Changes to recognition program

[Former Member]

I hope I'm not stealing anyone's thunder by posting this (or even announcing something that is already common knowledge), but the following comes from today's (28/11) SAP Info newsletter;

"+++ Community Participation to Benefit UN World Food Programme

SAP AG today announced a ground-breaking new recognition program for

members of the SAP Developer Network (SDN) and Business Process Expert

communities. Beginning January 1, 2008, community member participation

will be rewarded with a donation to the United Nations World Food

Programme's Food for Education.

<a href="http://www.sap.info/public/INT/int/clicks/DBNF/24293474d3e8b950ae">http://www.sap.info/public/INT/int/clicks/DBNF/24293474d3e8b950ae</a>"

Must say I feel this is a good thing, and as it's been fairly quiet on Coffee Corner this week thought I'd offer this up for other opinions.

Regards,

Nick

[amit_khare]

Hi All,

Its a great thought and now the motive is more nobel that ever.

Mark, your team and you surely deserve a pat on the back for coming up with such a thing.

Keep doing great work

Regards,

Amit

[Former Member]

Hi All,

This is a truly a great idea. Just a suggestion, Why do SAP is planning to send the Community Badges. Even sending these badges by post will cost lots of money. Can't we even utilize that amount also for the food for education program. If you want to recognize the contribution then even the certificate will also work instead of a badge.So just a certificate which can be sent using an email can also serve the purpose instead of badges.

Regards,

Atish

[hermanoclaro]

That's a nice thing! It was nice to know that SAP will set the Community participation to benefit such a nice thing, it motivates me more to contribute with sdn with all I can.

Regards,

-h

[Former Member]

Very good news indeed !

I have been ranting a lot about the points system and all is negative aspects on noise, spam and so on.

I'm glad that SAP listen to the users and I'm glad that the innovative wayto solve the problem will benefit to a charity.

I just hope that point hunters will not be encouraged to give too much to the charity !

Regards,

Olivier

[former_member374]

Hi Nick and all,

Thanks for starting this thread. It brought me to post a blog about it with some more information: /people/mark.finnern/blog/2007/11/28/food-for-points

Hope you like it and now I have to rush to the airport, Mark.

[stephenjohannes]

Interesting and definitely a good idea. Any reason for UN agency instead of a private non-goverment agency to support?

[former_member188632]

Hello All and Mark,

i would like to re-post one of the lines that i liked the most from your bolg here:

"An empty stomach doesn't study well and I love that this brings the kids to school to enable them a better life through education."

I am very much happy to see SDN's new face this way, it is reallly a very very very good approach and i really feel PROUD of being a member of this great community

"Long live SDN " !! we are doing a very good deed and may god bless us all for making this new idea a great success

Regards,

Ameya

Message was edited by:

Ameya Pimpalgaonkar

[Former Member]

That really is a great move. I love this change. I feel like I am contibuting not just to my peers with technical problems but also help school children get their (only) meal. I am very proud to be a member of SDN. All I am going to do now is involve myself more actively in SDN, and do my part in pulling the extra bucks from SAP as much as possible

Long live the community

Regards,

Jai Shankar

[Former Member]

So does that mean a clearance sale of SDN T shirts in Dec:-)

Asha

[Former Member]

Hi,

I really like that idea ... but I am wondering what all these 'WHEN WILL MY SHIRT ARRIVE' guys will do then ... I am excited to see if this will lead to less noise in the forums.

Maybe I sell my SDN shirt on EBAY and donate the returns.

Cheers,

Sascha

[JozsefSzikszai]

"but I am wondering what all these 'WHEN WILL MY SHIRT ARRIVE' guys will do then "

easy change: When will my donation arrive...

[Former Member]

hi Nick,

great announcement, thx for making us aware of it.

I suppose this is a day for the community members to be proud since it was the very community itself to propose such a <a href="/people/nigel.james/blog/2007/06/26/three-little-words--change-the-world.

Regards,

anton

So, from now on, now more picking at the points hunters

[AndreasHuppert]

Great idea. That will weed out the point hunters that hunt for personal gain.

I suggest to offer a selection of alternative charity organizations, and each SDN member can select if he wants to donate somewhere else.

[Former Member]

That's an innovative way to weed out point hunters and encourage those who want to contribute to society through SDN.

