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Up Front: The Up Front Guides: All Things in Moderation (Awaiting Approval)

Posted at 2:35PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Like any geek, I have topics I'm obsessive about. Unlike most geeks, one of mine is web community comment moderation policies. So I was interested in Julie's post at The Hand Mirror over the weekend, and the comments it elicited.

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It also reminded me that I promised you a Guide to Destroying a Thriving Internet Community, and I like to keep my promises. (Also, I take requests and dares. I didn't get where I am today without people saying 'what the fuck are you doing?'.)

Moderation is for Pussies.

Become a free speech advocate. Let anybody say anything in any way they choose, no matter how big of a dickwad it makes them – and by extension you – look. Sure, you'll end up actually losing speech as users walk away from the bear pit, but those losses will be pretty much invisible. Suggest that anyone who objects to the resulting flood of personal abuse that they harden the fuck up and learn to take a joke.

Further tips on how to manage this approach can be found here: Derailing for Dummies. As a community manager, this guide will help you identify particularly destructive tactics commenters can use to make your community a stressful nightmare. What you do about it depends on your community, because sometimes the best approach is the exact opposite of the above. It may be that you have, somehow, managed to build a community which operates well through peer pressure. Your commenters have constructed a discourse* so healthy that it actively discourages ass-hattery. In this case, you'll have to take a different tack.

Moderation in Moderation is for Pussies

Become a benevolent dictator. Quash all whisper of dissent, even in its most polite and considerate form. Justify this as protecting your poor delicate readership from triggering, derailing and trolling. Ruthlessly police on-topicality. Have entire lines of argument that are forbidden, because 'we’ve had that discussion before'. (This will keep happening if there's an obvious hole in your argument, strangely.) The delete button is your friend. Alternately, put every comment through moderation. That way, nobody even sees what you delete. The best I've ever seen this done was by someone who replied to comments she left in moderation, allowing herself to abuse people who were unable to defend themselves.

If your community is less robust, you can get away with less extreme measures.

Try to be all things to all people. Every time somebody comes along and suggests the community should be something other than it is, change to accommodate them. Say you write a sports blog, and every now and then someone complains that you talk about a popular sport too much. Stop doing it. Okay, you'll alienate all the people who turned up to discuss that in the first place, but you'll keep the new guy happy for the couple of days they hang around before finding something else to complain about. After all, it's the internet: it's not like they could go and find another site that already does what they want, or even set up one of their own. It's your job to accommodate their needs.

Change is a great tool for pissing people off even in a strong established community. If you're really thriving, try changing platforms every six months or so. The uncertainty and disruption this causes, combined with the way it distracts your staff, should really test your users' patience. Less drastically, try changing your colour scheme and shifting all the buttons to interesting new places every month or so.

Attitude matters, too. On no account display a sense of humour. Feministe's current Next Top Troll competition, for instance, is clearly far too constructive, using the most extreme displays of troll-y idiocy to unite its community. My favourite is Joe, who makes some very cogent points about censorship:

you have been reported i am prepared to sue you because the minute you didnt post my comment you violated free speech and human rights. thats right i know lawyers

Total lack of sense of humour combines nicely with the Benevolent Dictator approach. Any time anyone makes a joke, no matter how obviously it's a joke, tell them off for being insensitive. Particularly to minority issues. Particularly if you’re not actually a member of that minority. After a couple of goes, people will be too scared that they'll put a foot wrong to have any fun at all.

Don't be innovative, either. When xkcd brought in a moderation bot that simply deleted any comment that had been made before, the novelty garnered publicity and engaged a community keen to play with the new toy. Whether it worked or not was almost irrelevant. But see how I used the word 'play'? That's almost humour. Being a part of your community needs to feel like work.

Managing an internet community can be a stressful and time-consuming job. Just imagine how much easier it would be with no users. Following these easy steps should have you there in no time at all.

* For those of you playing the Pretentious Wanker Drinking Game, I just said 'discourse'.

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Russell Brown
From: Auckland
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 8991
Moderator

Posted at 2:35PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

I am prostrated before your ability to codify.

