Trolls = Bad?

January 22, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 2 comments

For those of you that have an Online Community, or have managed one in the past, you are well aware of what “Trolls” are.

For those of you new to Online Communities, a “Troll” is someone that comes to your community, and their main goal is to cause problems, wreak havoc.
Causing a problem just to cause a problem is not acceptable behavior within any community and should be dealt with in a timely fashion. Any malicious behavior should be handled swiftly.

At the same time, there are certain types of behavior that these members (“Semi-Trolls” if you will) can bring to an online community that may, and I stress MAY be acceptable/beneficial.

These members generally choose the opposite side of any story, to get into a debate with other members.
Now as long as the debate is productive, and stays within the posted rules and guidelines, it should be allowed to continue – albeit you should keep a close eye on it.
Before it spirals out of control, you should step in and let your community know that you are watching the discussion, so they are aware that specific actions can and will be taken, both against the content, and any members account.
Public debates can make a community stronger and healthier – again, as long as it can be done in a productive fashion.
It is extremely important that all members understand others views, and get the full picture, so they can form their own view (both on the member and the topic at hand).
Once a member oversteps the line, they discredit themselves within the community. This assists in bringing out personalities/views of other members.

Have you observed this type of behavior in the past? Did it help you to form a better opinion concerning a specific member or topic?

Mike

Note: Cross-posted at mzinga.com

Moderation – It’s more than Content Management

January 12, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

As I have discussed in prior posts, Moderation Services almost always extend beyond content removal and enforcing a Usage Policy.

Including, but not limited to:

  • Proactive scanning
  • Managing member accounts
  • Responding to Violation reports
  • Facilitation and Interaction
  • Customer Support
  • Reporting Escalations
  • Report Generation

I would like to touch upon the next-to-last bullet point with this post (Reporting Escalations).

There are situations where a Moderator and/or client needs to get others involved – in some cases Law Enforcement. Threats of any kind (to one-self or to others) should not be tolerated or taken lightly. Reports of abuse of any nature should be handled appropriately.

Appropriate courses of action need to be outlined so that everyone can be prepared and streamline the process. While this is definitely a “worst-case scenario” thought, escalation paths need to be defined.
In most cases, we assist in the escalation process with our clients, assisting them in defining what needs to be escalated, when, to whom, and what the client should do once they receive a report from us.
In other cases, our clients already have escalation paths in place, so we don’t “re-invent the wheel”, we duplicate what is already in place.

Have you ever been involved in a situation and were unsure how to handle it within your community? If you had prepared, would the situation have been resolved in a timely fashion?

Mike

Note: Cross-posted at mzinga.com

The Proof is in the Planning

November 13, 2008 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Defining your Online Community policies is one of the most important steps when launching a community. Members need to be aware as to what “is” and “is not” allowed to be posted within your community. However, planning on how these policies will be enforced within your community is an effort that does not end when you launch your community. Continuous tweaking and decreasing of the “subjective” nature of your policies is an important step to remember.

All of our clients policies, and most other communities in general, have some aspect of “subjectiveness” to them. While we may try to define policies and guidelines that are straightforward as possible, there are always cases where members are unsure where the line is drawn. It is important to continually refine your policies so that your members are aware of what “is” and “is not” allowed.

At the same time, preparing for potential situations in advance is very important as well. How are you going to address content that may have a negative tone concerning your business or your product? What are you going to do when someone says something negative concerning your leadership? What if someone is giving another wrong advise? Where is the line drawn between constructive criticism/discussion and malicious behavior? These are some (definitely not all) of the questions that you need to ask yourself and others within your corporation before you launch your community. If you plan ahead and handle these situations appropriately, then your community will know where the lines are drawn. If you do not handle these situations appropriately, and address these situations inconsistently, that is where confusion comes into play. Trying to think of every situation in advance can be a daunting task, but having a baseline understanding of how certain situations are going to be handled will display to both your company and your community that you have a plan in place, and you are prepared.

As always, thanks for reading.

