Mar
27
I’m a big fan of MetaFilter, Matt Haughey’s community blog. I’m a member, so take my admiration with the salty seasoning it requires, but its popularity seems to agree with me.
Part of the wonder of MeFi (as its members [including myself] like to call it) is that, as a community website, it’s perpetually generating great content, but a combination of paid membership (a one-time five-dollar fee), rigid policing by members, and vigilance by its three moderators keep the site from becoming a reddit-esque junkfest. MetaFilter bills itself as the best of the web, and it’s more or less earned the title.
But with only three moderators working discussions among tens of thousands of users, it’s impressive that anything gets done at all. I’d like to point out a particularly great example from this week of one of those moderators doing her job very well — an example that any of us who’ve ever moderated a web discussion can learn a lot from.
It began with a post that was bound to engender some heated discussion: A link to a video alleging to show police brutality at a recent anti-China protest at the UN building in New York City. The discussion was lively and varied; while some members blasted cops in general for being bullies, many were careful to confine their comments to the police on display in the video. Many more voiced concerns that police brutality is a symptom of a much greater societal ill. (Full disclosure: I commented twice early in this thread, under the name “hifiparasol:” first comment, second comment.)
After a few posts, moderator “jessamyn” chimed in, as the moderators occasionally do, asserting that too many people in the discussion were painting police with too broad a brush. She wasn’t making a warning as a mod, but noticing what she perceived as a knee-jerk reaction among some users. By choosing her words very carefully, she lent a new voice to the discussion without sounding authoritative at all.
But her comments were not well received — at least one commenter took her to task for what he perceived as a mischaracterization of others’ comments. Jessamyn rebutted twice, and was rebutted in turn. The reactions to her comments were harsh, but reasoned.
Finally, she opted out. Realizing the conversation was turning against her, she succinctly explained her point of view, then bowed out.
There’s a lesson here about how to interact with your community. If you’re moderating a discussion among members of your site, there’s a whole textbook’s worth of approaches to take. Jessamyn was commenting specifically on the tone some members were taking — but she took care to do it as another member of the community, and not wave the moderation flag or make any warnings. And when it was clear that many users were taken aback, she graciously deleted herself from the conversation. (Actually, that’s not just good advice for a moderator — it’s good advice for anyone.)
Being a good mod takes lots of practice, and maintaining a courteous discourse on your site can be difficult. But maintaining the proper tone, and remembering that you’re not only a mod, but also a member, creates a welcoming atmosphere for your users.
Next week I’ll write some more about the things MetaFilter does right for its members — ways that it creates an endlessly useful resource for not only those who pay the five-dollar membership fee, but anyone who visits the site.
great post, it’s important to keep a good vibe on your blog, i agree. so much nicer when people are friends
Moderating an online community can be extremely challenging, particularly in emotional situations such as the example you mention.
Moderators need to remember that their primary roles should always be to encourage interaction but prevent abuse; therefore, they are often walking a metaphorical tightrope.
It is essential that moderators remain impartial at all times. If a member breaks the site rules, they need to be professionally notified of this and pointed to the specific rule they broke. They should never be drawn into arguments or debates regarding their decisions. If a member isn’t happy with the actions of a moderator, they should be asked to contact either a senior staff member or the site owner in private.
There is nothing wrong with admitting errors or saying sorry, there is a problem when a moderator begins to take action but is then bullied out of the picture.
- Martin Reed
Martin, do you think that’s what happened in the example I mentioned? Because I don’t think she was bullied; I just think she made a comment that a lot of users disagreed with (and which many other users agreed with), and left the discussion when it became obvious that her opinion was in the minority. Nobody was being abusive or discourteous; the reason I found her actions so encouraging is because she maintained the boundary between “mod” and “user” pretty well, and didn’t get bogged down in an ultimately pointless discussion that could have a negative impact on the users’ opinions of her.
Unfortunately I didn’t read the actual post you refer to - it was far too long! My comment was based on your post and description of events, although perhaps my choice of the word ‘bullied’ was a little harsh.
The fact is, the community in this instance have seen that if they ‘rally the troops’ and disagree with a moderator, the mod will back down - not an ideal situation.
Having said this, as a moderator she shouldn’t have got involved with her own opinions on such an emotional topic - if there were comments that broke the site rules, then she should have taken action based on that, and that alone; not simply because she personally disagreed with people’s comments.
Your post highlights a good point that moderators will always be seen as moderators, even when they want to make a post ‘out of uniform’ - unfortunately few mods realise this!
- Martin Reed
Good point — and I was actually thinking that as I wrote the post.
I think that in the grand scheme of things (and trolls notwithstanding) conversations on the web seem to be civil, particularly if you’ve built up a good group of users. In this case, the mod wasn’t warning anyone about bad behavior, but pointing out that MetaFilter users tend, as a group, to dislike cops. While the comment is true overall, I think in this particular case the users were showing some restraint, and therefore it wasn’t totally accurate, which is why people reacted the way they did.
It was a sticky wicket, and you could easily make the argument that she couldn’t have commented in the first place. But I think she prevented the molehill from becoming a mountain.
You are right that it takes a lot of practice and patience to mod effectively. I also imagine that one of the hardest parts must be not to get personally involved.
One of the best bits of advice I have been given is never post when annoyed/upset. Go back to the thread a day later and your post should be far more objective. If not, and it still makes you angry, then it should probably be deleted/closed.
Like a lots of things, if you criticise the action, rather than the person performing that, it will be far less personal and easier to diffuse a situation.
I sort of felt like I was bullied somwhat in that instance. As a moderator, it’s pretty crucial that I not “fight back” when people are being fighty, but I was trying pretty hard to point out what I thought was some pretty knee-jerky silencing behavior and I felt like two posters who I’ve known on the site for years both decided to give my comments the least charitable reading possible and then give me a hard time for it. On the other hand, the thread wasn’t going badly and I had to sit back and reflect that my opinion is just that, and I didn’t want to spend my day fighting with people on the internet about it, but dealing with that particular thread did really sort of start my day off on the wrong foot.