The DR Blog is going to need some ground rules for it to be successful. The intent is not to try to control anyone, but rather to make it enjoyable and valuable for everyone. Following are some items that are imperative to make this not only successful, but valuable.
- First and foremost, this site is not about products nor the endorsement of companies or any of the products that they might provide that either assist or function in the DR landscape. I can honestly say that I have not evaluated any companies or products and have little to no control over what is purchased from an infrastructure perspective in the organization I work. I may have some notion of what works well, and I may write about a certain technology such as replication, HCI, etc, but understand that I will not endorse a product. If you want to say something positive about a product or company in the discussion groups, that is fine, as long as it is not libelous. Just know that I will not be posting my opinions there.
- Be courteous. Everyone has an opinion. For the most part, none are better nor more important than others. Nobody here is an expert. Some people may have been in the business of DR for more than 20 or 30 years. That does not mean that they have all of the answers or have no areas of improvement they could attain in their DR processes. Share your information and opinions. Meanwhile, realize that all of us are just trying to learn, take in information, and share our thoughts. We all still have our day jobs.
- If you have questions or concerns for me, please do not hesitate to send me an email. If it is in regard to a topic, discussion, whatever, I will try to get you an answer. I may or may not read every post in all of the discussion sections. As the DR Blog grows, I may not have time to do all of that. Remember, I still have a day job and a personal life also. I will try to keep up on issues but cannot know everything that is going on. I will, however, read and edit all authored blog posts from personal contributors as well as White Papers to make sure they are appropriate for our site.
- I may, at some point, ask for moderators for our discussion groups. That will come over time and will allow for us to have someone looking to make sure posts are asking questions, providing solutions, etc., without being confrontational. Again, this blog is for all of us. Helping to ensure that it is of value and is a safe place to ask any question about DR is extremely important to me. There are no stupid questions. There are probably going to be certain questions that get asked over and over. As that occurs, we will create a FAQ post that people should read first.
- Sponsors, please do not go into discussion groups to put your 2 cents in about technologies and products for the purpose of endorsing your product or putting down another organization or their products. Again, we are looking to have a site that provides information. Individuals on this site are here to gather information and feedback. They are not here to have sales pitches jammed down their throats. I will reserve the right to remove you and your sponsorship from this blog if you cannot follow these basic rules.
Those are probably enough ground rules to start with. This site is about Disaster Recovery – principles, terminology, processes, training sites, and how we can make it better in our respective organizations.
