Community Moderation and Conflict Management

[Shawn Gossman]

How do you manage conflicts and moderate your community without going overboard and being too restrictive?

I think the old days of being ban happy are over. I feel like banning quickly (aside from spammers) will only harm the reputation of your community and of you.

I feel like it's a whole new world for online community moderation and conflict management.

I'm interested in knowing how everyone here does it on their community?

 

[ClicketyKat]

Sometimes banning is necessary, sometimes mod queue is necessary and sometimes you try to see if those members who cause conflict will change their ways first before going to the extreme.

What I've learned on some sites is that there is great manipulation from some members in the online forum communities, spreading gossip and causing drama to follow. They stand back and snicker and hope to bring down their competition. Then they say they want to be friends after their attacks? I don't get that. As a Christian, I don't get the mindset of some people who feel comfortable doing business in that manner. How do you manage that kind of member?

 

[Uncrowned]

Temp bans seem like the new thing to do. Social Media has pushed them into the norm and overall giving the member 24 hrs to cool down seems to work well.

 

[ClicketyKat]

Temp bans seem like the new thing to do. Social Media has pushed them into the norm and overall giving the member 24 hrs to cool down seems to work well.

We used to do them on the Christian forum I was once admin on and that was about 15 years ago. I didn't know of any other sites that did them at the time. We also would close threads with a mod hat, giving a cool down for about 24-48 hours and then we'd do a clean up if needed and open it back up. Some of the community was all for that type of staff action, but others considered it staff interference.

 

[Uncrowned]

We used to do them on the Christian forum I was once admin on and that was about 15 years ago. I didn't know of any other sites that did them at the time. We also would close threads with a mod hat, giving a cool down for about 24-48 hours and then we'd do a clean up if needed and open it back up. Some of the community was all for that type of staff action, but others considered it staff interference.

Ya, it is a hard balance and each community needs to figure out their best solution.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Temp bans seem like the new thing to do. Social Media has pushed them into the norm and overall giving the member 24 hrs to cool down seems to work well.

I like the idea of temp bans. Facebook jail - forum jail, LOL.

I mean for most offenses, a temp ban is probably all that's needed.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

I mean for most offenses, a temp ban is probably all that's needed.

Yeah as long as it's not for too long because that will feel more like punishment than a cool down. No one likes being punished online and it's likely they won't even return.

Although, saying that, I'd say a lengthy ban can be meaningful if you don't really want the member to return but you want to look fair . Or in a case where the member seems immature and has growing up to do or appears to have a poor attitude and likely needs time for an attitude adjustment.