Connect moderator ALWAYS replay polite

[TorM]

As I wrote in previous posts, I thought that this is a „poor“ support side, when having trouble with Google Maps.

Due to @JeanRV I discover that this is here much more. 

I saw so many nice pictures and posts in the last week that totally astonished me.

But in fact, mostly I was surprised about the Connect Moderators.

How is it possible that they ALWAYS answer in a very polite way???

I havn‘t found an unfriendly answer up to now. As I‘m very sure that these are no bots I‘m totally fascinated.

Please can you tell us about the secrete in ALWAYS answering in a polite way. I do not have this skill to hide my disbelieve when some questions appear here.

I really like to understand behavior.

@ErmesT

@OSAMA

@LudwigGermany

@brittym

[ErmesT]

Hi @TorM

Thanks for your words, I want to take it as a compliments. Going deeply in your question, I can suggest you some post:

Meet-the-Connect-Moderators/ (here below an excerpt from the last partof the post)

Interested in becoming a moderator for Local Guides Connect? Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Local Guides Level 5+ who actively contribute to Google Maps and Local Guides Connect
• Friendly and respectful community members who help keep Connect a warm, welcoming and informative place with their knowledge, accuracy and tone

HOWTO: Answer questions in a warm welcoming way  - By @PaulPavlinovich

The 5 core values of Connect - by @TraciC

Connect Moderators Chat by @KarenVChin (not all the actual moderators are in there, but I love it)

I can share much more, but I think this will explain a lot

Ermes

[iyudhi]

Hey @TorM thanks for the kind words.

So I'll tell you a bit of story.

Many years ago, when I just started at my regular job, my manager told me something interesting. She basically received some complaints from a few of my other coworkers, wondering why I was rude or sound mad when I was responding to emails. I was very surprised to hear that, since I definitely wasn't trying to be rude or mad. Here's one thing I learned since then: When you're trying to convey a message in a written from, it can be interpreted differently by the person reading it. Back then, I always try to be concise, brief, and basically was just trying to get the message across in the fastest way possible. I didn't know that by doing so, people reading it might think I was being pushy or rude. Ever since then, whenever I'm replying emails, I always stop at the end, and then read it again. And then think to myself, if I'm the one receiving this email, how would I feel? I basically tried to put myself on the reader's shoes. When I'm frustrated or mad, I even go a bit further. I will write an email response, and then let it sit for a few hours. After I calm down, I'd go back to the message and see if it's still appropriate to send out the message. I've never received any complaints since then.

So I guess in a way that helps me when I'm replying messages on Connect. Before being a Connect Moderator, I was already involved in another Google community, which is the Top Contributor program. I was the Top Contributor for Google+ in Indonesian language, and now in English. So that also helped sharpen my skills over the year in terms of doing responses. What I always try to do is to make sure to relay the message properly. I'm pretty bad at grammar, so there might be mistakes here and there, but I always try to make sure my spelling is correct. My approach is to treat it as conversing to the person in real life, having a casual conversation.

I know sometimes people can be very rude, but from what I'm thinking is, this person might be very frustrated at the time, and might actually be a really nice person in real life. So I try to be cool headed and respond in a nice way. There's no point fighting fire with fire, since it will only result in a bigger fire. From my experience, this has worked most of the time. There were quite a lot of moments where in the end the person calmed down and actually thanked me for the help. This happens a LOT more in the Google product forums though. I found people in Connect are generally really nice.

Well that's a bit of my story. Sorry if it was too long 🙂

[KarenVChin]

@TorM, great question and thanks for your feedback.  My style is to respond how I like to be responded to: give useful information with respect, graciousness,  and a smile. And try not so formulaic or provided a "canned" response. I hate that!

The key is to sound and be human via words. = )

Cheers,

Karen 

[TorM]

@KarenVChin, @iyudhi, @ErmesT

wow, thank you for your honestly and as well detailed answers.

Flowers for you....

[PaulPavlinovich]

G'Day @TorM that is a really good question, I'm glad you asked it. There are certainly times when we moderators read a post and think to ourselves sigh or in extreme cases grrrr... but we keep that to ourselves. We're here to help in the community. We share the vision of the Googlers for a strong community which exhibits good behaviour and high levels of tolerance and acceptance for the huge number of different cultures that are present in the Local Guides program. The only way to get our fellow contributors to follow the Core Values is to follow those ourselves. Do we slip up sometimes? Of course we do, everyone does, we're human. When that happens one of the other moderators will likely see it and give the first moderator a nudge to fix it. This is our real strength, our support for each other in our moderator family. Like good parents the Googlers give us enough freedom to manage our own responses and give us all the support we need as peers. It is an uplifting experience moderating here.

Outside of this community I've had years to learn how to moderate a community through trial and error in the g+ communities I'm involved in.

Regards Paul

[LudwigGermany]

@TorM 

My experience is similar to that of previous speakers. I learned a lot before - in the job, in my family and as a G+ group moderator. But when I started as Connect moderator I can remember the I got a warning for a straight forward post. Since this happened to me I've been thinking twice for the most of my posts. I must assume that people here

• don't have my level of knowledge
• have another cultural background (even in the German speaking board)
• don't understand jokes as I understand them (I have to mark them as jokes)
• are really looking for help, but they may scold because something is not working as they might understand it

I wish that I am doing well. So thank you for your motivating post!

[FaridTDF]

Llego a tu Post por los comentarios de los otros moderadores. Tu pregunta @TorM, es buena, porque no en todos los sitios, o redes sociales , (Connect para mi es de alguna manera una red social 🙂). El grado de tolerancia interpersonal es tan alto como aquí, ni tampoco el buen trato hacia nuestros pares, ya que para mí, en Connect, todos en definitiva somos colegas Local Guides, que nos gusta compartir y que nos compartan, partiendo de esas premisas, todo se desarrolla de alguna manera en forma armonica. En mi caso, como varios de los demás CM, vengo de administrar comunidades G+ Pero en particular me dedico a dar soporte a usuarios, y el trato personal con ellos no puede ser otro que el correcto y educado. Es verdad que en ocasiones puedes estar un poco enojado, pero es allí cuando la forma de responder tiene que ser la más educada y amable que exista, ya que una palabra mal dicha puede significar muchos otros problemas 🙄 y que mejor, como digo  yo "una buena contestación a tiempo evita muchos problemas a futuro".

Por otro lado convengamos que todos los compañeros CM son muy parecidos en experiencias y en maneras de comportarse. 

Por último ya para cerrar mi aporte, creo que la mejor manera de conducirse por la vida es, no le hagas al otro lo que no quieres que te hagan a ti  y esto aplica en cómo tratamos a los demás. 🙂

 Saludos Farid

 ✋👇

For the case that has difficulty, in reading my answer, in the upper right part of the screen, in the drop-down menu of languages, you can select the language, in which you want to read the post.

[ChandraBhanu]

@PaulPavlinovich

That's amazing 🙂

[TorM]

@FaridTDF

Good to have Google translation 😉.

You used a saying that applies in many situations. Thank you.