There has been a bit of, well, dissent I suppose recently in these social forums and I thought this article was well worth a read....
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/06/building_a_succ.html
P.S. It's a great site anyway!
A very interesting article, Howard.
At the college where I work, within Moodle we have a 'Student Lounge', a forum where all students can socialise. When we first started it in September 2005, things went fine for a while but it wasn't long before the unpleasant posts started appearing. Not wanting be overly censorious, we only deleted posts which breached the college's computer use policy. Participation in the forum decreased. This year, however, for the September 2006 intake, the student moderators for the forum were asked to be very active in creating the expectation that a friendly culture is expected. This has had the desired effect -- there are now many more students taking part in the discussions and hardly any unpleasant posts appear.
I read somewhere that western culture puts a heavy emphasis 'somebody training' -- we all aspire to be somebody, to be the centre of attention without too much thought for others. The concept of 'everybody training', on the other hand, encourages us to participate within the human family to make the world, in our own unique way, a better place for all of us.
I think this was a good article and I think it is very appropriate in the present context where some people are trying to figure out where do we go from here. For me, the paragraph that can summarize what is the key to the success in that community (and I think it has also been the key to the sucess of this community up to now) is the following :
It's usually not about what you say there, it's how you say it. And this isn't about being politically correct, either. It's a judgement call by the moderators, of course. It's fuzzy trying to decide exactly what constitutes "not nice", and it's determined subjectively by the culture of the ranch. Sexy jokes are usually OK, racial jokes are not. Some perceive the sexy jokes as sexist, and therefore "not nice", but if we would laugh about it with our friends in a somewhat racy dinner party conversation, it stands. Javaranch censors for meanness, not to protect delicate sensibilities. To a lot of folks, that makes us "not nice", but we reckon these are the folks we wouldn't invite to our party, either. ; )
I hope this doesn't give ideas to people and we start being bombarded with "sexy jokes", though
I agree - it's a good article and has given me food for thought. While this thread was getting started, I was at an Equality and Diversity training event. One thing that the group seemed to more or less agree on was that whilst laws and policies were important , invoking them was a sort of last resort. If colleagues (or in our case Moodlers) were prepared to accept responsibility for dialogue and conflict resolution the laws and policies would be invoked rarely.
Here is a link that includes something on assertive communication and Communcation to resolve conflict http://www.warrenshepell.com/WCMS/EN-CA/Employees+and+Families+Home/Wellness+Articles/HealthQuest+Newsletter/_Workplace+Communication.htm
Here is an extract
Here are a few other simple suggestions to help you manage your way through difficult encounters or conflicts:
Use "I" messages such as "I sense," "I feel" and "I think," rather than accusatory messages such as "You said" and "You never (or always)…"
Avoid assuming or attributing motives to the other person, or interpreting a disagreement as a personal attack.
Try to suspend judgment. In learning another person's views, you may gain new insights and discover common ground.
Try to show appreciation to the person for expressing their views.
Give yourself time to step away if you are angry or upset, and suggest the discussion continue at a later date when both parties will be able to be focused and constructive.
I was reflecting on a recent exchange I had and thought I may have overused "you" within it
Interesting article. It reminded me of tha PDF material I used in my Business communication classses.
http://ce.byu.edu/cw/cwfamily/archives/2004/Rory.Reid.ppt.pdf
Though it is meant for family education one can suitably adopt to any conflict resolution scenario.
Nagarajan
Great article and congratulations on your new role as moderator Frances. I am sure you will do (are doing) a great job. "Be friendly" certainly sounds like an excellent way to run a forum. It is certainly a vast improvement on "the Jeddi Mind Trick" 
(That was supposed to be followed by few devile smileys and a winking smiley, but I couldn't get the pop-up smiley window to work!).
(That was supposed to be followed by few devile smileys and a winking smiley, but I couldn't get the pop-up smiley window to work!).
But the really good news is that if you have a strong and consistent culture, whatever that culture is, the community starts moderating itself. Kind of a hundredth-monkey effect... when enough people are behaving in a certain way, and that hits critical mass, it becomes not only accepted but obvious to everyone when it's being violated.
This is exactly my philosophy. I decided from the outset when I created my forums that there would be zero tolerance for rude behavior. I have several other rules about topics that are not allowed as well, but in general I would say that people tend to behave like others behave in the forums, and that is politely and respectfully. Occasionally I have had to delete a post for rudeness, and unfortunately have had to ban a couple colleagues who wanted to pick a fight over something personal with me, but by deleting posts that are inappropriate quickly no actual fights have ever broken out.
