Moderation in QM space

[nitin_jinagal]

Hello QM folks,

I need to get your views on this. Lets have a healthy discussion!!

Thought of starting this discussion came into my mind after Space editors and moderator names started appearing on the forum page itself. May be this has happened after one of the recent shutdown breaks taken by SCN. Earlier, it was to be done by clicking on the 'People' tab.

Anyways, I don't even know how the moderators are going to react on this discussion but, as an active member here, I have something in my mind and I must ask.

We all can see four names under the moderator & space editor but I have never seen a single post, comment or any thing from them except .

I became SCN member in April last year and then I wasn't active for next six months. From September, I started participating & actively participating till now.

Only reason behind this discussion is that I've seen lot of easily searchable queries, double posting, points gaming in the recent weeks. I use 'Alert moderator' very frequently, but few times, an obvious alert is rejected without a reason.

My only intention is to keep this place clean & intact.

I do ask less and most of times I'm into responding to queries. I search daily. It simply means I'm into search process and get answers to almost every query of mine. But even in those search results, I have never seen other three names

Therefore, What shall I conclude? 

Are they inactive moderators? Or they are active and doing moderation but just don't post anything??

Looking forward to know your views.

Nitin

PS: All you folks, of all the moderator's rejection you have received, I'm not behind each of them. I hit it only when it is very very basic, wrong space issue, point gaming or some protected content is involved!!

[former_member42743 · Accepted solution]

I would ask that you bear with it a while longer.  I believe I am the only active moderator on the QM forum at this point.    SCN is currently going through a process in the moderators forum to verify and clean up the moderator lists in all spaces.  There are other areas that are having a lot of issues as well with inactive or ineffective moderation.

If I don't get to an abuse report, right away, it eventually goes to a global moderator.  The global moderator's handle a ton of spaces as there are spaces with no active moderators.

QM is not too bad to moderate as we seem to have a reasonable sized niche and we usually don't get more than 10-20 new posts a day.

Nitin is by far, not the only person to report abuse in the QM forum.  There are several other knowledgeable people here that recognize and report abuses daily.  I GREATLY appreciate it.  By the time I get on, usually US EST time, the majority of new postings have already been made and may have been out there for 6-8 hrs or longer already.  I usually have 2-3 abuse reports each morning in the queue when I get in.  The nice thing is, that if another member considers it abusive and is willing to report it, half my job is done and my decisions become much easier.

I tend to be very forgiving and give most people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the abuse reports.  Most folks will get a direct message from me, especially if I block their content.  Repeat offenders may just find their content blocked.  When you become a problem your account will be locked.  The biggest violations I see are primarily the lack of searching for answers before posting a question.  We are NOT here to solve your basic design issues and serve as a training platform. That said, I also don't want new people to feel stomped upon.  We want to encourage participation and growth.

So I have allowed content at times that maybe should have been blocked.  It kind of depends on the nature of the question.  A basic question such as what is a MIC, which everyone needs to know, will be frowned upon much more than say a question on what a sampling scheme is for.  Sampling schemes are not used much and I know it can be a difficult concept to grasp.  Of course it also depends on exactly what is asked and how much detail is provided.  The more time you spend on your question, the more detail you give, the more likely I'm not going to block it.

Asking a question on design is similar.  If you just post a question that appears to be a copy of an item from a systems requirement document, it will probably be blocked.  But if you post the same requirement, provide some detailed discussions on your thoughts and ideas, the problems you see, what you are thinking about doing, and how you have tried to solve it... it'll probably be allowed and you'll get a nice discussion around your requirement.  Don't ask without giving!

The most serious violations, primarily plagiarism, (copying of SAP help files or other copyrighted work on the internet), which is found mostly in blogs and documents, are actually tracked in a separate database accessible by only moderators and other key SAP people.  The first instance usually results in a warning from SAP legal department.  A second instance usually results in deactivation of the account.

I expect the listed moderators to be updated shortly in all of the spaces.  Probably by the end of the month.

