Our Forum - KHE Rules of Play - for Your Feedback from Valerie Witt: MarketingProfs Question 2320

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Topic: Our Forum

Khe Rules Of Play - For Your Feedback

Posted by Valerie Witt on 7/16/2004 at 7:35 AM ET 0 Points

Hi all! Our volunteer advisory committee (KHE Insiders) has suggested we develop and publish on the site some community guidelines to help new members learn how things work here in the forum. What follows is a first draft for your feedback.

Please feel free to respond with additions or other revisions. I'll leave this up for a week. Then we'll publish an updated draft someplace easy to find.

Thanks for your help with this!

Best wishes,

Val

KNOW-HOW EXCHANGE RULES OF PLAY

Here are some guidelines developed by members of this community. KHE is self-governing. So any member should feel free to post a response in the forum that links to the rules on this page.

Rules for Askers

1. If your question seems basic or common, please search our archives to see if it's already been asked and answered before you post it.

2. If you are a student, you are welcome to ask our members to guide your learning, but they are not going to do your homework for you. When you post your question, include your thoughts on the subject to demonstrate independent exploration.

3. We understand you may not want to provide your company name or proprietary information in your questions. But please be sure to provide enough general information about your industry, location, customers and objectives to allow other members to help you.

4. When you post a question, it's important you stay actively involved in the discussion until you close your question. This is especially important during the first 24 hours. Please check your question often and answer any questions our experts have asked.

5. We expect question Askers to close their questions sometime between Day 2 and Day 10. We ask that you leave your questions open for at least 24 hours, to give a variety of experts around the world a chance to respond. And we ask that you close them by the 10th day to recognize the contributions of the participants and to make room for newer questions.

6. We expect each member of the community to maintain one membership in KHE. Opening new accounts to get more Question Points is unethical. There are many ways to earn points here. Please see our More Points page (coming soon) for details. Or, if you are having trouble logging in with your original account, please contact Val.

Rules for Answerers

7. You may answer a question by doing Internet research and then expressing the facts or ideas you learn in your own words. But if you want to copy someone else's writing word-for-word, keep it short (100 words) and cite the source (provide a link). To copy anything longer, you must obtain reprint permission from the copyright holder (and state this in your post).

8. You may invite the question Asker to contact you offline to discuss the scenario in more detail or to find out more about your services. But our primary purpose here is to share knowledge, so please also provide some value in your answer. Also, to keep the commercial statements unobtrusive, do not post your phone number, email address or Web site in your answer. Instead, include those in your profile and invite the Asker to click over to see them. We routinely delete contact info from answers when we see it.

Please also see MarketingProfs' Terms of Use: https://www.marketingprofs.com/about/t_c.asp

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RESPONSES

Posted by Deremiah *CPE on 7/16/2004 at 7:58 AM Member

Val,

Since I'm new to the forum these items address some of the questionable areas I was interested in. If I think of any additional ideas to add I will share later. Thanks.

Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE
Posted on 7/16/2004 at 9:37 AM Member

Hi Val,

I would rephrase the first point like so: "If you have a general question, it's probably been addressed before. So hold on to your points for now, and search our archives to see if it's already been asked and answered before you post it."

What do you think?
Posted by telemoxie on 7/16/2004 at 10:55 AM Member

I think the rules look pretty good, and are helpful - and I appologise, I had put a link in one of my responses...

... but I agree with kwinters - we need to be helpful, and to respond to people's questions, but I think we need a better way to manage points on these repetative questions. Maybe we could create and update some FAQs. For example, someone posts, "what should I have in a marketing plan" for 250 points. Someone post a friendly message directing them to the info, and we could credit the account of the person asking the question 200 points.