[Former Member]

We made the decision to support this program and only this program for a multitude of reasons, many Mark Yolton shared when he announced as did Mark Finnern in his blog post.

It's an exciting time, I'm hoping "now" that we made it public that I can capture Mark Yolton on video tomorrow at TechEd to get more feedback for everyone so if you have questions or comments leave them here and I will check back on them to bring them into the little interview. I know SAP TV talked to him today as well.

[Former Member]

I think this is a very very noble idea!

It is amazing to know that we, as a group, can play our role in meeting some basic needs of the people around the world.

At the same time I would like to remind SDNers that the plight of people in such regions is, quite often not of their own doing and as such we should not be condescending in our use of words with phrases like 'third world', etc., when it comes to describing the less fortunate amongst us - let us not fall into the trap as the pollies. You see poverty everywhere, even in 'first world', you just need to look around and there is proof...there are homeless people everywhere, in some places whole race is quite backward making you wonder, how they could have escaped civilisation.

I am amazed how colloborative we have become, to solve one anothers' mundane SAP problems and I am looking forward to a similar if not better effort towards sharing some of the burden of the world's needy...GO FOR IT SDN!!!

P.S.: And for a change gamers and point hunters would be working for the good of others - for a change!

Message was edited by:

Ravi Dixit

[Former Member]

> At the same time I would like to remind SDNers that

> the plight of people in such regions is, quite often

> not of their own doing and as such we should not be

> condescending in our use of words with phrases like

> 'third world', etc.,

I don't see how the phrase is condescending at all, it's a hangover from the days of the cold war and it meant at the time those countries that were neither part of the Western alliance nor the Soviet block. Nor does it imply anything about whose fault it is.

[Former Member]

Will reward points still be displayed against a contributor?

[Former Member]

> I suggest to offer a selection of alternative charity

> organizations, and each SDN member can select if he

> wants to donate somewhere else.

I'd choose the fund for supporting recently unemployed t-shirt makers.

[Former Member]

LOL...

[KKilhavn]

I see several posts here indicate that this change in the recognition program is a silver bullet with respect to "point hunters" and other side-effects we don't particularly cherish. Let me just give you all a virtual splash of cold water.

> Great idea. That will weed out the point hunters that hunt for personal gain.

>

Although I did like the T-shirts (the red 1/2K seems to be of better quality than the blue 1K) it seems to me that anyone spending time on SDN to get points in order to get a T-shirt need to have another look at the real price of that T-shirt (time spent multiplied either by value of your own time off work or whatever your hourly wage is).

The personal gain for most point hunters is probably in one or both of the following categories:

• 15 minutes of fame - the shirts are less important than visibility on the virtual podium

• Money - from other threads I have had the impression that both people and companies are using high SDN ranking to market themselves

<u>If</u> this is correct, there is nothing in this change of policy that will influence the point hunters. Both of the above are linked to the points, not the T-shirts.

That said, if the new program includes servings of beer we could start calling them pint-hunters, which has a much better ring to it

[Former Member]

Completely agree with Kjetil.

T-shirts were interesting for more or less genuine forum contributors.

For point hunters virtual recognition and more chances to be hired on positions that they don't deserve still outweigh everything else.

For noisemakers and for those who-don't-even-have-clue-what-the-boss-asked-me-to-do-I'd-better-ask-the-SDN-to-do-my-job nothing has changed.

It's really great that SAP decided to make this donation.

But don't expect the less noise or less point hunters in SDN. From the point of the SDN's health NOTHING HAS BEEN CHANGED!

[Former Member]

Hmmm... just a thought.

Why not make it a challenge. Point receivers match the SAP contribution (or some percentage) to the charity of their choice, swapping their local currency fior Euros.

It might slow down point hunting to some extent.

Rob

[Former Member]

>

> I don't see how the phrase is condescending at all,

> it's a hangover from the days of the cold war and it

> meant at the time those countries that were neither

> part of the Western alliance nor the Soviet block.

> Nor does it imply anything about whose fault it is.

Words and phrases do change their meaning over time...don't you agree?

Below are some extracts from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World">wikepedia.</a>

<i>The Third World's economies are distorted by dependence upon exportation of primary products, to the First and Second worlds, in return for finished products. After liberation from colonial rule in the 1950s - 1970s, many Third World nations were illiterate, over-populated, and politically unstable. This was particularly true of Africa, where nation-states were artificially created by European colonial powers in order to control populations by imposing local, minority-rule governments, indifferent to local social and cultural reality.

