Self-Policing of Content

One of the most common questions I hear from Human Resources folks surounds content management of My Sites and Team Sites. Specifically, managing innapropriate content. There are lots of things in SharePoint that can help restrict people from doing things - security, workflow, blocked file types, and more - but it becomes a bit unclear when it comes time to restrict people from placing innapropriate content in the environment. Take images for example. It would be foolhardy to make, say JPEGs a blocked file type, but filling up your content databases with pictures of peoples weddings is something you really don't want to see happen. What to do?

My favorite technique for combating these types of issues is to implement a global feedback link. These links serve as a listening system for innapropriate content - implemented as a delegate control, they can be activated at the web application level, and statically linked to a document library where additional details regarding the policy violation can be collected. It's a great way of using SharePoint to manage SharePoint, is pretty simple to implement, and leverages the collective power of your audience to self manage policy violations.