Over the past few years, we’ve built a great community here at EA. I’m thrilled with all of the participation and especially how helpful everyone is. Our free flow of information has been so helpful to me (and others I hope) and I learn just as much as I share. I endlessly appreciate it when community members step in to answer reader questions on my behalf when I am too busy to respond right away. Many of you act like EA ambassadors and it’s very cool.
My main concern is making sure the correct information gets passed along. This blog straddles the line between casual and professional, but I try to live up to the moral and professional code my journalism training has instilled in me. It’s not necessary for the community to take things so seriously on a permanent basis. However, I do ask that when you answer community member questions you make a concerted effort to pass along official information first before stating any exceptions you’ve experienced.
Let me give you a couple of examples. The most frequent questions I get asked on the blog are about birthday discounts first, and PAs (price adjustments) second. Anthropologie’s official policies are:
– birthday discounts: one discount per person, may not be sold or used by anyone except the recipient. May not be used in conjunction with any other promotions.
– price adjustments (PAs): customers are eligible for one price adjustment per item within 14 days of either the store purchase date or the order shipping date.
I realize that many people have experienced exceptions to these rules…being able to use both the in-store and online birthday discount; being able to get a PA outside the 14 day window; etc. And to be clear I have no problem with community members sharing these experiences or celebrating them!
What I want you to realize is that when new people come they are asking about these examples (and other things) because they want clarification. If we tell them the wrong information, they might assume that wrong information is fact and may pass it along to others. My greatest fear is someone telling a store manager that, well, “the blog said I could do that!” Then they ask which blog, then the manager tells district, then district tells Anthropologie corporate, and now I’ve got a problem on my hands. At best Anthro may ask me to correct the information but if this becomes a real problem they could just ask me to shut the blog down. I would hate to be in that position.
I have background dialogues with community members, other bloggers and Anthropologie corporate on a constant basis. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes that the community does not see. I don’t work for Anthropologie and I’m certainly not their puppet — there are times they’ve asked me to take stuff down and I’ve said no. But that said, I do think it’s important to uphold the brand’s integrity and ensure that we’re respectful of this community they’ve allowed us to create.
When you answer community questions, please start with the facts and state your opinion second.
So if someone asks if they can get a PA outside the 14 day window, instead of saying, “If you ask a nice SA yes you should be able to!” please say “Anthro’s official policy is that you can only get a PA within the 14 day window. However I know that many people who have asked nicely have been able to get an adjustment beyond that window, it’s just not guaranteed.“
Fact first, opinion second. Simple as that. If you can link them to the appropriate page on Anthro’s site, even better. You’re a strong influencer. We know that Anthro reads this and other blogs. If we present wrong information, we could push them into harsher policies that would make it less fun to shop there.
When I delete comments about exceptions to policy, it’s not out of spite or because I disagree with the comment. Usually it’s because I’m worried about the phrasing becoming public record. There are over 600,000 hits to this site each month! We’re a community of over 65,000 strong! That’s a lot of eyeballs so it’s critical that the correct information is being presented. Sometimes I do disagree with a commenter’s opinion and that’s OK. We are all welcome to broadcast our thoughts so long as they are not hurtful or rude. Please understand that when I feel your comment presents wrong information, I either have to correct you via reply or delete the comment to preserve the integrity of the blog. It’s very rare for me to delete a comment and I usually follow up by email.
Anyway, I hope that clears things up a bit. I felt it necessary to address based on some recent email conversations I’ve had. Feel free to leave your feedback in the comments here, and as always, thank you for participating in the community here and on the other Anthro blogs.
