Is It Time for Moderators to Step Up Communication Standards on Cite HR?

Concerns About Communication Standards

I have observed that the standard/quality of communication in CiteHR is deteriorating day by day. Certain threads/posts are filled with a lot of grammar mistakes, and it's really hard to understand the real issue raised by an answer-seeking member. The content is not even read twice before it is finally posted. CiteHR has even provided a spell-check facility in the message editor, in spite of which, a lot of mistakes are committed.

HR professionals are expected to be the catalysts in a company, who should be precise, clear, and sharp in various mediums of communication. Don't you think it's time for the moderators to intervene and raise the bar/level of communication in this forum by timely interventions? Inviting comments on the same.

I fully agree with you, but we should also consider that most of the members in this forum are either recent graduates or are still in college. I believe it is our responsibility to educate them when they make mistakes. I hope I have made myself clear to you.

With kind regards,
Harini

Dear Sriram, First and foremost, a big thank you for initiating this thread. We all agree that we came to this community to groom ourselves professionally. Hence, what we write and how we present our thoughts show our interest towards self-development.

We have been requesting members repeatedly not to use SMS language and to post requests in complete sentences. Sometimes, it's beyond grammar, and we can't understand what is meant. Consequently, we miss reverting to the post. I have received repeated requests and complaints on this. A bad presentation drives seniors and serious readers away from replying.

The internet is an open platform. The mistake that is made today will stay forever. This makes it essential that we think twice before we present ourselves and make necessary preparations.

Community Leaders and Standards

There are leaders in this community who would not have been within our reach. Mr. Narashimhan had co-authored a book with Hubert Rampersad. Samvedan is a sounding board to many CEOs. They are just a few to name, and there are many more. The more I get to know, the more it humbles me. I realize how important it is to maintain the standard that would meet these great leaders' expectations. Generating value through whatever we do carves our place on this earth. A minor mistake such as incorrect sentence formation or our own eagerness to appear casual can undo it all.

Establishing standards would create a lot more takeaways for the one who accepts it. This can be realized only when someone invests in learning and developing themselves.

Once again, I thank you for this initiative. I am following this thread and will wait to read the point of view.

Regards, (Cite Contribution)

I agree with (Cite Contribution) that it's good you have highlighted this aspect. While it's necessary and realistic to expect the members doing the postings to improve their written communication skills, I only hope they realize that in the long run, they benefit more than this forum. I think CiteHR itself needs to fix or modify some ground rules.

Suggestions for Improvement

Why not embed some rules into the Message Posting Form in CiteHR that will prevent the posting if there are spelling mistakes, grammar errors, SMS language, etc.? There are many sites that show asterisks where the fields are mandatory; if such fields aren't filled in, then the form isn't accepted. Maybe CiteHR can adopt a similar practice. Instead of asterisks, CiteHR can track specific categories of faults or mistakes to stop the posting from going through unless corrected.

Food for thought. Any comments?

Regards,
TS

While I agree with Sriram, I really do not think the moderators can keep proofreading all the time. In any case, there are a number of youngsters who have serious limitations in the English language when attempting to express themselves, so there are bound to be a lot of mistakes in their inputs. However, that is no excuse for casual questioning and for students trying to get ready-made solutions. The use of SMS language is another issue that plagues this forum. In my view, to curb this, we must educate the more serious Citehr users to respond only to those serious questions that are well-framed and require expert guidance. This should act as a deterrent, particularly for those students who try to get ready-made answers to assignments.

Ignoring poorly drafted questions, casually sought explanations, and queries that are in the nature of using the forum as a shortcut to assignment answers would definitely act as a good filter to ensure a better quality of queries, and well-drafted inputs become the order of the day.

Regards

Dear Sriram, as mentioned by Mr. Jacob and (Cite Contribution), it is not pleasant to see such grammatical and spelling mistakes in the threads. Some people are using chat language and SMS language, which should be avoided. In SMS, there are restrictions on the number of letters, so it is acceptable in that context. In chat, quick replies are sought; hence the use of shortcut words and spelling errors may be accepted. For example, "See You" as "C U" or "am" as "M" may not be easily understood by everyone.

Thank you, Mr. Sriram, for initiating such a useful thread that will alert at least some people to correct themselves. I am not suggesting that everyone posting here is fully conversant with the language. However, the purpose of language is to convey queries and feelings to others in the correct sense. In some cases, this fails, and the replies may take on a different nature. To avoid such a situation, grammatical and spelling mistakes should be minimized.

