I have been asked about this twice in the last week by aspiring social networking startups. Every so often, the community’s tolerance is tested by a few social aggrevators. These aggrevators feed off the attention that comes from being the odd man out, the one guy that everybody loves to hate. They seem to positioon themselves this way by design, to draw the ire of all the loyal members of the community.
This is where I have to step in.
Community Ownership
Each community is unique, but the common thread between the good communities is the existance of a community conscience. Now this conscience is what often tells the administration when things go wrong within the inner minglings of the website. The administrator can then go back and verify the facts from fiction. When a social networking website is lacking this oversight from the member base is when the administration loses touch with what’s going on. The truth is, unless you have a budget that affords you the luxury of employeeing monitors to watch the website 24/7, there is only one way to know what is going on at all times. That is where your members come into play.
Getting the Members to Buy In
First, your community must strike a chord with its members. Without the passion, you don’t develop fans of the site. Those fans often turn into some of your best members. Secondly, the website has to have a visable ownership presence. In my case, I come in and clean things up on a regular basis but I try to give the community enough room to mature naturally, without turning the whole thing into a dictatorship. Don’t be the babysitter. Define your rules, display them clearly and follow through when people break them. My style is to issue warnings first and then take further action when it become necessary.
How to take action
Regardless of whether your community is built from scratch or a prepackaged solution, make sure IP addresses are recorded when members register. In an open social network, bannished members can rejoin under an assumed name and create more havoc. This doesnt stop the people who go to other computers or have dial-up access. What it does do if this individual is able to change IP address is give a hint as to the location. With the location in hand and mannerisms that mirror prior activity, you can easily build cases against individuals who return to cause more harm. Regardless of what names a perpetrator uses, the mannerisms always mirror each other, it amazing to watch. I guess web habits are hard to break.
If you are building your own product from scratch, design your registration module to block registering members who share an IP address with a member who you have banned. Yeah, you might block some poor innocent soul who had the misfortune of following in the footsteps of bad apple, but its a risk that is definitely worth taking.
Clean Up & Prevention
If members ask why another member was banned, you have to answer honestly. I find it easier to state the violation and move on. I don’t go into deep detail about the punishment. I just make a clear, honest and straightforward statement without getting specific. The one thing you have to prevent is retaliation. If a member is banned for attacking another member and the banned member has close friends still in the community, there is a good chance they will target the subject of the original attack. Taking a clear stance against libel and personal attacks is a good defense against this. This is a part of clearly defining your rules and sticking to your guns.
Running a social networking website is a wonderful adventure that I recommend to anyone out there that identifies a need for a network for specific people. There is a large space out there for niche communities and we’re only in the early stages of the “land claim” for these spaces. With a good plan, a little luck and a loyal membership, you could do amazing things for a community of people out there on the web.
