I would like to do a sort of retrospective on yesterday’s ‘drama’ post.
I think retrospectives are helpful in situations where there are wide opinions on how certain things were handled and hopefully everyone can have a chance to give their feedback in a constructive manner. I would like to see retrospectives happen more often across all the teams, so let’s lay some foundation rules (taken from Atlassian).
- Embrace a positive spirit of continuous improvement and share whatever you think will help us improve.
- Don’t make it personal, don’t take it personally.
- Listen with an open mind, and remember that everyone’s experience is valid (even those you don’t share).
- We are only discussing the handling of yesterday, we aren’t discussing the full administration of the forums.
- Remember to embrace an improvement mindset, and stay away from passing blame.
What went well?
Even though there was disagreement on how to approach the thread, I think the community as a whole showed its true colours. Everyone was respectful to each other and the new poster, and I believe it says a lot about our community. We aren’t tearing each other down, but rather having insightful conversations, as that post quickly turned from ‘drama’ to discussing how we can be better prepared for similar threads in the future.
What needs improvement?
An understanding of what we do with drama, and how we communicate decisions. There has been discussions about starting guidelines for the forums, but I have been hesitant to start them (if everyone believes it is in the best interest, we will, I am happy to be proven wrong in this regard). My main concern is that guidelines lead to decisions that otherwise may not happen when a forum moderator or trusted user has to stand by their own actions.
Next steps
While we weigh options for improving, I have made slight changes to the Trust Level 0 permissions. Trust Level 0 users can no longer add links in their posts. They can still add images, and do everything else required to receive support. My feeling around this is that our requirements to get Trust Level 1 are not high, and are easily accessible for all new users, there is no reason (I can think of) that a Trust Level 0 user should require a link in their post.