With warm regards,

S. Bhaskar [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

I respectfully disagree with you all regarding spelling and grammar mistakes made by members of the forum. Some members may not be very proficient in the English language, but that does not mean we should ignore their queries or question their authenticity.

While it is true that there are many distinguished leaders in various fields here, it does not imply that individuals with a background in Hindi medium education or similar backgrounds are prohibited from posting their queries. Proficiency in the English language should not be the sole criterion for evaluating the knowledge of individuals on this forum. I am aware of several active and popular members whose written communication skills are not particularly strong.

I do agree that the use of SMS language or chat language should be discouraged, and I believe that with our intervention, we can help regulate such practices.

This platform is intended for learning, and there are no restrictions on the learning process. If anyone needs assistance in improving their written skills, let us support them.

Regards,
Archna

Hello Everyone, It appears that the main point is getting diverted. As I mentioned in my earlier post, let not the complete onus of using/learning the right language be solely on the members of this forum. Archna has provided valid reasons why this expectation is unreasonable and impractical.

Forum's Role in Language Improvement

The forum also needs to do its part by adopting measures that will not only enhance the overall capacity of the members to improve and learn through the forum itself. This is why I suggested that "CiteHR can track specific categories of faults/mistakes to prevent the posting from going through unless corrected."

In fact, this is not very difficult or unrealistic. CiteHR already has the Spellchecker in place. From a software developer's point of view, the SpellChecker is currently programmed only to alert about spelling mistakes, leaving the correction to the individual typing the message. Minor modifications can be made to ensure that the posting is blocked unless the mistakes are corrected. The extent to which and which mistakes should be allowed or corrected may need to be decided, taking into consideration the various profiles of the members, as Archna mentioned.

In this context, I agree with her. Please see the following recent thread where many reasons are given by professionals as to why CiteHR is so liked by them: https://www.citehr.com/308070-citehr-best.html

Apart from the quality of responses they receive, another factor is that they get responses without any link to their current standing or position.

Role of Seniors and Moderators

As seniors, I believe it is our role to guide others without condoning their lapses or mistakes, while also ensuring a method/avenue is provided for them to correct themselves. In a way, CiteHR could evolve as a forum that indirectly contributes to the wholesome improvement of the skills of such individuals while maintaining the overall caliber and standards of this forum.

I agree with B. Jacob that the moderators cannot keep proofreading all the time. This is where I thought incorporating means to handle such issues into the posting software would be beneficial, even before B. Jacob posted his reply, as it is humanly impractical for anyone to continually correct others' language issues. I believe the moderators have better things to do. Automating this aspect can be helpful since we live in a world surrounded by computers; why not utilize them more effectively for everyone's benefit?

Regards,
TS

Dear all, I am not sure whether we should be discussing this point in the general forum. It has been considered by Moderators and the Senior Members' Group. Even contributors to the discussion in this thread have used SMS language; I think it has become a habit with some. Grammar and spelling mistakes or some typos can be ignored if the query makes sense. However, posts such as those at https://www.citehr.com/274413-work-l...tionnaire.html are most annoying.

Have a nice day.

Regards, Simhan

Dear All, Thank you for such wonderful feedback and thoughts on this issue. I agree with Ms. Harini on the point that most of the members are "either immediate graduates or yet to graduate from college." In this era, where English is taught even at the elementary level, a person who is in college or has graduated is expected to be conversant in English and should be able to communicate effectively, without grammar mistakes. It's really shocking to see members posting threads with not even a grammatically correct sentence. Seniors can only point out the mistakes and guide them to learn and correct the language. Ultimately, the change should come from within and aim for improvement.

Mr. T Satheesh has raised a very tricky question to the moderators, whether to implement a rule regarding the posting of incorrect threads. I would appreciate such an initiative by Citehr, but it should in no way hinder the "learning experience" of this forum. No member should leave or ignore this forum due to the complexity it might involve when such rules are implemented. A process where all incorrect postings are displayed in the forum after being checked or corrected by senior members or moderators should be adopted. This will ensure that a member's query is addressed in the best possible manner. (This can be either a manual process or an automated one as suggested by Mr. TS)

Ms. Archana presented a different perspective on this issue. I would definitely agree with her point that language should not be a hindrance in expressing oneself and not a parameter to judge knowledge. However, given the circumstances of this forum, which is essentially one of the most sought-after HR blogs, it should maintain minimum standards in the usage of the English language. An idea is ideal only when the possessor expresses it clearly and effectively to the people.

