You can't always halt a flamewar w/1 raised eyebrow, but it rarely hurts to try. #osb15 #DWgoestoOSB

[azurelunatic]

Today I gave my Community Moderation: you can't always halt a flamewar with one raised eyebrow (but it rarely hurts to try) talk.

I have already identified things that I might do differently next time, but I think it went OK overall and I had a great chat with someone who is currently looking at the fact that one of her communities hasn't got any rules and right now it's an intentional community who all have the same general goals but if Things Happen they wouldn't know where to start.

I always recommend starting with rules or at least general concrete principles that you'd like the community to embody, for the record.

I had fun and I hope everyone else did too, and I sadly ran long enough that there wasn't much time for Q&A. My favorite under-discussed tool is hellbanning.

Comments

[niqaeli]

hooray for giving talks that go well!

[azurelunatic]

It was great fun after the whole "oh my god oh my god what if I run out of things to say" bit, when I realized that maybe I was going to actually run over. Oops.

My style on this is a bit of an infodump. HERE ARE ALL THE THINGS.

[tcpip]

Good talk on one of the more difficult and necessary activities to make discussion groups work well.

Two things immediately come to mind:

a) Why non-moderation ends up with incurable damage to a community (cf., my editorial in the latest RPG Review about the 'no asshole' rule) and

b) Moderators are human too. There is a need to be really impartial and, if, one is getting too involved, get someone else to step in.

Also the classic mantra: "keep it friendly and keep it helpful!". I use this as a preamble to most sets of moderation rules...

[azurelunatic]

Assholery is a perennial problem,alas.

[celtic_maenad]

Rather off topic, but fist bump for the Uhura's Song reference!

[azurelunatic]

:D :D :D

I was hoping someone would get it!

[celtic_maenad]

That book holds a very special place in my heart. Names. You know. :)

[silveradept]

It was an excellent talk, and I was glad to be able to hear it.

[azurelunatic]

I am super glad you were able to make it.