I’d love to see my acquaintances joining this community and collaborating with their ideas. But first of all I have to convince them with very good reasons. That’s why I’ve made up a top 5 reasons list I wish that you, community members, could help me to improve.
Reason # 1: Those bright and colorful badges
Ok. I’ve seen a lot of people arguing about this topic. Some people say that collecting points is pointless. Others say that if you want to collaborate you don’t have to do it for the points. Blah, blah, blah.
I’ll be honest. If it weren’t for the “prize” (winning points to win a badge and other stuff) perhaps I would have never come back to SCN forums to help others. I would have just got used to ask and ask and ask but never answering.
The first time I accessed SCN forum I just wanted an answer for a question to a problem in certain area. I noticed that some users had a lot of points in their profiles. I think I’ve seen something like that in other forums like BOB. However, there was something special in here - I don’t know exactly what. But I begun to review users’ profiles and I noticed they had a lot of points. I had zero points but after giving points to an answer I was rewarded with points. I also came across a link about the profits of being an SCN Reputation Program Overview. It sounded so interesting… So I tried to collect some points by answering some questions. Those few points I won kept me wanting more points to be shown in my profile, just like it was a video game where you have to collect all the coins you can.
I guess it was because something named gamification or gaming, described in Gamification examples @ SAP and Does the SAP SCN community need more achievements and rewards?. Anyway, I’m glad that the promise of a badge caught my interest because winning points for helping others with effective solutions is a thing that makes you feel proud of yourself.
Reason # 2: Being in the Active Members list
I would tell my acquaintances they would be very happy seeing their names in SAP Community Network Active Member List.
Reason # 3: Your company will be in the Contributing Companies List
I would tell my acquaintances they would be very happy seeing their company name in SAP Community Network Contributing Companies List.
Reason # 4: you can help others and you can be helped by others
I would tell them that there is not such a feeling like the gratification you feel every time you know that a tip, a trick or an advice you’ve shared has been useful for someone who was desperate looking for a solution. You’ll feel really good.
By the other hand, sometimes you don’t know how to solve a problem but you can count on SCN members who will be very willing to help you.
Reason # 5: You can increase your knowledge
You can learn from others experience a lot of interesting tips. You can increase your knowledge in your technical area and other non-technical areas, too. For example, my English is terrible, but since the technical information I need is more available in English than Spanish, my native language, I’m forced to express myself in this foreign language. It’s a little a hard for me but I win a lot: I learn more about technical topics and I improve my English. I guess others improve their skills in teaching, writing, etc. So if it's good for me it could be good for you.
