On my forums, it is our policy that we don’t edit member posts. When a post violates our User Guidelines, it is removed. Even if it is one line out of a long post. Once in a while, we do have a member who will ask, “why didn’t you just edit that post and leave it?” I can understand this question, certainly, and I always answer it, of course. Here are our reasons:

Sloppy Documentation

Editing posts makes for sloppy documentation of violations and actions taken. When you remove the post, you have the entire post as the member made it – forever. This includes the time stamp and the IP attached to it. It counts as irrefutable documentation in that this is the actual post, this is not the staff member quoting the post or saying that someone said this – this is the very post that violated the guidelines.

It’s also great to be able to search through posts that have been violations to search for sites that have spammed before, etc.

Harder Mistake Correction

Sometimes, posts do get removed that shouldn’t and those mistakes have to be corrected and I or we have to apologize for them. If you remove the post, it’s very easy to correct the mistake. But, if you edited the post, you have to hope that what was removed was documented very well – otherwise, it’s not going to be easy. Assuming your software doesn’t have some sort of “revert edit” feature that maintains forever.

This would also relate to a situation where you have one member violate your guidelines, supposedly, and then five replies that include that violation by quoting it. You have to edit all of them.

Staff Members Aren’t Proofreaders

If you can violate our guidelines and a staff member will fix it for you, would you care less about violating the guidelines? You may or may not, but at the end of the day, I don’t want my staffers to be looked at like proofreaders, who members expect to read their posts and make adjustments so that they are OK.

Recognizing the Value of Posts

At the same time, and in conclusion, while I see that removing posts is definitely the way to go – I recognize that it is frustrating to spend a lot of time on a post and have it removed for what might seem like a small reason. Because of this, it is included in our guidelines that we are glad to send any member a copy of a post that they made that has been removed, as long as it wasn’t so bad that we wouldn’t just rather them start over. That way, they can retrieve their work and adjust it and repost, rather than creating it from scratch again.

I just wanted to mention that the “Managing Online Forums” Example Forums have launched. What are they? Well, I had the idea to put up some forums that displayed just a few of the concepts that I discuss in the book, like a staff forums set up, various guidelines, a system of documentation for violations and more. Sometimes, it’s easier to consider something if you can see it in front of you. So, I hope that some find it useful. :)

As Managing Online Forums is now beginning to make it into the hands of readers, it’s time to launch the downloadable templates section of the book website.

Appendix B of Managing Online Forums features blank, general templates for your user guidelines, staff member guidelines and contact templates. In order to make it easier for people to use them, we’ve made available a downloadable archive of the templates in .txt format.

The user guidelines detail the types of behavior and participation that you allow or don’t on your forums. The staff member guidelines describe the responsibilities of the staff members on your community and how they should accomplish them. The contact templates are premade, ready to send messages for you to use when a member of your community has to be contacted in regard to a violation of your user guidelines. This helps to ensure consistent communication from staff member to staff member.

Ideally, you will want to come up with your own and, perhaps, use these as a basis. That said, you are welcome to use them as they are on your community. I hope that they prove to be useful.

On March 11 at 11:00 AM on the Adobe Day Stage at the Austin Convention Center, I did a book reading for “Managing Online Forums”, as part of South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive. Back in February, I had asked for your feedback in deciding what I would do a presentation about. I ended up with “Creating a Positive Environment on Your Forums”. I recapped the conference after I returned.

My friend Chris had agreed to take my camcorder and record the presentation, so that I could have it and, hopefully, upload it online. He did a good job and I’m glad that I was able to get it on tape.

It represents an interesting moment for me in that it was my first time ever speaking on stage. Really, it as my first time ever speaking to an assembled group of people that I didn’t know. So, I was a little nervous. But, I prepared and did the best that I could – once I got going, I knew what I had to say and my focus was really on getting the words out, speaking slowly, breathing and looking people in the eyes. I’m happy with how it went and I appreciate the support that I received from the crowd. It was a friendly crowd and that made it easier.

The footage is now available online and can be seen below (through Yahoo! Video) and also on YouTube (parts 1 and 2) in the ManagingCommunities.com channels on each (Yahoo! Video and YouTube channels). I am hoping to post more community management related videos in the future, so please subscribe if you have any interest.

I am going to include the slides I used for the presentation below the videos, as long as the point in time where the slide was supposed to be triggered, so that you can follow along with the slide sequence, as well. Thanks to Jake and everyone who gave me slide related advice.

Thank you for checking it out and please feel free to share any comments you might have, in the comments.

You will have members on your forums (sometimes crazy people) who will speak in a way that will frustrate you or a member of your staff. Whether it’s the way they express themselves or what they are saying,  Maybe they’re just annoying, in some sort of way. However, they are still following your guidelines, so their posts remain and they must be treated with respect.

What I try to always keep in mind (and what I tell my staff members to keep in mind) is that when I reply to someone, I’m not just replying to them – I’m showing our members how to reply to them. As the administrator, or as a staff member, I must set an example for members to follow. So, even though I think BeeBooBop23 may be the biggest idiot on two feet, I’m not going to allow that to cause me to speak to him in a manner that could be perceived by members as disrespectful.

Why? Because my responsibility and the community are bigger. They are bigger than this moment, bigger than BeeBooBop23 and bigger than me. As a leader, or as a staff member, you must always consider how you words will be perceived and whether or not you are setting a suitable example that your members can follow.

It’s natural to want to be liked. Hey, I want to liked. :) That said, when it comes to managing my community, I’m not here just to be liked, I’m here to make sure that the community is running smoothly. Don’t get me wrong – I treat everyone kindly and with respect and I expect that in return. And, if you aren’t disrupting my community and you aren’t treating us disrespectfully, we won’t have any issues.

But, the moment you do, then we have something to address. I run my communities in a way that encourages people to hate me, if they are going to hate everyone. I try to shield and insulate my staff members from that sort of criticism by always taking responsibility for the decisions made. And that’s the truth, really, as my staff is, nearly always, doing what they believe I have asked them to do. So, I always deflect criticism onto myself.

At the same time, staff members need to understand that they aren’t here to be any body’s friend – they are here to assist me in the management of the community, to make sure that things run smoothly and to continue to contribute to the community, as they always have. And I try to stress this to them in our staff member documentation and in my own words and attitude. I try to set the example.

I’ve had staff members that could not grasp this. I’ve had staff members that were gun shy due to not wanting to hurt any one’s feelings. I’ve had staff members who went behind my back to members to try to get between me and them to prevent me from noticing their violations. These people get weeded out, they get kicked off, they resign… eventually, they leave, as they don’t have what it takes right now. That doesn’t mean they are bad people – not everyone can be a staff member on a community, like not everyone can be a manager at a restaurant or a shoe store or a cab company (Louie De Palma had what it takes! ;)) or whatever organization.

By spending time doing your due diligence before you invite someone onto your team, you can limit these occurrences, but it’ll always happen. You want staff members who understand that they will be put in a position where not everyone is going to like them and where they can’t be every one’s buddy.