Tags | SME | Subject matter expert |
Overview
Subject matter experts (SMEs) are users that demonstrate exceptional knowledge on a certain topic. You can learn more about SMEs in the Subject Matter Experts article.
Administrators and moderators can designate certain users as SMEs. With Stack Overflow for Teams Business and Enterprise, an automated process can also designate a user an SME when they achieve enough reputation in a given tag.
NOTE: This article is for site administrators and moderators.
Tags and subject matter experts
Stack Overflow for Teams assigns SMEs at the tag level, so most SME management functions appear on the Tags page. To access the Tags page, click Tags in your site's left-hand menu.
The Tags table has the following columns: Name, Usage Guidance (description), number of Posts that use the tag, number of Watchers of the tag, number of subject matter experts (SMEs) assigned to the tag, and Date created. You can sort the Tags table by clicking the Name, Posts, or Date created heading.
Use the buttons above the Tags table to select between two different views. Click All to view all tags, or No SME assigned to view those tags with no SMEs.
NOTE: Viewing tags with no SMEs and sorting by Posts is an effective way to identify tags that have high usage but no subject matter experts. Finding and assigning SMEs for those tags will help drive engagement and improve the quality of your content.
Manage SMEs
To manage the SMEs assigned to a tag, click SMEs in the tag's row. You can also click the three dots button on any row and select Manage SMEs. The "Manage subject matter experts" box appears, listing the existing SMEs for that tag (if any).
To add an SME, start typing the name of the individual user or user group. When the user or group appears in the search results lists, click it to assign it as an SME to the tag. To delete an SME, click the X next to the user or group name.
NOTE: SOE will also search for users by email address and external ID.
SME Auto-Assign
Stack Overflow for Teams Business and Enterprise offer automation to make the assignment of SME status easier and more consistent. Rather than waiting for an admin or moderator to recognize a user's contributions, the site will automatically assign SME status when a user passes a reputation threshold for a given tag.
To control this feature, site admins can click Admin settings then Subject matter experts. The Subject matter experts (SMEs) settings page will appear.
By default, SME Auto-Assign is off. Click On to enable the feature.
When enabled, SME Auto-Assign offers two additional settings:
Tag reputation threshold (required) Set the tag reputation threshold at which the site should consider a user an SME for that tag. The default value is 100. You can change this setting at any time, and the automation will assign SMEs based on the new value.
Excluded tags To disable SME Auto-Assign for specific tags, use this box to locate and select excluded tags. To remove an excluded tag from this box, click its X button.
Additional details regarding SME Auto-Assign:
After you enable SME auto-assign, it may take as long as 10 minutes for the automation to assign SME statuses. When the automation finishes, you'll receive a confirmation to your For You inbox and email (if enabled).
If you turn off SME Auto-Assign, SME statuses assigned automatically will remain.
If you add an excluded tag, the automation will remove any existing auto-assigned SME statuses for that tag.
The end-user experience
When a user becomes an SME, whether by manual assignment or SME Auto-Assign, they'll see a message on their Stack Overflow for Teams homepage. They'll also receive a confirmation to their For You inbox and email (if enabled).
Users can view their SME status by clicking the gear button at the top of their homepage's Tags box, then SME tags.
They'll see a list of the tags they are an SME for. For SME tags assigned by automation, they can decline the assignment by clicking Subject matter expert for the tag and selecting None. Users cannot decline SME status assigned by an admin or moderator.
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