We’ve made it to the final values in our GQM Values series! I’ll be giving periodic reminders, though, so keep staying tuned …

We explain our value of quality as “producing well-crafted, thorough, and concise resources for seekers and believers alike.” We explain tact as “thoroughly presenting God’s Word with clarity and humility, embracing nuance and complexity when necessary.” What does that mean for your responses? In short, keep doing the good work you do! Here are some specific tips:

• Directly answer the question asked.
• Pay attention to the logical flow of your responses.
• Write with clarity. Reread your response to make sure the words on the page convey the meaning you intend. Also, try to put yourself in the questioner’s shoes. You might know what the word means; will the questioner?
• Write with kindness. Text is notorious for lacking tone, so be careful about using superlatives, punctuation that might be misinterpreted (i.e., a lot of exclamation marks can come across as angry), and even idioms that might be misunderstood.  
• When the Bible isn’t clear, our responses don’t need to be dogmatic.
• When there are obvious related side issues or a questioner appears to be lacking foundational understanding, please fill in the gaps and/or point them to resources that do.  
• When addressing personal situations, please point out that we only know what was written in the question submission. Reminding questioners of the complexities and nuance—and the inherent limited nature of the help we can give in this format—can be a useful reminder to them as they seek to navigate the situation. Provide biblical truth, ask questions that will help the questioner reflect, and encourage in-person engagement with mature believers on the matter.
• Read the question and your response one final time before submission. This is probably one of the simplest ways to check for quality and tact.
• Pray for your questioner and for yourself as you are writing. Ultimately, our efforts at quality and tact are meaningless if God is not involved in the work (Psalm 127:1). So do your best and entrust the process to He who gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6–9).