Mike

Note: Cross-posted at mzinga.com

News – Moderation Services Industry

October 24, 2008 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a couple of stories that I wanted to share with you all, incase you have not seen them, concerning Community Moderation Services. We were contacted by ABC News, who wrote a well balanced article around Moderation services. The reporter, Ki Mae Heussner, contacted many of the major Moderation service providers which described who these people are, and why they are important. She also personally met with one of our staff members to discuss the day-to-day aspects of the position.

The fact of the matter is that these are professional people who are watching over online communities. The perception that Moderation teams are sitting around in their PJ’s all day is not the case. These positions are filled by professional individuals with Communication degrees, PR degrees and experiences, and Business management skills among others. They represent single mom’s, students, grandparents and every other demographic that you could imagine. Moderation businesses should ensure that they have a true cross-section of Moderation team members on staff so they can provide their services within any potential client community.

Just today, Mzinga also announced a partnership with Intercasting, a company that allows people to upload content within their Mobile application. The story was also picked up by Mobile Marketer, and can be read here. This goes to show that it is not just online area’s that need to have moderation services. Mobile technology services and providers is also concerned with UGC, as they should be. As businesses begin to embrace Social Networking and UGC, the hope is that they all also understand the importance of Moderation services, in some way/shape/form. Whether it is simply removing content and developing policies, or if it extends out to proactively participating and facilitating discussions, Moderation services are the key to a providing members with a vibrant and successful community.

As always, thanks for reading,

Mike

Note: Cross-posted at mzinga.com

Moderation Services – Seeding

September 17, 2008 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

As I have outlined in the Introduction to Moderation webinar’s and blog posts that I have hosted/posted over the last 2 months, there are many forms of Online Moderation – Seeding, participating, scanning, removing, managing (member accounts and content)… Here I would like to describe the service that will assist in your initial launch – Seeding content – and could be the most important thing that you do.

When you are building and developing your online community area, you will have the tools and the outline/framework of what your community is going to look like, but you do not have any content. Supplying content within your community before it launches is an extremely important first step. The content that you, or a 3rd party, supply is the key to your launch and starting off on the right foot. When members come and review the content and they see an area that is vibrant, robust and informative, odds are that they will stop and stay a while, maybe even register and post, interacting within your community. When they see an area that is empty, they will simply look, leave, and likely never return.

If you picture this in every day terms, it is just like when you are visiting a town, walking down their streets and all of a sudden, you feel hungry. You walk by the first restaurant, notice that there is no one in it except for their staff, waiting to work, so you walk right by. Granted there would not be a wait to sit down and eat, because the restaurant is empty, but you are not willing to invest your time and money. Not to mention, no one else is even there, how good could it be?

Now the second restaurant that you walk by (located right next door) is full of people, laughing, eating, drinking, and the wait is 15 minutes. The food and atmosphere is very inviting, so you go in, grab one of their “buzzers” and take a seat in the bar. While you are there waiting for your table, you listen to conversation, maybe watch the TV, and observe the behaviors that are happening all around you. This may even be a place that you revisit over time, and may even become a regular.

*Note – I do realize that I make a lot of restaurant references

The success of your community depends on the investments that you make. The tools that you are going to offer are only 1 aspect of having and launching a successful community. Proper Management techniques and Moderation services are extremely important. This of course does not mean that you have to work with a third party to support your causes, but more often than not, it is better to work with a team of professionals that have established credibility, rather than trying to wing it.

As always, thanks for reading.

Mike

Managing Member Accounts

September 4, 2008 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 1 comment

I was reading Jeremiah Owyang’s blog post about the “Bozo” feature within community platforms, and it got me to thinking about how valuable that the feature can be, when used properly.

There are always cases where you tend to run through all of your options when managing members (gagging, locking out, banning, restriction, pre-moderating…..). These are many of the 1st steps or tools that are used initially to manage members accounts, and restrict their access to a community. The “Bozo” option, flag (or whatever you want to call it) is generally a last course of action the moderation team, or a Community manager can take. While decisions may never make it down to this level, it is an option that’s available.

Limiting the actions that you can take against a members account is not a great way to moderate/manage a community. I was always taught to leave all of my options open, and to never back myself in a corner. In general, the flag is used against members who have no interest in your community/members/brand/company/employees…..their only reason for existence is try to demolish and destroy, at all costs.

