Question

Greetings and First Impressions, Something for the ambis to think about.

Answer 1

How we are reacted to and viewed is largely based on first impressions. This is a very critical concept for ambassadors and moderators to realize.

Talya Bauer (Ph.D., 1994, Purdue University) and Berrin Erdogan (Ph.D., 2002, University of Illinois at Chicago) wrote an open textbook, Organizational Behavior, that brings out a lot of the research into this and other topics. Here is one of of their examples:

One other perceptual tendency that may affect work behavior is that of first impressions. The first impressions we form about people tend to have a lasting impact. In fact, first impressions, once formed, are surprisingly resilient to contrary information. Even if people are told that the first impressions were caused by inaccurate information, people hold onto them to a certain degree. The reason is that, once we form first impressions, they become independent of the evidence that created them. Any information we receive to the contrary does not serve the purpose of altering the original impression. Imagine the first day you met your colleague Anne. She treated you in a rude manner and when you asked for her help, she brushed you off. You may form the belief that she is a rude and unhelpful person. Later, you may hear that her mother is very sick and she is very stressed. In reality she may have been unusually stressed on the day you met her. If you had met her on a different day, you could have thought that she is a really nice person who is unusually stressed these days. But chances are your impression that she is rude and unhelpful will not change even when you hear about her mother. Instead, this new piece of information will be added to the first one: She is rude, unhelpful, and her mother is sick. Being aware of this tendency and consciously opening your mind to new information may protect you against some of the downsides of this bias. Also, it would be to your advantage to pay careful attention to the first impressions you create, particularly during job interviews.


Now lets look at how this applies to OpenStudy. Can you think of a few ways a users first impression of OS and its users could be shaped by \(\color{purple}{\text{A}}\)mbassadors?

Answer 2

All ambis and mods are encouraged to comment on this post. Lets get some conversation going about good vs. poor ways to communicate with users, especially new users.

Answer 3

Poor behaviors, in my opinion, would be posting, "Welcome to OpenStudy," without actually helping or responding to the initial question. It makes them feel that you don't care about whether or not their question gets answered - as long as you say what you want, and leave. If anything - you should tell them you're contacting someone (if you cannot answer their initial question) and they'll be with him/her shortly.

I also feel that the chatbox is a first impression for many people. Ambassadors tend to be very silly in the chatbox, which is fun and exciting, however, I have also seen some inappropriate and immature behavior and Moderator and Ambassador ends. This, however, doesn't only make a bad impression on all of the staff, but it outreaches to a larger party (as more people can read posts in the chat.)

Answer 4

Yes, welcomes are one of the mixed blessings. It is great to make people feel welcome. The problem is the "Welcome! Now follow the rules," type messages are not a way to make people feel welcome. It is the difference between a basic greeting, like hello, and a real welcome, come in, feel at home, and make a person want to stay.

Answer 5

It makes me glad to see that so many users are welcoming our new students, but I've recently seen many of the welcomes to be meaningless and some just do it to look good and have good chances at becoming an ambi or mod. In order to increase your chances, you should welcome with meaning and help the user with anything they need help on, or if they made a mistake, correct them with kindness and guide them to the right area. That way, new users will feel much more welcomed and accepted and will want to engage more into the community, and soon even help others themselves. The first impression is important, especially with mods and ambis as they are the ones with responsibility. If they give off a bad impression, then people will start to regret coming here in the first place.

I hope that we can improve and see more welcomes around here that have more meaning in them, that actually begin to help the user in need and make them feel good. We do give help and we study together, but we can help very many if we hesitate to welcome a new user. That would show that said user doesn't actually care about the community. I say we work harder on this, and keep welcoming new users with feeling, showing that we actually want to help guide new users that don't even know anything about the interface.

Ambis should also be careful with what they say in certain areas that allow more expression, mainly the chatbox. Sure, we can hav fun with others, but let's not give off the impression that we may have been raised by clowns :L

Answer 6

but if someone giving direct answers So what sholud we do ??
Like in my cases , a person asked a question ,I replied to know what he actually think about it , or what he know about his question and waiting for his reply ,but most people in that while give direct answers . Is it good ???

Answer 7

If they give an answer, and only an answer, with no explanation at all, report it if you have to. However, a conversation can be effective.

Explain, "So how does giving them an answer help them understand this?" Or point out the start of the CoC:
Be Nice - I will stay positive, be friendly, and not mean
Give Help, Not Answers - I will encourage and guide those needing help, and not just give them an answer
Thank Others for Their Help - I will thank people for taking the time and effort to help me

All people agree to follow those rules as a part of being here. If they are not willing to at least explain how to get to an answer, they are not giving help. If you bring this up and they fix it, add an explanation, etc, great. On the other hand, if they then become rude, then it is certainly time to report it.

The fact is that many people simply don't know the site policies they have agreed to follow. Even though those three are very simple and the keys to all the rest, they skip over reading it and just sign up.

There is one other rule that is buried in the text, but basically it is "Be Ethical - I will not use this site in a way that violates my school's ethics code."

use of the entire site can be far more pleasant when many are encouraging people to follow those four, simple rules. The wider the rule understanding and acceptance reaches, the better.

Answer 8

Thank you so much for guidance ^^