But some sites aren't like that. If flame wars occur and moderators just let them run their course, they will be repeated. If one person is allowed to insult others, others will feel free to insult one another. I figure it is the moderator's responsibility to determine what is appropriate and if they don't do their job that's their mistake. But the worst I have seen is when one or a few people get fed up with how a site or mailing list is run and start their own group out of anger about the original group. Time and time again, I've seen the deserters simply create a new group that is as venomous if not worse than the one they left, because it was created out of hatred for another group, not out of a simple desire for an unmet need.
This is exactly my philosophy. I decided from the outset when I created my forums that there would be zero tolerance for rude behavior. I have several other rules about topics that are not allowed as well, but in general I would say that people tend to behave like others behave in the forums, and that is politely and respectfully. Occasionally I have had to delete a post for rudeness, and unfortunately have had to ban a couple colleagues who wanted to pick a fight over something personal with me, but by deleting posts that are inappropriate quickly no actual fights have ever broken out.
But some sites aren't like that. If flame wars occur and moderators just let them run their course, they will be repeated. If one person is allowed to insult others, others will feel free to insult one another. I figure it is the moderator's responsibility to determine what is appropriate and if they don't do their job that's their mistake. But the worst I have seen is when one or a few people get fed up with how a site or mailing list is run and start their own group out of anger about the original group. Time and time again, I've seen the deserters simply create a new group that is as venomous if not worse than the one they left, because it was created out of hatred for another group, not out of a simple desire for an unmet need.
That is a great article Howard.
One line grabbed me immediately
One line grabbed me immediately
They did it by being passionately, single-mindedly, ferociously committed to enforcing one rule: "Be Friendly."
I find this to be one of the simplest and yet least known rules of succesful community building. Users will always participate in an environment where they feel welcomed and not intimidated.
The Helpful Moodlers gourp is just that. A group of users who willingly share their knowledged and wit with the community in an effort to help others and make them feel that they too can participate in the community.
It is because of the sense of community on moodle.org that I have been lucky enough to be part of here that makes me so protective of it. It is my wish to keep moodle.org the 'happiest place on earth' and avoid us falling into the pitfalls that many large forums of ohter projects have fallen into where they have become to opinionated and threatening and have stifled their own creativity and growth.
The Helpful Moodlers gourp is just that. A group of users who willingly share their knowledged and wit with the community in an effort to help others and make them feel that they too can participate in the community.
It is because of the sense of community on moodle.org that I have been lucky enough to be part of here that makes me so protective of it. It is my wish to keep moodle.org the 'happiest place on earth' and avoid us falling into the pitfalls that many large forums of ohter projects have fallen into where they have become to opinionated and threatening and have stifled their own creativity and growth.
I have been very interested to see how some of the recent controversial threads have 'cooled down' . I agree that the way things are said is really important but I also think that it is important to be able to disagree and raise difficult topics, ask awkward questions , etc. So friendliness does not necessarily mean thinking the same or having things we are not allowed to talk about.
Martin wrote the information for this site
"This area contains forums for free-ranging discussion among Moodlers, sometimes it's meta-discussion about Moodle and the community, sometimes it's topics that may be fun, frivolous and often not about Moodle at all."
This is not very visible so i might put it on the front page of Moodle Lounge - what do you think? We could even tweak the text if we wanted.
Lastly, on N Hansen's point on rude behaviour, I have given this some thought as a moderator here, particularly what would I not tolerate until we have worked through some guidelines. I think that I would probably take action on a posting that broke the "Do not deceive, defame or harass" rule. But then I am acutely aware of people's differing sensibilities on matters of truth, politeness and what questons might be 'OK'?
Anyway I feel very optimistic, and grateful for support given publicly and privately.
The "Helpful Moodlers" group does not have a monopoly on willingly sharing their knowledge and wit with the community in an effort to help others and make them feel that they too can participate in the community. Almost everyone does that, and the number who don't actually do it is probably about the same as the number who are allowed to wear this mysterious and rare "Helpful Moodler" hat. I'm sorry, but i have never noticed any difference in the helpfulness of the so-called helpful Moodlers and the average Moodler. As far as I am concerned, everyone is a helpful Moodler unless they demonstrate otherwise and the hat is meaningless to me.
Just some thoughts here, since I created the hats ...
The description is: "Not only do they know a lot about using Moodle, and often contribute their time and expertise to the development project itself, but they are also frequently seen helping others in these forums."
This is not to be confused with making a lot of suggestions or asking a lot of questions, no matter how friendly or engaged it is. The idea of the hat was to provide some sort of guidance to new people in the support area so when they ask a question, and they get a bunch or replies from strangers, they have some idea of whose opinions to trust.