Otherwise, if you are interested in maintaining your ranking, you need to respond to all these questions, rather than focusing on tough questions and on your areas of specialty.
Posted by Deremiah *CPE on 7/16/2004 at 11:07 AM Member

Val,

Since I am newer than most but often more willing and passionate to jump right in and communicate I thought in good wisdom this time I would wait on a veteran to confirm what I felt in the beginning. I did not want to just jump out there on the issue that Kwinter's raises above but since he has been here much longer than I have I'll join him in agreement. After I filled my first response out there was something that bothered me about us being careful how we redirect customers. Since I see myself as a customer advocate I always tend to tread softly in the area of client relations especially new clients who don't know the rules and who are not clear on the expectations. If we give them the feeling that we are not here to answer questions it almost comes across like we are too busy to give them the quality insight that they came to our website to address.

We also must remember this very important point about the KHE forum:

***What is the condition of the customer KHE Serves?***

Some are afraid, some have tried every other possible solution with no real meaningful success. While others have come to us down on their luck, short on money to hire a consultant, emotionally challenged, frustrated, lost for ideas, in need of brainstorming partners and you know the first time it appears we are not gently handling them in an atmosphere of true servant hood there gone. And if most dissapointed customers respond like we've been told they do "they leave and never return back to us to tell us what they did not like and when they leave they go away complaining to at least a dozen or more friends, relatives and business partners".

"This is just some food for thought,
take it with a grain of salt.
And if you like it my dear friend,
live it out and friends you'll win." by Deremiah

Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE
Posted by SRyan ;] on 7/16/2004 at 12:42 PM Member

Maybe item one should say something like this:
"We encourage you to search the archive of 2,000 previous questions before posting a new question. That might help you construct a well-thought inquiry to get the best advice available from this amazing community! Or you may discover that your question has been asked AND answered at least half a dozen times, so you can save your points for another dilemma."
Posted by SRyan ;] on 7/16/2004 at 7:03 PM Member

Deremiah, Kevin, Dave --

Do you have any specific EDITS to suggest to the Rules of Play? Your commentary is thoughtful and thought-provoking. Can you reframe those ideas into new or revised items in the rules Val will ultimately publish?

Shelley :]
Posted by Deremiah *CPE on 7/16/2004 at 7:28 PM Member

Shelley, Kevin or Dave,

I'm new to this so if you could proof this or if you can find a way to shorten it but still make it relevant I won't mind.

Rules for Answerers

Answer every question to some degree even if it has been asked before. Tread softly in the area of client relations especially new guest to KHE who are new to the rules and who are not clear on the expectations. Forward them to the appropriate link if the question has been asked before and please offer some relevant commentary to buffer short answers. (check profile if you are not sure of members starting date).

Is there anything else I can do for you Shelley, Kevin, or Dave? I would really love to help you if I can.

Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE
Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 7/16/2004 at 7:34 PM Member

I think we should be able to respond however we wish. We are not employees of MP, nor are we getting paid to post responses. Money is not the point, but as JB once pointed out, the whole purpose and definition of a forum is for people to get together and FREELY express thoughts, feelings attitudes, opinions, etc.

Now, I DO believe we should refrain from using profanity, racial, threatening or libelous statements in our answers.

If we start placing too many rules on how we are "supposed" or "ought" to respond, it becomes a bureau...an MP customer service platform... not a forum.
Posted by Deremiah *CPE on 7/16/2004 at 7:44 PM Member

Dear Jett,

I'm open to hear what you have to say beyond what you've said above. Should we just ignore all the suggestions? I'm open to listening. So what do you think we should do at this point?

Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE
Posted by Valerie Witt on 7/16/2004 at 8:49 PM Author

No worries, Frances. I'll delete the first one now.

Thanks, everyone, for some good brainstorming here! Tomorrow I'll take all the comments posted and incorporate them into a new draft.

I believe the rules (or "guidelines" may be a better term) should be a reflection of what the community wants to see happening here. I see them as an articulation of our social norms ... describing our community's values to newcomers, to help them self-select in or out based on fit with our culture.

In general, I prefer not to have more rules than we need ... and to describe them with as few words as possible (otherwise they'll probably be ignored).

Just fyi, it's items 4, 6 & 7 that matter most to me personally. The rest have been expressed to me (frequently) by our advisory group and other members who have emailed me over the last few months. But, of course, all of them are up for discussion!

