Moderators are essential to SCN’s daily activities. They guide, motivate, advocate, uphold the rules and much more. In order to help the community get to know these important people, I will be spotlighting a different moderator every two months. Our first spotlight is Juan Pablo Reyes a truly community spirited, Basis Moderator. Juan works as a self-employed/contractor for the Public Sector. Please read the interview below to learn more about him.
Getting to know Juan a bit better:
Even though I'm known as Juan in SCN, most of my close friends call me by my middle name, Pablo. I was born in Peru, grew up in Venezuela and moved to the green coasts of Ireland about eight years ago and this is where I currently live. I married a ‘native’ and have 2 fantastic kids!
Career wise I started early getting my first job as a Unix/NT Admin in the mid 90’s, joined SAP as an IT Admin in 2002 and the rest is history.
What topic do you moderate on SCN?
I moderate on most of the Basis related forums, with particular emphasis on SAP the NetWeaver Administrator Forum, as well as the Basis Corner on the Wiki.
When did you join the SCN Community?
I joined the Community in January 2006 while trying to get some info about service accounts for a portal installation. I instantly got hooked by the format!
When and how did you join the Moderator Community?
In June 2008, after a couple of years as a contributor and frustrated with the quality of some of the content, I opened a thread in the coffee corner. I was fortunate to get the attention and the support of a couple of ‘Mods’ who agreed something needed to be done and invited me to join them.
What does your moderator role entail?
My role is mainly to keep an eye on new posts/wikis/blogs and make sure they comply with the laws of logic and the rules of engagement. I also guide new comers, keep track of frequent offenders, leeches, spammers, point-gamers, link-farmers etc.
What do you enjoy the most out of those?
I think the best part of been a moderator is being able to steer the path of the area you look after, influence the way that people behave to make it a better place to share and the ability to take corrective measures to ensure the consistency of the quality of data posted. Yeah! That sounds a bit boring but I also enjoy a good 'hunt' :)!
The best example is back in March 2009 when I found a 'point-gamer' playing in the NetWeaver Forum who turned out to be a persistent player - David, Julius and I worked for the guts of two months deleting the user account a staggering 46 times before he decided not to come back. You learn to find the pattern, think ahead and it does give you a sense of achievement and community service when you sort it all out.
What is the frequency of your involvement?
I log on and contribute on a daily basis, after 5 years SCN has become an integral part of my routine. I usually log on in the morning and do a quick tidy up and then try to answer to the best of my abilities some of the threads.
What motivates you?
I consume as much as I contribute, I probably read tens of thousands of threads and I learn from each one of them. Having the ability to reduce noise and keep order on ‘my own feeding ground’ gives me a bit of a kick. Also, the feedback from the community is great.
What do you enjoy the most?
The sense of belonging to a much larger project
What do you enjoy the least?
That there is not more time in the day to contribute!
How do you get to know newbies?
After been here for so long you can instantly recognize who’s serious about the community and who’s not. I often reach out to genuine new comers and push them to improve their posts and get the best out of SCN.
Are you in touch with other moderators and if so how?
Yes, I try to keep in touch with a few of them usually via LinkedIn; I'm also active in the Mods forum.
What is your favorite topic in SCN (besides your own)?
I enjoy going through the Security threads and I probably read most of the blogs, with particular interest on new technology and green IT.
How has the SCN community helped you?
I joined SCN looking for answers and I still do, I use SCN as my main point of reference and I have learned a lot as a consequence. It also gave me the opportunity to exchange views with some of the best in the business and keep them as valuable contacts.
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