It was never meant to be anything more.
The description is: "Not only do they know a lot about using Moodle, and often contribute their time and expertise to the development project itself, but they are also frequently seen helping others in these forums."
This is not to be confused with making a lot of suggestions or asking a lot of questions, no matter how friendly or engaged it is. The idea of the hat was to provide some sort of guidance to new people in the support area so when they ask a question, and they get a bunch or replies from strangers, they have some idea of whose opinions to trust.
It was never meant to be anything more.
I had a hat once, for about an hour. It was taken away again shortly after I got it. I think that my de-hatting may have been because I made a post about software patents, which may have been felt to be spreading FUD and thus thoroughly unhelpful.
I suggest also that perhaps, helping Moodlers to realise the benefits (?
) of social constructionism is part of certain definitions of being "helpful."
In any event (perhaps mine was just a slip of the hat), inevitably, there is going to be a subjective agenda or two.
I stand by my more democratic suggeston in about my 6th Moodle post, as being socially constructive, and for the good of the Moodle, O'Moodle, OM.
Timothy
I suggest also that perhaps, helping Moodlers to realise the benefits (?
) of social constructionism is part of certain definitions of being "helpful."In any event (perhaps mine was just a slip of the hat), inevitably, there is going to be a subjective agenda or two.
I stand by my more democratic suggeston in about my 6th Moodle post, as being socially constructive, and for the good of the Moodle, O'Moodle, OM.
Timothy
Nicole,
It is nice to see that you always manage to see the glass half empty in many things that people say.
At what point have I suggested that 'helpful moodlers' have a monopoly on willingly sharing their knowledge.
I also have not infered in any way that anyone else is not any mnore or less helpful that the 'helpful moodlers' group and evidence obviously points to the fact that that is an erroneous statement.
It is nice to see that you always manage to see the glass half empty in many things that people say.
At what point have I suggested that 'helpful moodlers' have a monopoly on willingly sharing their knowledge.
I also have not infered in any way that anyone else is not any mnore or less helpful that the 'helpful moodlers' group and evidence obviously points to the fact that that is an erroneous statement.
LOL! Glass half empty? Reread what you wrote:
"The Helpful Moodlers gourp is just that. A group of users who willingly share their knowledged and wit with the community in an effort to help others and make them feel that they too can participate in the community."
I would say a more correct (and full glass, not just half) assessment would be:
"The Moodle forums are just that. A group of users who willingly share their knowledge and wit with the community in an effort to help others and make them feel that they too can participate in the community."
The "particularly helpful Moodlers" group is a subjective list. If I were forced to create my own list with an equal number of members, it would probably overlap with the official list 25% at most. If I were to rely only on the official list for help, my site wouldn't be 25% as good as it is today.
In fact, as evidenced by my rewriting of your quote above, I don't believe in such lists at all. Every time you create a list like that, you aren't just including people, you are excluding even more. Every person has the potential to help someone else, because each of us has our own particular expertise and our own particular issues we need help with. And unlike Martin, I think people who ask questions are sometimes the most helpful of all, because they help us, as teachers or developers or whatever see where things aren't clear and where they need improvement. "Helpful" is a subjective category and I think subjective categories aren't helpful at all.
Now, if there were a little icon for Moodle partners, Moodlers with cvs access, etc., I would have no problem with that, because those are objective standards that have equal meaning to everyone.
"The Helpful Moodlers gourp is just that. A group of users who willingly share their knowledged and wit with the community in an effort to help others and make them feel that they too can participate in the community."
I would say a more correct (and full glass, not just half) assessment would be:
"The Moodle forums are just that. A group of users who willingly share their knowledge and wit with the community in an effort to help others and make them feel that they too can participate in the community."
The "particularly helpful Moodlers" group is a subjective list. If I were forced to create my own list with an equal number of members, it would probably overlap with the official list 25% at most. If I were to rely only on the official list for help, my site wouldn't be 25% as good as it is today.
In fact, as evidenced by my rewriting of your quote above, I don't believe in such lists at all. Every time you create a list like that, you aren't just including people, you are excluding even more. Every person has the potential to help someone else, because each of us has our own particular expertise and our own particular issues we need help with. And unlike Martin, I think people who ask questions are sometimes the most helpful of all, because they help us, as teachers or developers or whatever see where things aren't clear and where they need improvement. "Helpful" is a subjective category and I think subjective categories aren't helpful at all.
Now, if there were a little icon for Moodle partners, Moodlers with cvs access, etc., I would have no problem with that, because those are objective standards that have equal meaning to everyone.
(see message above in blue)Seriously though, we are all helpful moodlers.