Best,

Val

P.S. Jett, I'm not sure what you're objecting to specifically. Is it items 1-3? Or the whole idea of having guidelines?
Posted by Valerie Witt on 7/18/2004 at 2:10 AM Author
Know-How Exchange Community Guidelines

Welcome to our community! This forum is here to help you find solutions to your marketing questions, whether basic or complex. We invite questions (and answers) of all types and strive to be expedient, courteous and helpful.

KHE is:
- A conversation among marketers
- A creativity tool and brainstorming resource
- A dynamic forum stocked with new ideas every day
- A network of colleagues to help you when you're stuck
KHE is not:
- A monologue or announcements board
- A static forum that rehashes the same issues every week
- A group of professionals who do students' homework
To further illustrate, here are some guidelines developed by our members to help newcomers learn how KHE works.

Guidelines for Askers
1. If you have a general question, it probably has been asked before. So the fastest way to find a solution is to search our archives first. We have more than 2,000 questions stored there. So save your Question Points for a new question!
2. In writing questions, please provide enough backgound so our members can make relevant suggestions. (See Ex. 1 and Ex. 2.) We understand you may not want to provide sensitive information about your company. However, please be sure to include a general description of your industry, location, customers and most importantly, your objectives.
3. Please don't post a question and then abandon it. Engage in a dialogue with the Answerers. Tell them what you think of their responses and reply to any questions they ask. (See Ex. 1 and Ex. 2.)
4. Close your questions between Day 2 and Day 10. We encourage you to wait 24 hours to give people in different time zones a chance to respond. And closing by Day 10 makes sure contributors are recognized in a timely manner and makes room for new questions.
5. Experts are happy to help students explore their thoughts, but they will not do their assignments for them. If you are a student, be sure to share your own ideas along with your question. (See Ex. 1 and Ex. 2.)
Guidelines for Answerers
1. We expect everyone to treat each other with respect. The Moderator will delete any postings containing profanity, discriminatory slurs, threatening language or libelous statements. If you see something like this before Val does, please let her know.
2. Feel free to answer a question by doing Internet research and then expressing the facts or ideas you learn in your own words. But if you want to copy someone else's writing word-for-word, keep it short (100 words) and cite the source (provide a link). [find example]
3. In your post, you may invite the Asker to contact you offline to find out more about your services. But our primary purpose here is to share knowledge, so please also provide some value in your response. This way the whole community benefits. (See Example.)
4. To keep the commercial statements unobtrusive, please do not post your phone number, email address or Web site in your answer. Instead, include those in your profile and invite people to click over to see them. We routinely delete contact info from answers. (See Example.)
5. When you see questions that don't match our expectations, politely guide the Askers rather than ignoring or scolding them. It's important that new members feel welcome and understand how things work. Consider linking them to these guidelines to shortcut their learning.
Points Fraud

We expect each person to maintain one membership in KHE. Opening new accounts to get more Question Points is unacceptable. If you want ideas for earning points or you're having trouble logging in with your original account, please contact Val. Awarding points to yourself (from one account to another) is grounds for terminating both accounts.

Questions? Comments?

Do you have questions? Or would you like to suggest a change to these community guidelines? Please write Val with your ideas. We're glad to have you join us, and we hope to see you participating in the forum soon!
Posted by Valerie Witt on 7/18/2004 at 4:31 AM Author

Hi all! I think we have a MUCH better second draft thanks to your contributions. I tried to maintain the spirit of your suggestions as much as possible so this would be a truly collaborative document.

I like that this draft is more concise (even tho the html spacing has stretched it some ... we'll fix that). And I think its much friendlier too.

Any objections? Or is this a good working document - and you'd like to try living with it?

Any recommendations for more/better examples to link to? Any stellar threads you remember seeing?

telemoxie: We have been thinking about developing some FAQs that automatically are presented to an Asker during the question-posting process to try to reduce repeat questions. We're hoping to catch them before they post, so there aren't extra steps to generate a refund. But your idea might be a good alternative. We'll consider it too.

jose04: We have also been talking about creating a question "boost" feature ... where the Asker could offer additional points to boost it up in the Most Recent Questions list. This is on our wish list for down the road (after some other changes).

