Defending the community: What’s not appropriate

Negativity happens, combat it with positivity.

It goes without saying that we all respond better to positive reinforcement than negative, so keep your responses upbeat and helpful, even when you disagree with another forum volunteer. Instead of saying something like “that’s a bad, buggy pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party,” it is more helpful to say something like “you might find plugin X is easier to use and works faster.”

Remember, you aren’t here to force someone to convert to one platform/plugin/theme or another. Which platform/plugin/theme to use is ultimately a user decision, but you can certainly recommend alternatives.

If you encounter a fellow volunteer giving out incorrect advice, don’t directly accuse them, but rather take the opportunity to educate the volunteer as well as the person asking for support. Remember, we all had to start somewhere, and many of us would be nowhere without the volunteers who helped us along the way.

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