colour. 

You ought to lose your badge for such sacrilege!

I like the idea though. Make it as painful as possible...

[Former Member]

If i would post all the ideas i have just to annoy the (repeat) offenders... would almost seem like i'm on a holy crusade.

Let's just say that what i've read until now is only mild compared to how i personally would implement it (and i bet it would never be implemented. )

The Van Halen test was used on a guild site (indeed gaming) i was a part of. We used it to check whether applicants actually read the guild rules before even considering to apply to join the guild.

Edited by: Maen Anachronos on Dec 29, 2010 9:09 PM

[Former Member]

As much as I'm with you on the crusade against all this unwanted noise posted in the forums, I personally doubt that making anybody read the [rules of engagement|http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/HOME/RulesofEngagement] would make any difference.

A few of us (me included) would prefer to see more quality content in the SCN forums and frustrated by the apparent lack of it, we start thinking about "punishments for misbehaving". However, the underlying problem in my opinion is the current community: Obviously there's lots of people out there who enjoy asking and answering lots of trivial questions (at least it appears to me like this and I don't think it's just a few producing all this noise).

It seems apparent to me that SAP is proud of the community size and won't take any drastic measures to decrease it to improve quality. So the only solution from my perspective is to try to separate the quality content from the noise (voting comes to mind, though one might need a partially non-democratic way of voting where some "power-users" like moderators have more say than others). I certainly wouldn't mind the noise as long as I can block it out (so obviously UI design has to account for proper filtering/sorting mechanisms).

I guess things would be different if the community would be more homogeneous. E.g. in the old days of mailing lists I strongly remember groups that reacted with a unison approach to any silly/out-of-place postings: If you were lucky your silly posting was just ignored or got a couple of short and precise [RTFM|http://xkcd.com/293/] replies; noise never seemed to be a problem then.

Cheers, harald

[Former Member]

So the first time the question is "Have you read the RoE this time" (Y/N). They must click on Y to continue. The next time the question is "Will you break the rules any more (Y/N) ". Now they must click on N to continue.

I like it, also this part which means you actually have to read the popup as well.

3rd time lucky... a popup appears asking whether they have done the required basic training in the area or at least read the documentation. Answer is "Yes".

4th time is the same question, but when they move their cursor over "Yes", it is immediately displayed as "No" --> they have to click on "No" ten times to be able to return to question 3 again...

This will save moderators a lot of hassle from spammers and interview question series as well as "do all my work for me" clowns.

+ 1

Julius

[marilyn_pratt]

Just rereading this after revisiting the idea in Idea Place and thinking with some of our team about smart [Van Halen |http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/143/made-to-stick-the-telltale-brown-mampm.html] tests.

(David Branan must be the "ace" at pulling all the brown m&m's and I loved some of the other smart (and entertaining) references here.

We were revisiting the idea of using some questionmark "testing" as part of the newbie treatment.

Thoughts?

[former_member184657]

It's a pity I can vote only once.

pk

[jurjen_heeck]

 Let's make sure everyone read the Rules of Engagement.

I like the idea. Unfortunaly the test does nothing more than that, making them read it once....

[Former Member]

I know but it's a start to force people to actually read it.

Then again: offenders can be 'annoyed' (until they better their behaviour) by keep presenting them the Van Halen test. For that the Van Halen test should be dynamic.

But it's all software and we all know what we can do with that...

[OttoGold]

I like the idea. Unfortunaly the test does nothing more than that, making them read it once.... 

+1 more than the current status:))

[marilyn_pratt]

I've "plused" it. Reading it once is once more than most have read it.

One of the major questions should be around "Search before you post" and also a clear indication of what happens when you post a question that has been asked numerous times.

[David]

I also voted in favor even though I like brown M&Ms.