Overcoming the “moderation trap”

So, you’re posting questions, or perhaps even answers, on SCN but it’s taking a lot time before they actually get posted.  In the case of answers, you aren’t getting credit for your good answers because by the time your post appears, somebody else has already provided the same answer.  But until somebody rates your answer as correct or helpful, you’re not getting the points you need to avoid being moderated.  What to do?

What the moderation system is attempting to do is confirm that you’re a ‘real’ person, not a spammer trying to hack the system.  So, the key is to do something that helps convince the moderation system that you’re real.  And the key to that is the SCN Gamification Missions.  Quite a number of the missions don’t require you do something that requires moderation, so you can earn them almost immediately.  Once you do, you’ll be establishing enough reputation with the system that it will start treating you like a real person.

The “I Was Here” mission you should have just because you logged in.  So we’ll skip that one and look at 4 others that can earn you 20 reputation points rapidly and what you need to do to obtain them.

First Steps

• Like some content
• Rate some content
• Bookmark some content

Ready (Set Go)

• Change or add another picture.
• Add an avatar

Ready Set (Go)

• Do the prior mission first
• Read this document: http://scn.sap.com/community/about/blog/2012/08/27/easy-access-to-the-scn-rules-of-engagement
• And this document: http://scn.sap.com/community/about/blog/2012/12/04/how-to-use-scn-search

Ready Set Go

• Do the prior mission first
• Follow 3 people
• Like a blog post
• Comment on a blog post or document (this one step does require moderation)
• Create 2 status updates

Note that you also need to read the SCN rules of engagement (first link above) before you would start getting credit towards a mission for blog posts, correct answers or documents.

Let’s look at the first mission.  Find a blog post that you like, and you’ll find the Like and Bookmark options on the right side of the page near the top of the post.

The Rate option appears at the bottom of the original blog post:

That’s the first mission down!

Note at any time, you can go to your profile, go to the Reputation tab, and the Missions link on that tab to see how you’re doing towards earning various missions.  If you hover the mouse over a mission, a gear will appear in the lower right corner of the mission.  Click that, and it will show you the specific steps needed to earn it, and which you’ve already completed.

While you’re at your profile, you can work on the second mission.  On the Bio tab, find the “Change Photo and Avatar” link on the right side of the page.

Note that you can only have one custom avatar.  If you’re already loaded one you’ll have to delete it and then re-add one in order to get credit towards the mission.

OK, two down.  The third one is easy.  Just go read those two documents that are linked above.

Three down, one to go.  To follow somebody you can click on their name so that it brings up their profile and then select the Follow option.  Note that you won’t get credit for this mission for people you were following before you started trying to earn it.  You might unfollow some people you’re currently following and then follow them again to earn the mission if you don’t want to add anybody new.

If you liked a blog post to get the first mission, you should be set already for this mission.  Otherwise, find a blog you like and “like” it as you did for that earlier mission.

Comment on the blog post as well (something meaningful please).  That’s the only thing you’re doing so far that requires moderation before you get credit for it.

Finally, you need to do some status updates.  It’s not quite obvious where you do that.  There are a couple of options.  First, you could click the Create button at the top right hand corner of the site and then the Status Update option in the menu that appears. See the following image:

The second is to click the “Activity” button, also in the top right corner of the site.  That will bring up your “Activity” page.  There is a single line edit field there that displays a “What’s going on?” prompt.  You can enter your status there as well.

It’s also not entirely obvious where they show up, but they do show up on your profile page and your badge.

Speaking of your badge, now that you’ve completed a few missions select three of them to display in the “Me In Three” section of your badge.  You do that by hovering over the missions you’ve completed in the Reputation tab in your profile.

Congratulations…  Once your blog comment is approved you should be 20 points and 4 missions closer to escaping the “moderation trap”.