Our Community Code of Conduct applies to the forum platform. When in doubt, flag posts which violate the Code of Conduct or are inappropriate in other ways (spam, advertising, etc.). Moderators can review the posts and take action while the posts are hidden from public viewing.
Discourse provides a general FAQ for users.
Most administrative tasks will be done from the Discourse Admin Dashboard
To add an Admin:
Permissions sectionGrant Admin buttonPermissions > Admin? section on the user's profile admin should read YesNote: we would like to reserve only one or two Staff spots for forum Admins within our existing 15 total Staff spots.
If you want to add an Moderator:
Permissions sectionGrant Moderation buttonPermissions > Admin? section on the user's profile admin should read YesNote: we only have 15 Staff spots available with our current Discourse subscription. Please check with an Admin if you want to grant, or want to receive, moderator status.
As a provisioner, follow these steps to deprovision a GitLab team member who is being offboarded:
Click this link to view the Moderator Quick Start guide.
This guide explains Moderator permissions, expectations, and best practices.
Below is a list of actions only forum Moderators can take in the Discourse platform. For this reason, at this time only GitLab Staff members are granted Moderator status. Specifically those who are part of the Forum Contributors Group.
Mark a response as an "accepted solution" in a situation where a single reply effectively answers or resolves a forum thread. Only the original poster and moderators have the ability to mark an answer in a forum thread. Please do this freely! It helps with SEO, and it helps our users know what questions have been answered.
Instructions
Click the ellipsis in the small grey toolbar on the post > click the checkbox.
Sometimes users will accidentally post private information like license or API keys, emails addresses, etc. Publicly identifiable information needs to be redacted from the forum. You can also use this tool to redact inappropriate language or other Code of Conduct violations.
Instructions
If you need to edit a user’s post for whatever reason, please private message the user in the forum letting them know that you have done so, and the reason why.
Click the ellipsis in the small grey toolbar on the post > click the pencil icon.
Instructions For Sending a Private Message
message button on the user card to draft private messageFor the sake of anonymity, only Forum Moderators can see the email address associated with a forum user’s account.
*Instructions
show button in the user’s profileThis is not exclusive to Moderators, but you can use the Staff Category to draft new knowledge share articles, initiatives, whatever you need! You will notice the little lock symbol next to private categories.
We do not delete topics and posts in the forum, mainly due to the fact that this action can destroy trust. There are always exceptions to this rule - a good example is when spam posts sneak in. If you feel something needs to be deleted, you can always reach out to admins in private or in the #community-relations Slack channel and we can talk it through!
Instructions
Click the ellipsis in the small grey toolbar on the post > click the trash can icon.
It’s not uncommon that moderators will feel the need to move new posts out of old threads, or move posts to their own topic altogether. Please move new posts out of old topics when users try to bring topics a year or older back to life.
Instructions
select post in dropdownselect+below or select depending on how much of the conversation you want to movemove to Fill out the popover accordinglymove to new topicConsider using some of the following resources to help get answers to questions:
In the GitLab Community Forum, most tech support and troubleshooting assistance comes from community members volunteering their time and knowledge to help others.
If you see a community member volunteering their time to help another community member, give their reply a :heart: to show appreciation for their contribution.
If any GitLab team member sees a forum post that is inappropriate, abusive, spam, or a violation of our code of conduct, please flag the post by clicking the flag icon. If immediate action to hide or redact private information is required, flag the post and then ping one of the admins in the #community-relations Slack channel.
How and when to edit forum posts.
Generally, we do not edit other peoples' posts. If we see something that can be improved, we should reach out to them privately to ask them to change it. This helps us build trust with our community and with the GitLab team, since it shows them that they have the creative freedom and autonomy to post what they like on our forum.
That being said, there are instances when moderators can edit posts directly. Here are some examples and how to do it:
How and when to mark a solution in a thread.
How and when to delete a forum post or topic.
Follow the relevant workflow depending on the question:
Engagement drives engagement, so the more the GitLab team engages with our wider community, the more they are likely to engage with us, and with others. By setting the example of providing thorough answers, we can build our forum up as a place of knowledge share and collaboration. See the Forum's 2020 strategy slide deck for more.
Join #community-relations.