As clearly indicated by Ms. (Cite Contribution), "Absence of intent to put in effort" is the most serious issue to be addressed within. Unless and until members decide to change, this issue will continue to haunt this forum. Let's hope that what we have discussed in this thread will be an eye-opener for everyone.

Thanks

Automated Vetting Mechanism for Forum Posts

Hello Everyone, the main reasons I had suggested some sort of 'automated' solution/mechanism to VET the postings—MIND YOU NOT FILTER—are as below:

• The point that (Cite Contribution) raised—'There are leaders in this community, who would not have been, within our reach.' I think the point she was trying to make was this: it isn’t right to waste the time of such people whose time is more valuable than many others—since that’s what happens when anyone tries to read such incomprehensible postings and further still tries to understand its meaning, just because he/she wants to contribute to this Forum. That’s unfair. When such a vetting device is in place, such situations are minimized to the maximum—even if not 100% ruled out.

• The point that Archna raised—'does not mean that a person with a Hindi medium background.' Though she referred to non-English medium persons, I think many English medium educated persons can be put into the same slot—no pun intended please—thanks to the varying standards of education across the country. I am sometimes surprised and I think Sriram could be wrong here. This is where such a mechanism will help both the other members of the Forum [in terms of better English presentation] AND such persons too who want to benefit from this Forum. This would give those with poor English skills the opportunity to improve themselves—without a special effort on that front, since their postings would not be accepted until they type in correctly. A sort of fringe benefit—albeit, I think, a very important one in the long run—of this mechanism.

To explain this, let’s take the case of admission to IIMs and other MBA colleges. If one wants to get admitted to any IIM, would he/she not strive to RAISE TO THAT LEVEL? The same goes for this mechanism—it maintains the standards of the Forum and at the same time aids/assists those who aren’t of the same standard to participate in this Forum.

• This is where (Cite Contribution)'s other point comes into the picture—'Absence of intent to put an effort.' If a person wants to participate in this Forum seriously, instead of frivolously as seems to be the case for many nowadays, then they better put in the extra effort. It’s basically RAISING THEIR STANDARDS THAN ASKING/EXPECTING OTHERS TO LOWER THEIR STANDARDS in which the Forum is ready to extend a helping hand. It’s up to the individual concerned to decide if that extra effort is worth it—in terms of the knowledge gained and shared.

The primary motive of CiteHR has, as I see it, always been to reach out to the maximum number of HR professionals through the means of sharing experiences and knowledge base, rather than a club sort of thing for HR persons. I think this objective would not only be guarded but enhanced in the long run by adopting such measures. I already see a lot of other nationals participating in this Forum.

Any bouquets or brickbats?

Regards,
TS

Thank you all for this interesting discussion. I would like to add what I think about this issue and why we are trying to take alternative routes to help our senior members spend more quality time here. Firstly, I agree with Archna—our country is full of people who are not proficient in English. From what we see, people are still unable to read and understand general website guidelines; hence, they send in their queries through the "contact us" form. We receive about 100-200 such misguided queries every day. Even in the urban population, proficiency in written English is very low. I think pointing out these English errors is important, but it needs to be done politely so that they are taken constructively. To many, this emphasis on being "polite" may seem repetitive, but it is very important in a text-only medium, especially coming from senior members, as it will reflect our [citehr's] overall demeanor towards members. Please remember that anything you write will be read repeatedly, and people will form an opinion about our network based on what they read and how they see others being treated.

Now, let me try to explain what we have done to improve the quality of time spent by our senior members here.

Improvements Made

1. Recommendations: This works as a collective filter—if you reply to any thread and someone is following you, they get notified through the recommendations tab. This way, if you follow all the other seniors, you will know what they think are important queries, and you can read and participate in them.

2. Improved and highlighted research feature to help reduce repetitive queries.

3. Closing of all threads older than 1 year. Earlier, if anyone would reply to any old thread—even with a simple "Thank You"—the thread would show up in the recent threads section. By closing these old threads, this has stopped.

4. Better flow in the interface to help users post their threads in the correct section. Although it hasn't stopped people from posting in the wrong sections, it has reduced the occurrence.

