Facebook Groups for WordPress and WooCommerce are incredible places to collaborate, get advice from experts, and contribute back to the Open Source community. My friends and I enjoy moderating and posting helpful replies in these groups, but sometimes things take a turn for the weird, frustrating, and downright inappropriate. Here are some rules to follow as you interact in these types of groups.
I’ll try to update these items of etiquette as needed, but please post in the comments if you think I’ve missed something.
- When you post a question, please use gender neutral words. In-fact, instead of starting your post with, ‘hey guys’, feel free to simply begin with your question and get right to the point.
- Attempt to research and implement the answer to your question before posting it in the group. Since there are so many people using WordPress and asking similar questions, you’ll often find answers readily available online.
- Don’t post your question in multiple groups unless you haven’t received a response within 24 hours. Many groups share members, and posts in multiple groups at the same time can make you look like a spammer (resulting in fewer responses).
- Whether you’re in an advanced or beginner group, always assume benevolence. Remember that people from all over the world build things with WordPress, and some will learn concepts faster or slower than others. What’s basic or advanced to one person might not be to another — after-all, learning to walk was an advanced task for all of us at some point.
- When answering questions, remember to post a link to a tutorial or website that gives more information regarding your answer (for instance, if you’re referencing a plugin, post a link to the plugin in the WordPress repository).
- Stay positive and supportive when answering questions and use neutral, non-judgmental, and supportive language.
- When providing answers in a thread, if you’ve written an in-depth blog post on the subject, feel free to link to it and include a couple sentences explaining the link.
- Don’t use foul language.
- If you disagree with someone’s post, reply with your solution without tearing down the original poster. You might also consider messaging the original poster directly to suggest a change to their response.
- Don’t attack the moderators. Most are taking time from their busy life as a web developer to moderate and provide a free service to the community. These volunteers are usually extremely happy to receive private messages regarding your thoughts on making the group better.
That’s what I’ve got so far. Iterating.