Craig

[nitin_jinagal · Accepted solution]

Hello Sir,

This is very good information. I only wanted to know what was going behind the scene. And it was quite natural after I saw those names!!

Of course I'm not being impatient. Whenever something obvious doesn't happen, it raises your brows. Same thing happened with me. That's it!

But the way you explained it, along with all the logic and justification, I must say you are a perfect guide

Regards,

Nitin

[Martin_H · Accepted solution]

It would make sense that if SCN assigns new QM moderators, they should sit in Europe and Asia. This would cover a 24h "support". Of course there has to be someone doing this job, but at least for Europe the SAP headquarter is in Germany, so it should not be too difficult finding someone there, right?

Regards

MH

[former_member221025 · Accepted solution]

Liked the idea of having Two new moderators sitting in Europe and Asia.

[Martin_H · Accepted solution]

Hey Craig,

(...)   SCN is currently going through a process in the moderators forum to verify and clean up the moderator lists in all spaces.  There are other areas that are having a lot of issues as well with inactive or ineffective moderation.

(...)

I expect the listed moderators to be updated shortly in all of the spaces.  Probably by the end of the month.

Is there already an update on this topic?

Regards

MH

[former_member42743 · Accepted solution]

Let me see what I can find out.

Craig

[Martin_H · Accepted solution]

What's interesting to see is that the account of the QM space editor, Rami Dabbah, has been disabled.

MH

[former_member42743 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for noticing that Martin.  That account will be removed as an editor.

As far as the clean-up of moderators, that is still underway but I'm told it will be completed in the next few weeks.

Craig

[nitin_jinagal · Accepted solution]

Even I noticed that. But somehow forgot to mention here

Thanks for bringing it into in.

ntn

[Martin_H · Accepted solution]

Seems to be that the following updates have taken place:

1. There is no space editor anymore. Does this mean anything (has this role been canceled generally or what was the task of this role before)?

2. Current QM Moderators are and , so no new moderators but just the removal of two of them.

MH

[nitin_jinagal · Accepted solution]

Even I'm not clear about Space editor's exact job. But yes, That disabled account has been removed along with one moderator.

Seems like you are continuously monitoring this

ntn

[former_member42743 · Accepted solution]

There are global space editors but no official QM space editor.  I don't know what skills you need for that.  I believe it is to allow a certain amount of customization of the pages such as putting up stickies, FAQ's etc..  I don't know if web page design skills are needed or if it's a fairly simple thing.  I'll have to ask.  Maybe if see's this he might be able to reply.

Craig

[JL23 · Accepted solution]

No, I have not really much more info, they can add/remove featured content from the overview page

I had once approached one and asked him to exchange the tag for related content from ABAP to archiving in the ILM space, and he was able to do that.

There was recently a question in the About SCN space, it has some links, but not everything is accessible from public:

[former_member42743 · Accepted solution]

Looking at that blog it appears that space editors should be SAP employees.  Also, looking at what they can do seems to me it's kind of limited.  Primarily it looks like usually maintain a area of "Featured content".

I don't know if they can add FAQ's or "stickies" to a forum.  I would assume you would keep a FAQ in the "Featured content" area.

Craig

[JL23 · Accepted solution]

Stickies are not possible anymore, but if you convince them to put it as featured content on the overview page then you can almost get this kind info.

I am not sure if this will be really useful since there are so many ways  to enter the site, to see content and to contribute.

I am maybe just once a week on the overview page, I do usually everything from the communications stream.

[former_member42743]

I have no desire to nominate anyone for moderator.   I would not want anyone to feel obligated to do what is realy a boring and thankless job.  It's no fun being the "meanie".  I don't want newbies disliking me cause i rejected their posting or blog.  That's not fun.  I want new people to post.  I want old people to post.

There are several people that could do this job if they wanted to.  If some one wants to do it, they should just let SCN know.

I am sure that one of SCN's goals is to have moderators from different parts of the world so that coverage is basicaly 24 hrs a day.  I totally support that.  Less work for me!

Craig

[Martin_H]

Well, two of the other moderators are SAP employees, so they might just do only moderation.