Raymond A Francis
From: 45' South
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 232

Posted at 2:42PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

That is soooo funny
And isn't it nice that PA has managed so well to avoid the obvious pit falls........obvious when codified of course

Emma Hart
From: Christchurch
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2608
Moderator

Posted at 2:42PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

I am prostrated before your ability to codify.

Dude, pics or it didn't happen.

Sam F
From: Morningside, Auckland
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1174

Posted at 2:43PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

That xkcd bot experiment reminds me of ROBOT 9000, which was a sub-board of 4chan with pretty much the same parameters - anyone posting a phrase or image previously posted was blocked from posting for a few minutes, as opposed to regular 4chan boards where every post is famously a repost of a repost repost.

Moaning from regulars about repetitive unoriginal content began the experiment, and R9K is quite popular, but only in the sense that it's a particular version of the 4chan game rather than The Way Things Should Be. The regular boards are still doing much better, which just goes to show.

Anyhow, carry on.

Sam F
From: Morningside, Auckland
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1174

Posted at 2:48PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Gah - serve me right for not even following to the first line of the xkcd link, where I would have found that /r9k/ actually came from there. Disregard my witterings above.

Emma Hart
From: Christchurch
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2608
Moderator

Posted at 3:07PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Yeah, xkcd has a certain 4chan-ness about it. I guess that makes the bot not quite as innovative as I was making it out to be, but I really like that post, the way he lays out the problem, the various solutions and their flaws. The solution was chosen with their specific community in mind, and I think for them it does its job. It's probably not a solution with broad applications, though I am intrigued by the effects of making people think about a new way to say something old, even if it is just 'debian blows goats' or whatever.

And isn't it nice that PA has managed so well to avoid the obvious pit falls........obvious when codified of course

I might have said this before, but every time I find myself talking about this to a NZ audience, I end up saying 'okay, you know Public Address?'. Saves a lot of time.

Rich of Observationz
From: Back in Wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1986

Posted at 3:16PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Some sites, I wish they'd set political sidewalls and delete everything from left or right of that. I think The Standard is headed that way. Mind, I guess I'd only be able to comment on Indymedia.

Also, I miss the "kill" function of rn & xnews (show me no more from a given person). I have considered building a cross-site comment manager that would recreate killfiles, amongst other stuff.

3410
From: Auckland
Since: Jan 2007
Posts: 1265

Posted at 3:37PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

O/T (that's cool, right?), but Emma, here's some good news, after 22 years of substandardness.

Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music are delighted to announce the release of the original Beatles catalogue, which has been digitally re-mastered for the first time, for worldwide CD release on Wednesday, September 9, 2009...

Hadyn Green
From: Wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1790
Moderator

Posted at 3:43PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Say you write a sports blog, and every now and then someone complains that you talk about a popular sport too much.

Ummmm...?

Hadyn Green
From: Wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1790
Moderator

Posted at 3:44PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

... the release of the original Beatles catalogue, ...on Wednesday, September 9, 2009...

Same day the Beatles Rock Band comes out. Coincidence?

Emma Hart
From: Christchurch
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2608
Moderator

Posted at 3:44PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Also, I miss the "kill" function of rn & xnews (show me no more from a given person).

I am intrigued by this idea, though I don't think I want to sign up to its newsletter. What worries me, I guess, is the possibility of getting so many people with different commenters 'killed' that everyone is in essence having a different conversation from everyone else.

Danielle
From: PAS Women's XV Strategic Headquarters
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2219

Posted at 3:45PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

... the release of the original Beatles catalogue, ...on Wednesday, September 9, 2009...
Same day the Beatles Rock Band comes out. Coincidence?

I have been in High Squee Mode all day about this. The last. CDs. I'll ever. buy!

Sue
From: Wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 295

Posted at 3:46PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

sometimes emma, i think the level of your awesomeness is so huuuge it's impossible to measure

Emma Hart
From: Christchurch
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2608
Moderator

Posted at 3:48PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Say you write a sports blog, and every now and then someone complains that you talk about a popular sport too much.
Ummmm...?

Go on Hadyn, say it...

Another example would be having an explicitly environmentalist blog and someone complaining about you banging on about global warming all the time. The 'why are you talking about this/why aren't you talking about this' complaint boggles me particularly because surely the answer is 'because it's my fracking blog and I can talk about what I want'.