Also, by leveraging this flag, you can “buy yourself some time”. This allows a Moderation team or Community Manager the time to review the account, look at any registration information, and note it. In many cases this member (like banned members), will try to come back. If you are able to review the current account, you can often find any new account(s) that this member may register, within minutes, and “beat them to the punch”. Now granted, this is always a cat-and-mouse game, and can take a lot of time to accomplish, but if you are able to do your research and “buy yourself this time”, it will only help you in the long run.

Mike

Note: Cross-posted at mzinga.com

About the title – Moderation is the…

August 21, 2008 in Uncategorized | Tags: , | 1 comment

Note: original post was located on Mzinga.com, and the title of the Blog was “Moderation is the key to longevity”

Now I am not too sure who initially “coined” the phrase, and I am sure that whomever had was not referring to Online Community Moderation, but that phrase has always stuck with me for some reason.

How you manage and moderate the content that is posted and the members that interact within your community platform is just as important as which tools that you are going to implement. “If you build it, they will come”, but will they stay? “How can we encourage members to continually visit and actively participate within our community? Once the content is posted, what rules should we enforce, and how should we enforce them?” These are just a couple of questions that are typically asked by potential clients, and when it comes down to it, next to the tools that you are providing, Moderation and Management is the key to a successful community.

Online Community Moderation has been described in many ways/shapes/forms. It can entail something as simple as removing content that violates a specific policy, to the proactive seeding and posting of content within a community. Companies choose to moderate content within their online communities for a number of reasons: to protect their brand, manage content and their members, eliminate disruptive activity, stimulate discussions and facilitate interactions….I could go on, but I think that you get the picture. Moderation – in some way/shape/form – is an extremely important aspect of a successful online community, and one that should not be taken lightly.

To put this into everyday terms, how many times have you been to a restaurant, and said, “This place is nice, I would come back again”. What were your reasons? Good food? Clean environment? Friendly staff? It all comes down to impressions. If your restaurant does not provide those experiences, odds are that you will not see much return business. But if you do provide those experiences, you can create a loyal following, build up your clientele, and leverage the power of your community to build your brand awareness- Word of mouth advertising – it is free if you can implement and manage effectively.

That is about all for now, just remember that the key is not just building a great place, in a great location, it is also about the continuous management and upkeep of your area. It is an investment, but one that will pay itself off.

A Little About Myself

August 6, 2008 in Uncategorized | Tags: | Leave a comment

Thanks all for reading. Welcome to my initial blog post. I am new to the world of online blogging (have worked in Online Community Development for 10 years), and have never taken the time (or have I been asked) to write down my thoughts. I will focus more on the moderation and management of Community content, and will do my best to share my past experiences and beliefs.

Background: I began my Community career within Customer Support for Fogdog Sports back in 1999. During the last portion of my stint there, I worked and assisted in the development and integration of Community platforms and User generated content.

The Bay area was crazy back then, and we were able to bring the company public. Shortly after we went public, we were bought out and the company was eventually relocated to Pennsylvania. Community Development and Content management was fairly “new” back in ’99 as you may know. Fortunate enough for me I was living in San Jose, CA. and ran across an Online Community position for a small auction type company that you may have heard of eBay. I was able to land there, holding many different roles within our Community Development department during my 5+ year stint. These roles included 3rd party vendor management, Community Platform and Product management, Global Consulting, and Focus group management. I lived in San Jose for about 7 years and made the decision to move back to New England, to be closer to family. After leaving eBay, I worked for Shared Insights for a little while – with Aaron, Barry and Jim, and then moved on to Prospero, as outlined in my bio. I understand both the vendor side as well as the client’s side of a Community business, because of my past roles. I fell this puts me in a unique position as I am able to communicate with our clients more productively and proactively, knowing the expectations that I had in the past with a vendor.

I would like to thank you all for reading my initial post, and hope that you enjoy the topics that I am planning to blog about. I will try to update the blog every other week to begin with, and will post more frequently as my time permits.

Mike