In general, Third World countries are not as industrialized or technologically advanced as OECD countries, and consequently developing nation is the current term in use in academia. Terms such as Global South, developing countries, less economically developed countries (LEDC), least developed countries, and the Majority World have become more popular in circles where the term third world is regarded to have derogatory or out-of-date connotations.</i>

Message was edited by:

Ravi Dixit

[suresh_datti]

Why not we remove individual recognition & let the points accrue into a common pool? SAP can match/double and send it across to UNWFP..

~Suresh

[KKilhavn]

> Why not make it a challenge. Point receivers match the SAP contribution (or some percentage) to the charity of their choice, swapping their local currency for Euros.

>

SAP skills are in demand and the pay is good, but asking me to pay 100 thousand Euros (or Norwegian kroner for that matter) to help others is taking it a bit far. Can I at least include the donations I currently give?

Well, even if I think you meant paying in proportion I think it is a nice thought but a bad concept. I think most, if not all, readers here can afford it (students may be excepted), but I wouldn't connect the two.Too much administration. Support your local Red Cross/Red Crescent/Red Diamond organization irrespective of SDN points, if you feel that's a good thing to do.

If SAP wants point-hunters and noise to go away, something has to be done to the fundamental problem. It is too easy to post questions here compared to the ease of posting a customer message in OSS. They have already proven they have the technology and the design that will reduce traffic. The question is whether SAP <b>wants to</b> reduce traffic. Perhaps they are afraid that some people will instead use other sites. Given that this is a free forum I would argue that quality is more important than quantity, especially once a certain traffic volume has been reached.

Sorry, that was a digression.

[Former Member]

Well, I don't think that anyone would donate 100,000 euros, just your share. If you earn 250 points and live in say Mexico, then you can donate 250 Mexican pesos (or whatever you want).

Presumably students would not earn many points.

But I don't agree that it's a bad concept to encourage people to make charitable donations. That was the intent anyway.

Yes, administratively, it would be a nightmare and will probably never fly. Like I said, it was just a thought.

Rob

[KKilhavn]

> But I don't agree that it's a bad concept to encourage people to make charitable donations. That was the intent anyway.

>

I agree wholeheartedly - we who have too much money should share some of our good fortune with others who have been less fortunate in life. (Read: support your local archery shop

[former_member374]

Hi Ravit,

> At the same time I would like to remind SDNers that

> the plight of people in such regions is, quite often

> not of their own doing and as such we should not be

> condescending in our use of words with phrases like

> 'third world', etc., when it comes to describing the

> less fortunate amongst us - let us not fall into the

> trap as the pollies. You see poverty everywhere, even

> in 'first world', you just need to look around and

> there is proof...there are homeless people

> everywhere, in some places whole race is quite

> backward making you wonder, how they could have

> escaped civilisation.

I would like to apologize for the use of "Third World" when I was writing the post I thought that there is a better term, but it was late and I had to get ready for the trip home. Thanks for pointing it out and also with your follow up post showing the background to it.

All the best, Mark.

[Former Member]

Thanks for the reply, Mark!

On the whole, I think SDN has taken a tremendous leap forward - Keep it up!

Apologies from me too, if I sounded harsh.

Best Regards

Ravi

[Former Member]

Does this mean we can abuse the point system now as the cause is worthy? 😄

Now people should award points whether the answers have helped or not to bump SAP upto the maximum contribution...

Will SAP change/rotate the "sponsor" each year as there are many worthy global causes?

[JPReyes]

I just want to say....

WELL DONE this is a GREAT initiative.

[Former Member]

Hi Rob,

I perfectly agree to your suggestion.

SDN has set forth a very commendable example

and members should also be given the chance

to make a fair contribution if they desire.

I feel glad and honoured to be a

member of this Community

=====================================

. If you earn 250 points and live in say Mexico, then you can donate 250 Mexican pesos (or whatever you want).

Presumably students would not earn many points.

But I don't agree that it's a bad concept to encourage people to make charitable donations. That was the intent anyway.

Yes, administratively, it would be a nightmare and will probably never fly. Like I said, it was just a thought.

=================================

Warm regards,

Aby Jacob (Bangalore,India)