The third one just posted his first and only blog end of 2011 (content: "some content"), but last login was mid of January 2014. No other content is listed, so it seems as this moderator is not so active, at least currently not contributing to SCN...

Regards

MH

[nitin_jinagal]

Oh. I didn't know they are SAP employees. In that case, yes, they must be looking after moderation only.

BTW, As Amol also agreed, concept of having European & Asian moderators' is quite interesting. So that at least on of the QM moderators is always active and QM moderation is ON round the clock.

[JL23]

Are you not satisfied with your moderator or why you are calling for more?

The situation with Craig is already much better than before, I remember backlogs of about a week in QM in last years premoderation phase.

Moderators are volunteers, they are doing it beside of their normal job. This is also valid for SAP employees as moderators.

If you want moderators who are subject matter experts, than it can only be one of the QM contributors.

And (s)he should already act under the common sense of the RoE.  And some commitment for long term activity is as well need from my point of view. The M next to the name is not a badge of achievement.

If you had already 2 who qualify for such in Asia and Europe region, then basic and frequently asked question would have more than 1 moderator alert, and hence vanish from the board until a decision is taken.

[nitin_jinagal]

Sir,

I never said that. I never said I'm dissatisfied with my moderator or I'm looking for more.

I request you to read the original query instead of my last post.

My last post came out from an in-between discussion (kind of fun) whereas original one had the original intention

Please read that.

Regards,

Nitin

[JL23]

I had read and understood it. Just wanted to say that there are no wizzards here who can create moderators and subject matter experts like Uruk Hais

[nitin_jinagal]

Got it sir. I hope you also understand that this was just a view shared by one among us. That says nothing more than that.

Regards,

Nitin

[nitin_jinagal]

If you had already 2 who qualify for such in Asia and Europe region, then basic and frequently asked question would have more than 1 moderator alert, and hence vanish from the board until a decision is taken.

No Sir, I don't have names to name who qualify for this job. But after reading this whole discussion again along with your first response, I'm kinda liking this idea more (its not even official idea right now)

If, it gets possible, by any means, to have continuous moderation and moderator's availability round the clock, I think this would serve SCN in a better way. Right?

As Craig sir had also said that his time zone is one factor & that is something which nobody can do anything with. So in that sense, I feel that this might leave a positive impact. I don't know

I again says that I'm not asking for something new but I'm going to favor this idea until a negative affect is thrown here (because I cannot think of anyone this moment)

Regards,

Nitin

[Martin_H]

This is true, it is way better now than it was before. And I for my part just try to support the moderators as best as possible, as it is also my interest to find in the QM space the topics that are really there to solve. The positive side effect is that own questions raised can also be found easier if the "ground noise" is cleaned constantly.

Regards

MH

[Former Member]

Hello Martin,

You from Europe or you're an Asian?

Jokes apart!! I also liked this idea. Round the clock moderation is good thing & that will definitely reduce the nuisance. Craig is definitely doing commendable job & as you all said, things are better now.

I also cannot think of any negative side effect if this thing is done. To name few, I think SCN management should do that. None of us are qualified enough to nominate a couple of names because we don't know what is expected to be done & how to handle daily tickets except following RoE.

Craig can start a poll for that. Nominate a few from QM and let's see who's wanted

In fact, moderator should come from People's choice. SCN can nominate them, but one gets the moderation right who gets the maximum votes

~Karen~

[former_member221025]

Hello Karen,

I think Only Moderator can suggest names, and it is best for the forum.

As Jürgen L said, commitment for long term activity is needed, I share the same view. We have to prove our expertise, commitment, judgmental capabilities etc etc over a long period of time. How many of us qualify that is the main question and only current moderator can judge it.

Apart from this, we can always have SAP employees as moderators.

So just keep contributing and help to keep this forum clean.

Amol.

[Martin_H]

Hey Karen,

I am living in wonderful Bavaria...so most of the times I just highlight any threads to Craig that might need a special check. Works pretty well so far!

Regards

MH