24
votes
Accepted
The community is calling for a specific user to be suspended, but I don't feel they deserve the suspension. How do I handle the situation?
Consider these two points:
If you let the community decide who gets kicked out, you have a popularity contest or mob rule.
If your site has moderators, it's because they have been entrusted to care ...
- 10.7k
21
votes
What should we do to reduce the risk of a Reddit-like crisis?
I've been a user of reddit and various Stack Exchange sites for a while now, and I've been following the reddit "Amageddon"(sic) thing with interest, and I did wonder whether Stack Exchange could have ...
- 311
15
votes
How do you handle community backlash over an incorrect action taken by a moderator?
It should mostly go like this:
Reverse the call
Apologize to the affected parties
If necessary and possible, explain the reasons for your actions
Moderate the backslash itself
I think point 4 is ...
- 544
10
votes
How do you handle community backlash over an incorrect action taken by a moderator?
It's important to come to an agreement as a mod team first. If the acting mod doesn't feel what they did was unwarranted, you've got bigger troubles than community reaction. Get it sorted out before ...
- 414
9
votes
What should we do to reduce the risk of a Reddit-like crisis?
As an Encyclopedia Dramatica SysOP and forum moderator my advice would be:
Always be sincere to your userbase
Don't treat them like children
If appropriate, do a full disclosure
Honesty is really ...
- 337
9
votes
The community is calling for a specific user to be suspended, but I don't feel they deserve the suspension. How do I handle the situation?
I wanted to add to these answers and point out that it's a very bad idea to let users rally against a specific user. More often than not, this starts as just one or two users who've noticed something ...
- 1,116
8
votes
Accepted
My community has just had a major, divisive fight; how can I as a moderator move it forward?
The basic thing is to reach resolution. You can't please everyone, and there would always be those who wanted things to go this way and not that way.
The staff and moderation team should pick the ...
- 1,024
5
votes
As a community member, how can I mitigate backlash caused by an unintended breaking change?
It's a tough situation since you have some trusty information. You know that the changes are about to be changed. I don't know where you have this information from, therefore I'll offer you a two-way-...
- 3,795
5
votes
How do I deal with users complaining after my forum/site/chat was down for reasons beyond my control?
If your site isn't for the monetary gain of the users, and they're not paying customers, then treat the complaints as a complement of sorts: people really like your site and miss it when it's down. ...
- 151
3
votes
How to encourage constructive discussion regarding major change/updates to a popular feature?
There are a few ways going about this, but they all include being up-front with the users and maybe taking some heat for it. After all, any change breaks someone's workflow.
Ask for Suggestions
"How ...
- 1,358
2
votes
How do you handle community backlash over an incorrect action taken by a moderator?
Sometimes people on the team make mistakes. As an example, I used to moderate a video game server, and on a couple of occasions, users were banned/suspended by individuals from the administrative team ...
- 341
2
votes
The community is calling for a specific user to be suspended, but I don't feel they deserve the suspension. How do I handle the situation?
Typically, I'd hope that the system you're moderating is one that has
multiple moderators
a means for those moderators to communicate away from the eyes of the public.
The situation you're ...
- 129
1
vote
What should we do to reduce the risk of a Reddit-like crisis?
Let's take the example of Stack Exchange: I think there is no risk of a "Reddit-like" crisis on Stack Exchange. The reason is that Reddit is rather unessential, whereas Stack Exchange has become an ...
- 119
1
vote
My community has just had a major, divisive fight; how can I as a moderator move it forward?
Reconcile, consolidate, and resolve. You want to look at the reasons why your members should continue to be active in your community, and then gently suggest these ideas to each party. You must then ...
- 557
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible