Forum Discussion
concern about quality of responses in discussions
MVP:s, as all of us, are different. If some ask for "best response" that doesn't mean that is since "best response" helps them to support MVP status. Not at all. Being mostly on Excel community I don't see that MVP:s on it ask for "best response", that's mostly people without that status. I don't like such additions to every post, that's kind of spam, but my point here that doesn't depend on you are MVP or not, that's personality. MVP status doesn't motivate for such behavior.
MVP:s are not more knowledgeable than other Pro:s - yes, of course. Even Microsoft employees are not more knowledgeable than other Pro:s if the question is outside of their direct responsibilities. The only difference is that Microsoft employees and MVP:s are usually more informed, more exactly they have more sources of information than other Pro:s.
Back to "best response". Technically I don't see any value in them. But we are here on Microsoft territory, if having them is important from SEO and other points of view, let they be. If Microsoft defines the rules who may manually correct such responses, why shall we care? Except employees on other forums these are moderators (who are not necessary an employees), here are MVP:s, I see no difference. Doesn't matter which rules are defined, that always be the mistakes and unpropped use of the rules by some individuals. If something is wrong I'd start to communicate concrete cases rather than entire system. Will we exclude MVP:s or Microsoft employees from these and these departments nothing changes, just administration of MTC becomes more complex.
I didn't say MVPs ask for best response, I'm saying that they don't need to. they have the ability to set their own answer as best response, that's the main problem.
even on StackExchange websites where things are more technical, it's still up to the user to decide which answer he/she/they receive is best. no one in there, comes and marks a post as answer for you.
and when I say "they" and "StackExchange", I'm not talking about a regular website, it's almost a hundred Q&A websites with Millions of users and posts.
they clearly have no problem with SEO, they appear in search results a lot more than Tech community, that's for sure. so it has nothing to do with SEO.
Even if SEO had a small impact, it would be a mistake in MTC's design and software that relies on such behavior, in which case, they should allow everyone to mark a post as best response (preferably by peer reviewing and voting). if it's good, let everyone do it.
Nope, I've never seen any regular member keep asking for people to mark his/her/their comment as best response, and most people in MTC that have the most "Best responses", are MVPs, just because they can mark their own comment as best response, nothing else.
and don't tell me that it's Microsoft's website and we should stay silent and don't say anything. you might not want to say anything because it's working in your favor.
and if you believe Microsoft works that way then you're wrong, because they take user feedback seriously.
"Best responses" have values for MVPs and help them, when Microsoft asks you to offer proof of work, your contributions on forums etc, if you show the fake "best responses", it has benefits in their decision to elect/re-elect you for MVP.
*these are official from Microsoft's website.
It looks like we have different experience. I could only share my one:
- being MVP I never marked my own response as "best" one and never seen on Excel community here any other MVP:s did that;
- being MVP I report my activities to Microsoft, but never mentioned how many best responses and / or likes I had, that's not required and that affects nothing
However, I suspect Microsoft keeps it's own stats which they take into account and which is behind the scene, but I know nothing about that and actually don't care.
Who has rights to mark best answers - again, I see no difference if it'll be Microsoft employee, MVP or whoever else. Best answer technically means nothing. If we need to have them, more the better, what's the difference who will do that? If any random answer will be marked as "best" I don't care.
Honestly, I'm not sure what is the root of this discussion, is that against MVP institute as it is, or against concrete MVP:s behavior, or against Microsoft employees / MVP:s intervention into discussion on this resource. If the latest actually I don't see the difference between Microsoft employees and MVP:s if except the team which runs this resource.
Best responses can affect judgement on Microsoft side, like you said there could be behind the scene stats, so best responses could be included, that alone motivates people who have the right, MVPs, to mark their posts as best response.
And I'm seen MVPs do that, it's even happened to me personally, where I posted a topic and some MVP came and posted a nonsensical post and then marked his own post as best response!
why it matters who marks a post as best response?
Wow I'm surprised this is even a question, the answer is quite obvious.
because it's disrespectful and unconstructive, let me explain. when I make a post or ask a question, anywhere, MTC or StackExchange, I have certain goals for asking that question, I should be the one evaluating the answers I receive and choose which one is the best for my question and serves my needs and solves my problem. this is in fact letting someone else make a decision for you, as if you are unable to make that decision for yourself.
the reason you think, how many best responses someone has means nothing, is the fundamental problem. the number of best responses shouldn't be worthless like that.
in communities such as Spiceworks or mega communities such as StackExchange, others don't have the right to choose best response for the OP (original poster).
And in those communities, higher number of "best responses" yields a better chance for even finding a job. that's how valuable it is.
those are successful examples that MTC should follow.
- Allen
Community Manager
Always happy to take feedback on the different mechanisms we use to help identify best responses, metrics or any other aspect of the community. I however want to start by stating that the vast majority of our MVPs use the 'accept as best response' button with due care. Where this is not the case and you feel that a post as been marked incorrectly, you can always highlight it to our team via a PM, emails us or you can report the post.
Posts marked as best response or verified answer by Microsoft (separate thing) are not primarily used to support the MVP Program and so collecting as many as you can is not likely to impact if you get to remain an MVP per say. We recommend that the original poster be given time to mark the post as a best response before an MVP, Employee or Admin comes in behind them and cleans it up by choosing which one they think is the best response.
The purpose of best responses is to help SEO so that search engines that build a Q&A library can effectively show relevant answers to questions. This is why when you enter a question in Google, for example, you will see the 'people ask widget' and it rarely has anything from stack overflow in it.
As many of you will know the Microsoft Tech Community has a rank structure to help show users who have become trusted by their peers, these ranks are attained for a mix of activities in the Microsoft Tech Community including Best Responses. The problem we often have is that users do not come back and mark any replies as best response, even where the person posting has asked them to in their post (i.e. If my post was helpful then please mark it as best response). This why moderators (employees and MVPs) have the ability to mark posts as best response.
HotCakeX as it stands today you are the ONLY non MVP of the community have reached our highest rank currently, this tells me you spend allot of time here, we appreciate it. Hopefully your interactions with our team have shown that we do listen to what you have to say and we will correct behaviors, comments or other things that are inappropriate or detracting from the community all up or otherwise in breach of our Code of Conduct or Terms of Use.Finally SergeiBaklan is a great guy, and I am sure he engaged with this discussion to try to correct things he felt were wrong in the thread. Our MVPs, including SergeiBaklan have a special place in our community and the wider Microsoft eco-system. They give up their own time and effort to help support Microsoft Customers and Microsoft wider objectives,
if anyone in the community has a problem with an MVP or employee, their conduct or behavior then please reach out to our team and we will work to resolve any conflicts.
