Reddit response workflow

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Overview

The purpose of this is to monitor all mentions of GitLab within Reddit.

There is currently no way to filter whether the mention of GitLab is only from a URL (example here), so there may potentially be a high volume of noise.

To request user flair for the /r/gitlab subreddit, ping @advocates in the #reddit Slack channel, and include your Reddit username. Your flair will read GitLab Staff.

Workflow

1. Open each ticket in Zendesk in the Reddit view.

2. Navigate to the Reddit thread to see if the comment or post has received a response.

3. Respond if necessary using your personal Reddit account
   • Post the comment on the original website (https://www.reddit.com/, not Zendesk) using the link provided in the ticket.
   • See the Response Strategies section for ideas on how to respond and engage.
4. If comment/post does not need a response but is still good or valuable, upvote it and apply the Upvoted macro.
   • If it is particularly insightful or useful, it may be a good idea to share it on an appropriate Slack channel for visibility.
   • If you see a comment you want all community advocates to upvote as well, start a thread on the particular comment in Slack and ping @advocates.

5. Solve the ticket with the Reddit::I responded macro. (Replied macro will use the public response field in order to track the first reply time)

6. If a comment or post does not require a response, solve the ticket with the Mention macro.

Response Strategies

The following outlines an experiement the advocates are currently working on to increase engagement conversations on Reddit about GitLab.

• NOTE: Typically, the only posts that will need responses are those that are questions, support issues, feedback, or are spreading misinformation. Comments such as "I use GitLab and I love it!" should not be replied to as they would on other social media platforms.

Typical Reddit Ticket Categories and Path for Engagement:

Questions:

• This can include questions about GitLab as a product, comparing GitLab to competitors, hiring, developer education, and questions about remote work at GitLab.
• Use the invovlving experts workflow to engage experts in answering relevant questions.
• Share devops tools pages in conversations comparing GitLab to other tools.
• NOTE: Engagement in these conversations should be focused on providing facts, not opinion. Consider sharing devops tools in threads where users are looking for a tool to provide a solution to their problem.

Support Issues:

• These are often are posted on the /r/gitlab subreddit.
• Most new posts on the /r/gitlab subreddit should have responses.
• Point the user to relevant docs, issues, or the forum for additional support.
• If needed, ask an expert for help.

Feedback:

• Use the invovlving experts workflow if feedback is directed to a specific team or functionaly of GitLab
• Upvote general positive feedback.
• Do not downvote critical feedback, unless it spreads misinformation. For example, don't just downvote because someone doesn't like the product or mentions a competitor

Misinformation:

• Downvote comments that spread misinformation.
• Reply with evidence in the form of docs, issues, etc. with explaination of truth.

Best practices

• Always be kind and understanding, no matter how the other person acts.
• If you are new to Reddit, it may be useful to review this beginner's guide.
• Use a personal reddit account, not a company one (although you may request user flair. You can request reddit user flair by pinging @advocates on the reddit Slack channel. User flair brings more visibility to GitLab team members and it's a transparent and effective way to let the wider community that you are part of the organization. It also makes comments seem more authentic and shows engagement in Reddit.
• If you use Reddit a lot, it may be useful to create a separate, more professional (but still personal) account.
• Brush up on your "reddiquette"
• Make sure your comments are well formatted

Common Subreddits Mentioning GitLab

• r/gitlab
• r/learnprogramming
• r/devops
• r/git
• r/Ubuntu
• r/Terraform
• r/coding
• r/homelab
• r/gnome
• r/sysadmin
• r/Python
• r/selfhosted

Automation

All mentions of GitLab, whether comments or new posts, are handled by Zapier. It first creates a ticket in Zendesk under the Reddit view, and then posts to the #reddit Slack channel.

In Slack, new comments are posted by a bot with a blue icon by a bot called Reddit Comment, and new posts with an orange icon called Reddit Post.

There are often bot posts that include GitLab URLs that generate a lot of unwanted noise. There is a step in the Zapier automation that blacklists bots that do this. If you notice a large number of posts coming from a bot, please add it to the blacklist by following these steps in Zapier:

1. In Zapier, go to Zaps > Community Advocacy > New Reddit Mention
2. Go to the Filter Noise step
3. Select Filter Setup & Testing
4. Click + AND
5. For the first dropdown, select Username
6. For the second, select (Text) Does not exactly match
7. In the third box, paste the name of the bot to exclude
8. Run a test and continue
9. Zapier automatically turns off processes that have been modified, so make sure you turn it back on