Good Virtual Communities Need Good Moderators (Comment of the Week)

"Goodbye Chouchou" by Loverdag

News that Chouchou plans to leave Second Life due to rampant user-to-user harassment that the owners were unable to curb provoked this blithe, "shit happens" comment from a reader:

There's no such thing as an interactive space open to the public where someone will not be offended by something. Some people are simply unpleasant and others are simply impossible to please. The only way to change this is to change human nature itself, and if you start actively trying to figure out how to do that: you are part of the problem.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of thin skinned people out there.

Han Held's reply to that is worth considering -- not just for Second Life or virtual worlds in general, but pretty much any virtual community:

There's a lot to unpack here, most of it wrong.

1) In the real world, if you "troll" in a club or an art gallery, you will be escorted out. It's the same for most forums; any forum worth spending time on is moderated.

2) Some people are simply unpleasant and others are simply impossible to please.

The first group can -and should- be shown the door, and there's a world of difference between 'impossible to please' versus 'wanting polite, adult behavior in the space we pay $300/USD a month in'.

Frankly, someone paying as much as $300/month deserves 24/7, on-call armed response security from the company. (Premium real world home security systems charge less -- $100/month!)

In any case, Han Held is just getting started:

3) The only way to change this is to change human behavior itself.

Again -- wrong. You change this by having and enforcing a set standard of behavior. In other words -moderation. The fault isn't in expecting civil behavior; the fault lies with the company that charges hundreds of real world dollars but does not give the tools for behavioral moderation that even a $10 PHPBB rental has.

4) and if you start actively trying to figure out how to do that: you are part of the problem.

That sentence literally makes no sense. "If you try to solve the problem, you become the problem" lol que?

5) "Unfortunately, there are a lot of thin skinned people out there." ...and they are not the problem; the folks who come in to disrupt and act badly are the problem.

And there's absolutely no reason that Chouchou should allow it to happen on their dimeBenjamins.

Of course this is hardly a problem known only to Second Life -- Facebook itself is still haplessly struggling to deal with abuse on its own virtual community platform. For decades, Silicon Valley has attempted to offload the need (and cost) of community moderators to user-driven moderation tools, or volunteers, or "AI"-powered moderation systems. But paying a team of highly active, highly skilled, highly human community managers is just the cost of having a healthy social system.

Comments

[Chic Aeon]

Moderation ---

Well that calls for moderators which -- just like the rest of us come with preconceived notions, prejudices and baggage. They are doing a job, not one that I want, but certainly one that is needed. Are they always fair? No, not always -- those "preconceived notions, prejudices and baggage" come into play. They do their best most days I think. We are all of course human.

There was apparently a fair amount of hubbub over at Sansar this last month about "moderation". I can't speak to specifics as I have left the building but when there IS moderation it SHOULD be handed out evenly. I assume most of us can agree to that.

I spend a fair amount of time on the SL forums. Currently I am feeling the pull of vacation time from that. You can only block so many people and then you pretty much miss out on the conversation. Some folks seem to want the spotlight even on a bright sunny day and will do most anything to GET that spotlight (insert sigh and chuckle here).

That being said, I received my first "demerit" at the end of April. This after ten years and 6,600 plus kudos points. Did I deserve that admonition? I am not so sure. I don't remember exactly what I said that was "abusive". I certainly was frustrated with folks coming into the forums and asking the VERY SAME QUESTION that had been asked at least 50 times (maybe a hundred by now) and not bothering to look and see the answer right before their eyes. But it was not a "Interpersonal Disputes or Personal Negative Commentary" as I didn't know the person.

It may have been a difficult day for the moderator -- someone who has in the past given me a fair amount of kudos point. We are ALL human after all. Nicely enough I apparently got off with a warning and no actual demerits. I don't exactly understand how the system work having never received either in the last decade.

What bothers me more than the receiving of a pointed finger shaking is that I see many worse comment that apparently never receive that ruler on the hand slap. I have had people call me a liar outright. They are still there. I have seen huge flame wars with apparently no moderation, no comments removed, no threads closed. It is a very uneven system. So evenness isn't happening in the SL forums.

It is what it is and possibly for some folks the forums are their only means of communicating with others. Most of us will work within the system and do the best we can -- but now and then we DO need breaks from the mayhem.

[Han Held]

Thanks, Hamlet; I'm glad you liked my post. I'm even happier, though, that you saw and amplified one of the points I made ..that if you are paying hundreds of dollars, you shouldn't have to put up with harassment. Or, at least, no one should be surprised when you pull the plug on it.

I also agree that this problem goes far beyond SL. So does the attitude that I have seen in recent years. The attitude of blaming the people being griefed ("they have thin skin") the attitude that any kind of moderation is inherently bad.

The problem with letting those attitudes go unchallenged is that often times the people who espouse those views also seem to make a hobby of ganging up on people who don't share their viewpoints.

Moderation, when it's good, enables conversation and a free exchange of ideas. Places where moderation is absent are usually characterized by opposing viewpoints being drowned out in noise ..."crapflooding", in other words.

Of course, I have my own horror stories of bad moderation, and in my experience moderation works best when it's done by someone who is a part of the community, with a vested interest in keeping things pleasant.

But that wasn't my main point, the main points (at the risk of being redundant) were that if you're paying money you deserve to have tools to manage your experience; it isn't the victims of trolling who are to blame but the trolls and lastly...moderation can be abused (easily!) but it is still a necessary and appropriate part of community management.

[So Many Prims]

The group and community tools have always been lacking. It's amazing that they haven't realised that SL is largely about people and built apps to facilitate communication and support community in-world and outside. Communities and relationships are a large part of what keeps people in SL. It is yet another area of social and technological mismanagement where they have re-invested next to nothing to grow in over 10 years despite it being less technically challenging than other areas and directly tied to their revenue.

[jess]

Yes, make it all bland and boring.

That's what people want.

[Masami Kuramoto]

Linden Lab could have solved the entire harassment/griefer problem years ago by implementing region sharding and selling it as a premium feature.

Here's how that would work: You want to experience a region alone or with your partner or with your closest friends, but without strangers messing the place up? For a reasonable fee you'll get the ability to launch a temporary "read-only" copy (aka. shard) of any region you wish to visit privately!

But it doesn't stop there. You're a musician and it bothers you being unable to perform virtually in front of an audience of more than the usual 80 people per sim? For a reasonable fee you'll get the ability to launch multiple shards of your venue region on demand, with your avatar being projected into each of them!

It's a shame the Lindens never fully understood the potential of their product...