Thanks all! If there are no suggestions for changes in the next 48 hours, we'll go ahead and publish this in KHE. We will probably add a link to the Guidelines to our right navigation box. We will also reference it in the automatic emails that go out to new Question Askers. Any other ideas? We could implement more complex methods of distribution a little later.

Best wishes,

Val
Posted by SRyan ;] on 7/18/2004 at 9:18 AM Member

Hooray! Looks good. I like how you incorporated Frances' ideas with the Is/Not bullets, too.

When you add the nav link to the page, I'd label it "Important Guidelines" instead of "Community Guidelines." Particulary when it sits under the Community Info heading.

Shelley
Posted by tjh on 7/18/2004 at 11:45 AM Member

"We will probably add a link to the Guidelines to our right navigation box. We will also reference it in the automatic emails that go out to new Question Askers. Any other ideas?"

1. As a link on question-asking forms, especially for newish accounts;

2. In the welcome email or 1st page a new member sees after confirming membership.

The Guidelines are wonderful, and is now also a terrific PR document as well as guidelines. Having a new member, or even a non-member guest, see them is probably good for all in many ways.
Posted by Valerie Witt on 7/18/2004 at 1:48 PM Author

Thanks Shelley, Tom & David! I made changes to the version above to keep from posting another draft.

Shelley: Good suggestion. Let's do that.

Tom: The question form is a great idea. We can do that. Member confirmation is trickier since there is no separate registration process for KHE and 9/10 MP registrants are registering for access to MP's articles (rather than KHE). But, many of them do also sign up for the KHE newsletter during their reg process. So how about we add a link to the Guidelines to our newsletter. For that matter, we could have a teaser sentence linking to the Guidelines at the bottom of all the KHE emails we send out?

David: I like both suggestions. I trimmed your first one a bit and switched "phrasing" to "writing" (thinking it might be clearer for those translating). Also, I know what you mean about students. But I'm thinking that the further down the page their note is, the fewer of them will read it. So I tried moving it to the end of the Askers section. I think that helps to convey the impression that they aren't our primary market. What do you think?

Best,

Val
Posted by tjh on 7/19/2004 at 10:48 AM Member

"we could have a teaser sentence linking to the Guidelines at the bottom of all the KHE emails we send out? "

If you're meaning ALL emails sent out, including, mail alerts etc., then I'd vote no. Overkill.

Maybe on all new question emails, link on question form (it'd be ideal if this link only appeared for the first few times a new questioner asks a question, but I know that's a cumbersome coding and database issue), the sidebar menu, and maybe a mention every now and then in KHE News.

I'd think on any places new questioners see is appropriate, likewise for new members, especially if they see it prominently in their early page views and emails. But making it too obvious in all subsequent emails and page views might be way too much...
Posted on 7/21/2004 at 8:53 AM Member

Hi Val,

Here's an idea that could help for answerers:

Please ask pensaworks to revise the answer box section to make the Email Notification a checkbox instead of a link that we have to click. Make the checkbox checked by default so when we engage in the conversation, we are automatically notified of replies and we can discuss further. It would help the asker get a better answer.

The current behavior requires us to click the link, wait for the page to reload and then complete our question. If it was a checkbox it could be processed with the form post on the server side script. User usability goes up, and me happy.

The second suggestion is to plead with the asker to wait a while before awarding points, so they don't award the first answer they see. This discourages further discussion and usually a better answer. If the points have already been awarded, then their is no motivation for the points-hungry members. (I'm not one of them, I'm just points-thirsty.)

P.S. When are you having that free corona beer giveaway party?
Posted by Valerie Witt on 7/21/2004 at 5:56 PM Author

Good thoughts, Tom. Kevin, Jim and Steve: I'll tweak for your points in the final draft. And Steve, I'll note your development idea. Just for the record, it's our publisher, Allen, who does all the nifty coding. PensaWorks just created the initial framework for the forum.

