Moderator Rules Of Engagement Aligned With The New SCN

In 2011 we established two new moderator concepts to share best practices, get clarity and consistency for moderator roles, and provide moderators a voice when it comes to setting priorities for the community, the Moderator Council and the Moderator Roundtable. Both concepts are explained in my post Introducing the Moderator Rules of Engagement.

In 2012 a new Moderator Council was chosen. They have already left their mark, including:

• Petitioning to have the community wide Rules of Engagement appear more prominently in every space
• Choosing the option of including Moderator Picks on the main overview space (and thus championing the return for sticky threads)
• Barring members from moving a discussion thread once it’s been responded to

One of this year’s Council important achievements was updating the ‘Moderator Rules of Engagement’, to align with our New SCN. This was not an easy task and yet in the last Roundtable the council signed off on a finalized version. Since we believe transparency is essential, the moderators have chosen to publicize this updated and aligned version. Everyone can have access to these rules; a copy has been made available in the About SCN Space.  The rules are organized following a format of general information relevant to all and then funneling into more specific information based on discussions, blogs, documents, wiki, escalation or contributor reputation program.

These rules provide a base for all 700+ moderators to align and work together consistently. Although there will always be differences in moderation because of the subjectivity of the task, and variations by topic, these “Moderator Rules of Engagement” will serve to ensure a common baseline best practices and fairness for all. Each new moderator is requested to familiarize and follow these rules. Even our experienced moderators learned from them!

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated volunteer 2012 Moderator Council:  Thomas Zloch, Kenny Scott, Henrique Pinto, Simon To, Vijay Dudla and Benny Schaich-Lebek.

ℹ Side note: For those attending TechEd 2012 please be on the lookout for Moderator Meetups to be held in each location as Expert Networking Lounge sessions. They will provide a great opportunity to connect with SCN Moderators, learn best practices and share thoughts on the New SCN. Please follow the SAP TechEd Space or me @GKS (on twitter) for more information.

Also be sure to check out the SCN Space Contact List to get acquainted with the moderation team of the space you frequent.