5. Help groups have been created for new users and are highlighted with a notification when they first log in.

Features in the Near Future

1. Notifications area on the home page to inform people instantaneously about replies in the threads and discussions they are participating in—this will help improve the number of quality discussions.

2. Addition of an "accredit" system for posts to help identify the best posts in a thread. This will also help in identifying the most authentic posts—accredited by other members.

Finally, to acknowledge tajsateesh's idea—adding a stringent system that will not allow people to post if there are spelling or grammatical errors will cause more confusion among people—many of whom would probably not even be aware of how to correct the sentences. Also, it will be one more deterrent in the posting process—which we would like to avoid and look for alternative ways to improve the topic selection for our members. I would suggest that we try to point out the English grammar or spelling mistakes in a non-emotional and direct way—just so that we are consistent and constructive. We can even mention our concern by saying, "Proper language is important for professional growth," or something like that.

Regards, Sid [CHR]

It's nice to see the actions that have been taken and planned to be taken. Regarding your suggestion about messages like "Proper language is important for professional growth" or something like that to handle spelling/grammatical errors: it's a good idea. Or it could also be something like: "If you want an early response to your thread, please ensure your posting is grammatically correct" or a similar line. This would make the message closer to the individual posting the thread, rather than being 'impersonal'. Just give it a thought.

But I seriously hope that our co-professionals don't give such guidance messages the same importance smokers give to the message "smoking kills you" on cigarette packs. Let's give it a shot - to be optimistic. Let's cross the bridge when it comes - in case such messages don't improve the situation.

Regards,
TS

Let us have an optimistic approach, Mr. Sateesh. Surely, as in the MS Word package, if we have the functionality to read underlines for spelling mistakes and green lines for sentence mistakes, another 30 to 35% of the population will make use of it. However, due to grammatical mistakes, some important attachments that we receive in this forum should not be blocked. An auto-correct option must be made available in threads for such silly spelling and grammatical mistakes. One fine day, we can achieve 100% accuracy in posts.

With warm regards,

S. Bhaskar
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Hello Everyone

My greetings to you all. First, let me appreciate the initiative taken by our member Sriram Warrier, as well as the other members, for sharing their intellectual thoughts. I am delighted to share my humble thoughts on this very interesting post.

Basics of Writing Skills

Effective written communication relies on correct grammar and spelling. Correct grammar and spelling make a positive impression on readers, which is particularly important in business and academic communications. Everyone makes the occasional grammar or spelling mistake. But if we make them frequently enough in our writing, our credibility goes way down. Readers often do not notice good grammar because the text is easily understood and enjoyable to read. However, readers do notice confusing grammatical errors that force them to re-read text and fumble for the author's meaning.

While automated spell-checkers catch many spelling mistakes, they cannot catch many errors in usage. For example, writing “affect” for “effect” would be incorrect usage, but a spell-checker may miss the error because the word is spelled correctly. Technology has the limitation as it cannot empathize with the feeling of the author. We have transcended from Shakespeare's era to the Google era, resulting in a classical dilution. Let us accept the reality and become a solution-finder to a solution-seeker.

Somewhere I have read an adage that says: “The impact of the messenger is always greater than the mere message.”

Best wishes to all participants of this meaningful post. Happy posting.

Regards,
AVS

Dear Mr. Sateesh, I am not intending to speak against anyone's view. I only conveyed my personal feelings. I sincerely apologize if my words hurt you. If users avoid SMS and chat language, then 40% of mistakes can be reduced. Additionally, if this website provides a spell check and sentence auto-correction facility, another 35% of mistakes can be minimized. The remaining 25% to 30% can only be rectified through proper education (will our education system help us?) and experience. Once upon a time, English was considered knowledge, but in the present scenario, it is merely a language and not knowledge. I hope this site serves as a knowledge-sharing medium and not just a language-sharing medium. Furthermore, I reiterate that my intention in writing this is to express my view only and not to hurt anyone's personal feelings.

With warm regards,
S. Bhaskar
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Dear Members,

I appreciate the comments and posts from Mr. AVS. I strongly feel his words were mere reflections of what other members felt at heart and wanted to say or listen to. It seems we don't have a clear-cut solution in hand now on how to go about this issue. Let's stop crying over spilled milk and think of a solution or action that will minimize errors and facilitate better, effective information flow.