Russell Brown
From: Auckland
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 8991
Moderator

Posted at 4:00PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

that everyone is in essence having a different conversation from everyone else.

I think it's called "Twitter".

Anyway, must go. Must make TV. They pay me.

Danielle
From: PAS Women's XV Strategic Headquarters
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2219

Posted at 4:04PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

sometimes emma, i think the level of your awesomeness is so huuuge it's impossible to measure

Word up.

mark taslov
From: 13th floor, Garden of the family Xia, Sun Palace.
Since: Mar 2008
Posts: 1121

Posted at 4:13PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Cool post Emma. I've been playing 'Attack' on facebook lately (Risk®). They have an ultra conservative bot mod, tuned to censor danger like 'sex','homosexual', even 'homophobia'. If you keep on with the expletives, they bump you off, when you come back there are small glitches, i.e. not being able to see your cards, random troop placement etc. Damn well works too.

http://apps.facebook.com/attackgame/

Emma Hart
From: Christchurch
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2608
Moderator

Posted at 4:13PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

sometimes emma, i think the level of your awesomeness is so huuuge it's impossible to measure
Word up.

You guys will make me blush. Which I'm almost sure is still possible.

Public Servant on a tea-break.
From: Wellington
Since: Apr 2008
Posts: 61

Posted at 4:28PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Say, did anyone else check the 'Top Troll' site? Dearie, dearie me.

I just thought, if only we could enter Dad4Justice - that title could be won by a local boy.

It's all about "Putting New Zealand on the map" people.

giovanni tiso
From: Wellington
Since: Jun 2007
Posts: 4252

Posted at 4:32PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

What worries me, I guess, is the possibility of getting so many people with different commenters 'killed' that everyone is in essence having a different conversation from everyone else.

That's precisely what happened in a number of newsgroups I used to follow in the dying throes of Usenet. It was SAD.

Rich of Observationz
From: Back in Wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1986

Posted at 4:35PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

That Top Troll link is brilliant. What happens to the winner? 120th trimester abortion?

andin
From: basement flat
Since: Mar 2007
Posts: 300

Posted at 4:54PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

From 't Hand Mirror

We like inclusive language, and we know we're not perfect at that either - so when we get it wrong we call each other on it gently, as we might a dear friend.

Doin' it (the Lang-goo-arge) gently and inclusively, I had a flashback just then. And not a pleasant one. Should I harden up?

Emma Hart
From: Christchurch
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2608
Moderator

Posted at 5:15PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

They have an ultra conservative bot mod, tuned to censor danger like 'sex','homosexual', even 'homophobia'. If you keep on with the expletives, they bump you off, when you come back there are small glitches, i.e. not being able to see your cards, random troop placement etc. Damn well works too.

For certain values of 'work', I guess - particularly for something like that where talking isn't the chief function. In general I'm not fond of 'bad words' moderation because it assumes that all of particular language is abusive, and that all abuse uses particular language. Good for unintentional hiliarity, though.

James Butler
From: Auckland
Since: Jan 2009
Posts: 107

Posted at 5:28PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Good for unintentional hiliarity, though.

Clbuttic!

giovanni tiso
From: Wellington
Since: Jun 2007
Posts: 4252

Posted at 6:16PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

The Up Front Guides

Can I be the first to pre-order the book?

Emma Hart
From: Christchurch
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2608
Moderator

Posted at 7:06PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Clbuttic!

Ha, that's clbuttic.

Rob Hosking
From: South Roseneath
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 701

Posted at 7:10PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Good for unintentional hiliarity, though.

Yep. Serve that guy right though. Those Princes of Moab were a bunch of bad donkeys.

Don Christie
From: Wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1405

Posted at 7:30PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Damned straight, Emma.

Of course, when I'm mayor of Quantum Auckland...

Oops. wring thread.

Sacha
From: Ak
Since: May 2008
Posts: 5243

Posted at 8:41PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

It's never the wrong thread. (That should probly go in the guide too)

mark taslov
From: 13th floor, Garden of the family Xia, Sun Palace.
Since: Mar 2008
Posts: 1121

Posted at 9:40PM on 8 Apr 09. Permalink.

Haha, sweet! Christianity as a dog chasing its tail

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Up Front: The Up Front Guides: All Things in Moderation (Awaiting Approval)