Best,

Val
Posted by SRyan ;] on 7/23/2004 at 6:51 PM Member

Jerry has obviously been drinking on his vacation and is now seeing DOUBLE.
Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 7/25/2004 at 11:13 AM Member

I am referring to the first 5-6 post where certain people laid out preferences on how they think we should respond.

There really isn't a better way to explain it. What is it about my statement above you do not understand.

Here's another summary: I think there should be a general "Ten Commandments" along the lines of decency, and universal "proper" behavior (i.e. nothing racist, threatening, libelous, etc).

The new rules look great to me. I was primarily objecting to the "customer advocate" train of thought. Again, this is a FREE forum, not a customer service call center. I don't get paid and there are no refunds from my end.

Sorry if I have disappointed anyone...if you are looking for an altruist...I'm not the guy.

Having that been said...I have an idea for a new question.
Posted by Valerie Witt on 7/27/2004 at 8:27 PM Author

Hi all. Thanks so much for the help here! We'll post the new-and-improved Guidelines shortly. Time to close this question to make room for new ones ...

Best,

Val
Posted by Valerie Witt on 7/31/2004 at 2:45 PM Author
Hi all. Our current draft - for publication - follows. Let's try living with this for a little while and see how it works for us. We can always make changes later as we see fit. Thanks so much for your contributions. I'm really happy with this ... and it wouldn't be as good as it is without so many different perspectives incorporated into it!

Best wishes,

Val

************************

Know-How Exchange Community Guidelines

Welcome to our community! This forum is here to help you find solutions to your marketing questions, whether basic or complex. We invite questions (and answers) of all types and strive to be expedient, courteous and helpful.

KHE is:
- A conversation among marketers
- A creativity tool and brainstorming resource
- A dynamic forum stocked with new ideas every day
- A network of colleagues to help you when you're stuck
KHE is not:
- A monologue or announcements board
- A static forum that rehashes the same issues every week
- A group of professionals who do students' homework
To further illustrate, here are some guidelines developed by our members to help newcomers learn how KHE works.

Guidelines for Askers
1. If you have a general question, it probably has been asked before. So the fastest way to find a solution may be to search our archives. (We have more than 2,000 questions stored there!) If your question is a little different, be sure to describe what makes it unique. The more original it sounds, the more members are likely to respond.
2. In writing questions, please provide enough backgound so our members can make relevant suggestions. (See Ex. 1 and Ex. 2.) We understand you may not want to provide sensitive information about your company. However, please be sure to include a general description of your industry, location, customers and most importantly, your objectives.
3. Please don't post a question and then abandon it. Engage in a dialogue with the Answerers. Tell them what you think of their responses and reply to any questions they ask. (See Ex. 1 and Ex. 2.)
4. Awarding points closes your question. So please don't "Accept" the first response you see. This ends the discussion prematurely. We encourage you to wait at least 24 hours to give people in different time zones a chance to respond. Then close your question by Day 10. This recognizes contributors in a timely manner and makes room for new questions.
5. Experts are happy to help students explore their thoughts, but they will not do their assignments for them. If you are a student, be sure to share your own ideas along with your question. (See Ex. 1 and Ex. 2.)
Guidelines for Answerers
1. Feel free to answer a question by doing Internet research and then expressing the facts or ideas you learn in your own words. But if you want to copy someone else's writing word-for-word, keep it short (100 words) and cite the source (provide a link).
2. In your post, you may invite the Asker to contact you offline to find out more about your services. But our primary purpose here is to share knowledge, so please also provide some value in your response. This way other readers benefit. (See Example.)
3. To keep the commercial statements unobtrusive, please do not post your phone number, email address or Web site in your answer. Instead, include those in your profile and invite people to click over to see them. We routinely delete contact info from answers. (See Example.)
4. When you see questions that don't match our expectations, politely guide the Askers rather than ignoring or scolding them. It's important that new members feel welcome and understand how things work. Consider linking them to these guidelines to shortcut their learning.
Community Ethics

We expect everyone to treat each other with respect. The Moderator will delete any postings containing profanity, discriminatory slurs, threatening language or libelous statements. If you see something like this before Val does, please let her know.

contact Val

Questions? Comments?

write Val

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