photo credit: Chrissy Olson

Among the many traits that I value in a moderator, one of the most important is a strong attention to detail.

Details matter. A lot. Details are the difference between a post that violates your guidelines and one that doesn’t. Details are what ensures consistency in the application of those guidelines and in the handling of questionable content.

As administrator, I like to think of myself as moderation quality assurance. My staff removes the content that they feel is in violation of our guidelines, in line with our system of training, previous actions and our staff guidelines and manuals.

It doesn’t matter how smart you are, how kind you are, how much common sense that you have, as a manager (community manager or otherwise), if the people that you have on the front line are ignorant, poorly trained and unable to communicate clearly and respectfully.

If these people mess up a relationship with a fan, client or customer, the damage will have been done and, by the time that person reaches you and your level of authority (if they reach it at all), they will already be angered or disappointed.

Earlier today, the new music video for “Play Your Part” by Wale featuring Rick Ross, Meek Mill and D.A. Wallach of Chester French premiered on MTV.com. I really like this record and like the music video just as much – you can pick up a free download of the mixtape that the song is from at Ross’ website.

At last year’s Blog World Expo, I developed a panel featuring D.A. alongside rapper Asher Roth, my friend Wayne Sutton and myself. D.A. is a really cool guy – very nice, talented and smart – who has a great understanding of building community.

Anyway, in the new video, which I have embedded below, D.A. sings, “you think you’re using me, like this game’s new to me, but you ain’t confusing me … we’ll be cool as long as you just play your part.” So, today, I want to talk about how important it is that all members of your community play their respective parts.

photo credit: digika

In sporting circles, especially in the National Football League (NFL), the idea of a coaching tree is fairly well known.

According to Wikipedia, a coaching tree is “is similar to a family tree except it shows the relationships of coaches instead of family members. There are several different ways to define a relationship between two coaches. The most common way to make the distinction is if a coach worked as an assistant on a particular head coach’s staff for at least a season then that coach can be counted as being a branch on the head coach’s coaching tree.”

In other words, if a coach works as an assistant under one head coach, and that assistant goes on to become a head coach, that assistant is a member of the head coach’s coaching tree. The Wikipedia page for NFL coaching trees gives the pre-eminent example of Bill Walsh, the former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

photo credit: seelensturm

It was three years ago today that I launched ManagingCommunities.com. Since then, it has become the primary vehicle through which I share community management information, as well as my related experiences and thoughts.

This is a space that I care deeply about. I have been directly managing online communities for more than 10 and 1/2 years now and I am thankful to have the opportunity to talk about the subject here.

In recognition of the milestone, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for reading this blog and to thank everyone who subscribes via RSS, e-mail, Facebook and Twitter.

photo credit: .thana☃

One of the subjects I was good at, back when I was in school, was math. I liked it and I tested well at it. It serves me well in my life. But, when it comes to online community, I find that math can sometimes be destructive, especially when it is relied upon too deeply or held up as a precise standard. As cliche as it may sound, the majority of online community is about people.

One question I hear asked in online community spaces, with some regularity, is: “What is the ideal moderator:user ratio?” In other words, how many moderators should I have for every X active users. Is it 1 moderator for every 20 active users? 100? 500?

photo credit: swanksalot

I take our user guidelines very seriously. If a post violates our guidelines, it is removed, documented privately and the member is contacted. So, when I say I am laid back about how I approach guideline violations, that is not what I mean.

What I mean is that guideline violations aren’t, in and of themselves, something that demands your immediate attention. I try not to create a sense of panic. I also try not to let them disrupt me from my normal routine or whatever I am doing.

photo credit:
US Embassy New Zealand

In the United States, today is Thanksgiving, a holiday where, among other things, we give thanks for the great people, things and opportunities that we have in our lives. In line with that, I’d like to share a few things that I am thankful for on my communities. This isn’t an all-inclusive list by any means, just a few things that came to mind.

Attention to Detail from My Staff

When you are on my staff, I want you to be detail oriented. I want you to care about getting a situation right and to be willing to put in the time to make sure that all situations are handled appropriately.

From how you remove content, to how you document it, to how you speak to members and participate in public. Details matter and while perfection may be unattainable, that does not mean that you give up the pursuit.

photo credit: eleanor.black

Recently, fastcars started a thread on CommunityAdmins.com asking why you should have rules (I call them guidelines) on your community at all, as fastcars feels that they are “meant to be broken.” fastcars felt that it wasn’t worth the time to have them and that guidelines intimidate members, making them feel scrutinized and giving them the impression that you have an “I’m the owner and you do as I say” attitude. Communities can “fail,” fastcars says, because the owners are too heavy handed.

Instead, fastcars suggests, you could let members decide what is and isn’t allowed and could provide a general short and simple rule. fastcars’ example is “All posts must remain within the realms of human decency.”

photo credit: Etsy Ketsy

I talk a lot about appreciation. I believe in appreciation and the power of it and how important it can be to the growth and quality of a community.

There are different ways that I express appreciation for people within my communities, both public and private. But, I make appreciation part of my day to day efforts and, as such, it is programmed in me is part of the natural way that I manage my communities.