You’ve probably been there. The conversation is flowing. People are sharing experiences. Contributions are being valued. People feel they are being listened to, and then… a disruptor storms the stage and drowns everyone out with their “expertise” and “solution”, and the rest of us turn away or simply leave.
The last few years online, have been an escalation of disruption — where “free speech” and “expertise” reign, while the rest are held hostage to the loudest and most exclusive viewpoints. But what if we say we’ve had enough?
Meet Dr Nick*
In a very different community space, where facilitation is practiced, connection is valued and disruption called out, a conversation was flowing on emotional intelligence. One of the members in the space recalled a conversation she had been in that morning.
In a room she was hosting, conversation was flowing as people shared their experiences of imposter syndrome and ways they had been dealing with this, then… Dr. Nick came on stage and declared he knew the answers. Everyone was wrong and he would now guide everyone through his way to overcome their issue. Rather than accept that Dr Nick had now taken the room hostage, the room moderator stepped in and told Dr Nick that his actions were not inline with the values of the community and swiftly removed him. Why does this matter?
Rather than appease only the loudest person in the room, and have everyone else feel diminished, or worse leave, the moderator established and reinforced a future tone and culture for this room. She removed Dr. Nick and reinforced the rules of engagement for this space going forward.
Establishing a Culture
As platforms move past basic text and visuals, and audio and video experiences dominate - moderation can no longer stay in reactive mode.
Tatiana Estévez (previously moderation and community lead for Quora), in an interview on Moderation in Clubhouse (Moderation can’t wait: The challenges startups like Clubhouse face trying to build community), warns against inadequate moderation measures.
“It is not something that you can push down the line because in a way it happens anyway,” Estévez told Protocol. “Culture will develop whether you want it to or not. Tone will develop whether you want it to or not.” She added: “I think moderation and community should be part of the product. It should be seen as an integral part of the product from the onset.”
By establishing culture at the onset, members rise to the level of speech in the room and provide an inclusive and safe space where people thrive. A collective experience that leaves the Guru’s outside on their plinths shouting into a socially distant townsquare, holding their verified ticks to their chests and wondering where their followers have gone.
I think what happens with a lot of companies is that they are in reactive mode. It’s like when it becomes a problem, then they try and solve it. It’s very difficult once your community tone is established, a culture is established, to then go and say, “Hey, we don’t want this anymore.”
The Future of Moderation
As communities are increasingly attracted to inclusive and collective experiences, moderation will need to be taken much more seriously. Not in an Orwellian or vigilante way, but one that takes into account everything we have learnt about community building and taking things from there.
The big players have already started to increase their levels of moderation and actively remove bad actors. Twitter has been experimenting with Birdwatch (crowdsourced moderation), Clubhouse has introduced and updated their moderation guidelines, Facebook has introduced an Oversight Board, and I suspect this is just the beginning. Time will tell how effective these steps are, given they are still done in a reactionary manner.
What is clear, is that the era of “move fast and break things” did just that. The future of moderation needs to go beyond reprimanding the individual, to one that takes into account everyone in the room. “Feeding the trolls” does not leave any air for everyone else. We need a member-driven, holistic, model for moderation.
Our job as community builders is to create environments where members build a distributed culture of their own, not force upon them what we think that should be. We’ve talked about creating safe spaces for a number of years, and yet we have allowed our house to slowly fill with bad actors shouting largely at each other. It’s time to clean up house, hold the disrupters accountable and encourage healthy relationships in supportive communities. If you find yourself alone on stage shouting, wondering where everyone has gone, maybe we’ve finally moved on.
*Names may or may not have been changed.
Tips for Moderation
- Build a network of moderators. To develop the practice of community management and have each other’s backs when needed.
- Establish clear guidelines. The rules of engagement that members cocreate and evolve as the network/community matures.
- Provide Distributed Moderation. Collective ownership, not for “passing the buck” when things go wrong, rather to give permission and guidance so members can act decisively.
Additional Reading:
- The Murky World of Moderation on Clubhouse
- “You become hostage to their worldview”: The murky world of Moderation on Clubhouse, a playground for the Elite.
- The creators of the buzzy audio app Clubhouse made a depressingly common mistake
- Moderation can’t wait: The challenges startups like Clubhouse face trying to build community
- Where Are the Adults in the Clubhouse?
- Introducing Birdwatch, a community-based approach to misinformation
