:O Rules of Engagement --- 2005-02-25

[former_member181879]

SDN has now introduced a <a href="/people/mark.finnern/blog/2004/08/03/announcing-the-contributor-recognition-program Recognition Program</a>. Which in short text means that for each question you have 10 points, which can be given to the person that answers your question.

Why worry? But at the end of the day, all of us are human, and a small recognition goes a long way. This way, you win in getting a good answer. The person answering gets that warm feeling of having helped and with enough points gets a small reward.

SDN is a community that lives for and from its users. Which means when asking a question, <b>you also assume the responsibility</b> to assign the points. Recommended is that you assign 6 or 10 points once to the answer/person that helped you the most. Assign 2 points to everyone that contributed something. See also <a href="https://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/HOME/Contributor+Recognition">FAQ</a>.

brian mckellar (moderator)

[former_member181879]

When editing an append in SDN, there are a few interesting buttons. One is the bold button. All it does is place a [b ]sequence[/b ] around the text to make it <b>bold</b>. Similar the [i ]sequence[/i ] gives us <i>italics</i>. Recommended is to not use the <u>underline</u> feature, as this causes confusion with links in the text.

However, there are two great sequences that are not available via buttons.

To place a link inside text, use the [ url=href]sequence[/url ]. Here href is the complete url to the target. This way, the user can read your text, without having to "read" the actual URL. A simple click will do the trick. For example, here is a onto this thread. (The most browsers will display URL in bottom of window if you move the mouse over the link.)

The second is the [code ]sequence[/code ] to display source code inside an append. The source will not be displayed inline, but between to paragraphs. For example:

IF answered( myQuestion ) IS NOT INITIAL.
  goto( myQuestion ).
  givepoints( nr = 10 for = 'superMan' ).
  givepoints( nr = 2  for = '*' ). "everyone else"
ENDIF.

The only slight disadvantages of these code sequences is that even although Jennifer's <a href="/people/sap.user72/blog/2004/08/10/importopinion">survey</a> shows a very strong demand for ABAP, SDN is still force formatting all source with Java syntax. Oh well, we will not (further) complain. Recommendations and ideas goes into the <a href=" forum</a>!

In all examples above, I was forced to add a space into the [sequences] so that they will be displayed, and not used for formatting. Always use without the space.

brian mckellar (moderator)

[former_member181879]

Refreshed. It seems that it is time to bring this to the top again. Please do not append onto this thread unless you wish to add a rule or two. I would like to keep this "clean" of meta noise.

[Former Member]

Welcome to the SAP forums. Before you post, make yourself first familiar with the rules of engagement.

<b>Disclaimer:</b> This is <b>NOT</b> a support channel. For urgent problems, especially if it concerns your business, <b>SAP Service Channel</b> is the only way to go! If the place where your problem gets logged and tracked, where there are escalation processes available, and where we can involve different groups as appropriate to get a problem solved. Problems can and will only be handled via SAP Service Channel, not in this forum.

---

<b>Step 1: Finding your answer</b>

Rule number one: Try to find the answer first. There are tons of resources out there, show that you have tried to find the answer. A question that shows that the person is willing to try and help themselves is more likely to be answered than one which simply demands information. Tell us what you have tried to solve the problem yourself - often we can learn from that too!

Search the forums, the articles, the blog posts and the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) in the WIKI ( https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/wiki ) for your topic.

<b>Step 2: Asking a question</b>

Once you have verified that no resources are available solving your problem, ask your question. Do the following:

<b>- Use a good subject line</b>

The subject header is your golden opportunity to attract qualified experts' attention in around 50 characters or fewer. Don't waste it on babble like "Workflow question". As we all have busy jobs, often we just skim through the list headings and read those that interest us. Also, DO NOT reply to an unrelated post to ask a different question. This confuses those reading the thread and may lose people that would be interested in your question. Always start a new topic with a new mail.

Bad subject: <i>Urgent problem with workflow</i>

Good subject: <i>Error after transport: "Inconsistent workflow definition"</i>

Do not use any of the words urgent, quickly, burning, etc in your message. Especially not in the title! This just irritates and does not help you to get to your goal. From our side, we definitely not answer faster, nor better when we see these hot words.

The same for such things as ??? or !!! in appends. In English language one ? or ! is sufficient to terminate a sentence.

<b>- Only one question per posting</b>

For each question that you have, make a separate posting. Don't ask multiple question in one pisting, this is confusing for people and might not get answered, as the subject line is not reflecting all your problems. If a new and unrelated question comes up during a thread, start a new thread.

<b>- Provide enough information.</b>

For starters, please tell us which version and type of system you're working on - e.g. SAP R/3 4.6C or SRM 4.0 (EBP 5.0). If your question is regarding an error, include the message. If it is a request for info, please be specific. Questions such as "How do I administer workflow" are vague, tell us exactly what you want to know - "I'm the administrator, how do I forward work items to another agent?". If it's a big query, rather break it down into separate questions.

