Online communities are not created equal. So stop telling me that my issue should be easy to fix, or better yet, that it shouldn’t even be an issue.
Your community is different from mine.
Of course I’ve tried communicating with the troublemakers offline. Sometimes it works, other times it fuels their fire. One behind-the-scenes email that worked wonders for you may spark a major troll-fest for me.
Your community is different from mine.
Don’t tell me that public reprimands are anti-community and that they should NEVER happen. Are public reprimands ideal? No. But they can send a message that the community supports as well as illustrate your seriousness on the matter and nip it in the bud. (Here is one of my recent posts about feuds among members.)
If yours is a niche site and mine is very broad and a bit unwieldy, we may not be able to handle things the same way. Your solution may not be mine, and mine may not be yours.
But even if our solutions aren’t the same, I want to know about your experiences. I want to know what has worked for you and tell you about my successes and failures.
The dialogue among community professionals should be understanding, empathetic and most importantly, stem from the mutual agreement that this is not a one-size-fits all craft.
The conversation that took place on Bryan Person and Sonny Gill’s #CommunityChat on Friday is a leap in the right direction. Community managers were open and honest about the jobs we’re tasked with doing and weren’t afraid to share dissenting opinions. It was a beautiful thing. You can see the transcript here.
We have to keep in mind that no one has cornered the market on community management. Success will always depend heavily on many factors including the brand it represents, demographics, mission and long-term goals.
And the key here is this:
Community Management is not a science.
It’s an art.
12 comments
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June 7, 2009 at 12:26 am
Bryan Person
Dead on in your comments here, Angela. While there are certainly best practices that tend to work in many (most?) communities, each community does have its own personality and quirks. No two are alike. Good community managers recognize this and are quick on the feet. When one approach doesn’t work, they can try another one.
It was great having you as part of the first #CmtyChat discussion on Friday afternoon. Hope you’ll be a regular contributor!
Bryan | @BryanPerson
LiveWorld
June 7, 2009 at 12:28 am
Angela Connor
Bryan Thanks for the feedback and understanding the nature of this post. #Communitychat was the highlight of my week. I will definitely be a regular. It is what we need!
June 7, 2009 at 3:15 am
AW
Exactly! You mentioned a very good point, Angela. Something that works in one community doesn’t always work in another community. That’s why I think strict rules & guidelines is not as effective as trial and error. We should try, collect feedback/reactions from community members, analyse what works and what’s not, refine the strategy, then try again. It’s very much a like a cycle.
#CmtyChat was really great. You mentioned some very good points during the chat. Looking forward to the next #CmtyChat.
Patricia (@arthurwill)
June 7, 2009 at 8:06 am
Angela Connor
You know, Patricia… maybe it’s that trial and error that some are so uncomfortable with. It would be nice to just post your guidelines and never look back, never having to interpret them or have them challenged. But that is not realistic, at least not for the community I currently manage. A cycle it is. You are absolutely right!
June 7, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Mr Woc
Hi there
I agree with you it is an art, its actually a lot more difficult to run a good community than anyone can appreciate, and in a way thats part of the problem with running a communty everyone else thinks they can do it better than you, when 99% of them cant lol !
We at our site more often than not dish out reprimands in public, it sends a clear message that you aint here to be pushed about and bullied.
A lot of trouble makers are quite good at picking at every single word thats said or trying to push you around, so its easier to just read these people the riot act in public, that way others will think twice before picking a fight with you, it might sound a pretty crude way to looking at it but it is the only way to do it, the nicely nicely approach simply doesnt work with some people.
Woc
June 7, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Jill
Angela, I loved your post – if for nothing else – it is wonderfully human to express the frustrations we encounter and we need a place for expressing those – guess who comes from an emotional health website!
No community is the same – not in real life – not in on line – and neither are the subsets of community – groups and the like. There will always be differences and thank goodness otherwise we would be a boring predictable lot and where would be the challenge and the fun. But where would be the delight of recognising and celebrating process?
I read your blog post to the community. Asking for respect for yourself as the manager and for others is key. There is no growing of a community or a person without a challenge – and I believe it is a challenge to assess what is happening and name it. Most behaviours don’t change if ignored – all it leads to is greater frustration. How we deal with the internal frustrations are up to our own capacity to challenge in the way that we feel is appropriate to the community we are part of.
There is a poster on a friend of mines’ office wall that says that organising is both an art and a science – well most pursuits in life are both – not exclusively one or the other. Knowing the science in one thing – being able to demonstrate it artfully makes it possible to achieve far more exquisite results. In doing so we might uncover aspects that we can understand more deeply. My background is in organising and I am not able to distinguish a great deal of difference in a values approach to organising and what we term here as community management.
The one thing that I wonder about is our ability to “label” people or groups of people that are challenging to deal with. In our community we call then trolls and trouble makers etc. What is the art that we can exercise that can allow those who are labelled break out of the label. This is something that I reflect on – perhaps believing that not everyone who wears the label is aware or comfortable with it. This is a new conversation – one I should follow up I imagine so I won’t distract further.
Like any problem solving the best approach is to try to identify the cause and not deal with the annoying symptoms. You showed the foresight to target your blog to the general behaviour and not to the symptom of the cranky exchange between your members. That takes courage and all power to you for doing so Angela.
And thank you for bringing the #CmtyChat discussion -I’m off to check it out
June 8, 2009 at 6:11 am
Matt Moore
Angela – Absolutely agree! The word “community” covers a really wide range of human activities & groups and depending on what brings those people to together (be they consumers, hobbyists, professionals, employees, etc) and who they are. At the moment, I think a close knowledge of your members is more important than generic community manager skills. Although saying that I must get hold of a copy of your book soon…
June 10, 2009 at 11:16 am
Angela Connor
Matt:
I love your second to last sentence. It made me pause and reflect and I think it is dead-on. If you don’t “know” your members, how will you know what to do next? Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
June 10, 2009 at 11:21 am
Angela Connor
Jill
that comment is a post in itself. I may have to turn it into a guest post so more people will see it. You raise excellent points and I’m glad you understand my frustration. I find community management to be an emotional roller coaster at times. Deciding when to pounce and when to simply stand is tough. It is not an easy job. It can be fulfilling one day and unbearable the next. I would love to see you on the next Community Chat. Remember #cmtychat. Bryan Person and Sonny Gill are the creators.
June 10, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Jill
Cheers Angela, – I just have to try to navigate the time difference between the US and Australia
I found #cmtychat and am following. be well .
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