Enhancing Language Skills

Taking a cue from Mr. Bhaskar's 40:35:25% rule, why don't we jointly try to enhance the language skills of our members? We can plan to initiate posting on General Grammar, Writing Skills, Communication Etiquette, etc. Let's try to involve members to contribute to the threads by interactive postings and discussions.

I hope it will bring some sense of accountability to the minds of members to contribute without errors or mistakes.

Thank you.

One of the main positive aspects of this forum is 'to agree to disagree'—unlike many other HR portals/forums. There's no question of feeling bad or hurt. Let's reserve/leave that part to the politicians 

Sriram's New Suggestion

Coming to Sriram's new suggestion, it looks good and doable. Let's get going.

Regards,
TS

Request for Grammar Book Attachment

I request our members to attach the e-book of the Wren & Martin Grammar Book. Our members can take guidance from the Grammar Book. Before posting anything, they can type it in MS Word, run a spell check, and then paste it as their contribution.

With warm regards,

Regards,
S. Bhaskar
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Dear sriramwarrier,

Thank you for the concerns raised. Besides the issues discussed, I believe that other factors have aggravated the situation as it is now. Globalization has brought the world close to the doorstep of many people. As technology advances and people get hooked on the Internet, a number of problems arise.

There could be issues like people using this medium who have learned English as a second language. In view of this, they may not be able to express themselves very well. This reason notwithstanding, as people who are sharing knowledge, I want to endorse your suggestion that we need to make use of the spell check facility to help us communicate effectively.

Jemima

Dear All, Many moderators and members have raised this issue in earlier discussions as well. Along with the above-mentioned problem, I would like to add a few more issues that are very rampant on CiteHR. The issues are as follows:

Problem 1: Irrelevant Posts in the Joke Section

Too many posts in the joke section, discussions, and games are not relevant to HR issues. There is no harm in sharing a laugh, but at what price is the question we all need to analyze. Too many discussions of a casual nature consume precious cyberspace.

Solution: Complete deletion of posts in the humor forum every 15 days.

Problem 2: Misplaced Content on Forums

Posting information and content on forums that are not related to the posts, for example, posting job openings or consultant listings under the forum for Employee Recruitment Techniques, Process, and Sourcing.

Solution: Sending an alert to the author of the post with a click of a button by the moderator when they find posts of the above nature. The author should be given 48 hours to respond and take the necessary action; failing which, the post gets deleted after 48 hours.

Problem 3: Unclear Post Nature

Inability to identify the nature of the post at first glance. For example, subject - Performance Incentive, reading this subject, it is very difficult to understand if there is a solution, a suggestion, a new approach towards performance incentives, or if the person is seeking information on performance incentives. Such posts create confusion and problems for both new and old members.

Solution: Label posts based on their nature. The author, when posting on the forum, should be required to highlight the nature of the post. For example, if it falls under a query, or if it contains an attachment, or if the author is looking for help. If there is a goof-up again by the author, then there should be a facility wherein sending an alert to the author of the post with a click of a button by the moderator should be made possible. The author should be given 48 hours to respond and take the necessary action; failing which, the post gets deleted after 48 hours.

Regards,
Octavious

Hello Octavious, (Cite Contribution) has said it right - you did hit the bull's eye. One thing that sets CiteHR apart from other portals is this very attitude, or rather way of looking at things/issues. The suggestions of solutions go along with the highlighting of a problem, especially from seniors like you.

I recollect a popular advertisement jingle: "It's different" :-). I do hope these suggested solutions are implemented ASAP. In a way, it will encourage new users to 'learn' the correct practices along the way.

Regards, TS

Recently, I have seen one more thread on English Grammar. Beginners can make use of it.

https://www.citehr.com/269160-english_grammar-pdf.html

Problem 4: Repeated Questions

The issue of repetitive questions, sometimes of the same nature, is a concern.

Solution: Implementing FAQs

Every main section with subsections should contain FAQs for both old and new members to read. Only questions that are not covered by the standard FAQs need to be answered. This approach will help avoid repeated questions and allow the forum to focus on more serious and in-depth discussions.

For example:

Main section: HR Stuff.
Subsection: Labour and Employee Relations. In this subsection, there should be standard FAQs providing basic and standard information to members about PF, ESIC, Maternity benefits, etc. These FAQs should contain standard information only and be updated according to the latest queries answered.

Regards,
Octavious

Rightly said, with the repetition of similar questions, an FAQ will surely solve the problem to an extent. I completely support this suggestion.