<b>- Re-read your query before submitting it.</b>

Put yourself in a reader's position - does the question make sense? Can I understand the problem? Is this enough information to be able to answer the problem?

This is a very valuable technique, because many questions end up answering themselves when you read them carefully. It also leads to better questions. Many list readers like good questions, especially if they are thought-provoking and thus help all of us understand things better. This is one of the main reasons many experienced consultants read the list regularly.

<b>- Why is nobody answering my question?</b>

There may be variety of reasons:

1) never assume that you are entitled to an answer. Remember: this is a community forum; the people on the list have jobs just like you and respond voluntarily. Perhaps nobody knows the answer.

2) Did you let other users enough time? Don't be impatient. If the question is urgent, go to the official support channel.

3) Is your subject misleading, your post in the right forum or your problem description understandable?

<b>Step 3: Give feedback and an update</b>

Lastly, it's also nice to <b>follow up with a brief update </b>if you have found the solution. People may try to help not because they know the answer, but because they are interested in solving the same problem; or people may just encounter the same issue in the future and be searching the archives. It's a good way of giving back to the community, irrespective of whether you are a beginner or an expert.

<b>Step 4: Thank others by giving points</b>

SDN has now introduced a <a href="/people/mark.finnern/blog/2004/08/03/announcing-the-contributor-recognition-program Recognition Program</a>. Which in short text means that for each question you have 10 points, which can be given to the person that answers your question.

Why worry? But at the end of the day, all of us are human, and a small recognition goes a long way. This way, you win in getting a good answer. The person answering gets that warm feeling of having helped and with enough points gets a small reward.

SDN is a community that lives for and from its users. Which means when asking a question, <b>you also assume the responsibility</b> to assign the points. Recommended is that you assign 6 or 10 points once to the answer/person that helped you the most. Assign 2 points to everyone that contributed something. See also <a href="https://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/HOME/Contributor+Recognition">FAQ</a>.

SDN is place where developers meet other developers. One takes the time to see the problems other developers are facing, the time to read possible solutions (to learn), and maybe one day the time to answer some questions.

---

<i>Text in this message was borrowed from

- <a href="https://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.sdn.businesscard.sdnbusinesscard?u=s1ett4b5nss%3d">brian McKellar</a> and the BSP forum

<a href="/people/mike.pokraka/blog/2005/07/17/sap-business-workflow-faq Workflow User Group FAQ</a> by [url=https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.sdn.businesscard.sdnbusinesscard?u=xbzpqlwvluy%3d]Mike Pokraka[/url]

[former_member181879]

SDN is for interaction with fellow developers. Questions in SDN our small team sees whenever we scan this forum. We try to help where possible.

OSS is for "we have a problem/bug". OSS is the official support channel from SAP. Problems are first looked at and handled by our Backoffice Support team. Let there be no doubt, these guys are good! Thereafter, if not immediately obvious, or a new problem, it is routed again to our small team.

What is not allowed to ever happen is that the same problem from the same person lands in both SDN and OSS. Then we have two teams working on the same problem in parallel. This is costing us time and money! Not to say anything about frustration.

If you must make a SDN question to an OSS problem, or visa versa, then write into <b>both</b> a cross reference, so that we are aware of this situation, and can quickly know where to continue of support. [In OSS the SDN thread, in SDN the OSS problem number.]

This allows us to better utilize our limited resources to get more questions/problems solved.

brian mckellar (moderator)

[former_member181879]

SDN is place where developers meet other developers. One takes the time to see the problems other developers are facing, the time to read possible solutions (to learn), and maybe one day the time to answer some questions.

However, this is NOT a support channel. It is NOT we have a bug channel. It is NOT a channel for "production is down" cries. It is NOT a channel for sitting at a customer and must make the problem work before sunset.

It is important to understand that everybody that spends time here, do so freely, which open means personal time (including mine). We cannot monitor this forum day and night, and do it only a best effort approach.

For urgent problems, especially if it concerns your business, OSS is the <b>only</b> way to go! It the place where your problem gets logged and tracked, where there are escalation processes available, and where we can involve different groups as appropriate to get a problem solved. Problems can and will only be handled via OSS, not in this forum.

As such, do not use any of the words urgent, quickly, burning, etc in your message. Especially not in the title! This just irritates and does not help you to get to your goal. From our side, we definitely not answer faster, nor better when we see these hot words.

The same for such things as ??? or !!! in appends. In English language one ? or ! is sufficient to terminate a sentence.

Let me give a small story: in another forum, somebody asked a complex question with the words "URGENT" in the title. The only answer he got from another forum user was "Don’t use urgent". The question was never answered.

And as such, it is recommend following a specific style, so that you get your questions answered, and also other people feel happy to read the thread.

Which means: always ask questions, but leave time for the answers to be sought.

brian mckellar (moderator)