Community Signal

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has been a frequent topic of conversation on Community Signal. Its existence as we know it seems untenable given Trump's recent executive order and Joe Biden's criticisms of it. On this episode, community and social media professional David Flores shares some of the history of how Section 230 came to be.

David worked at Prodigy just as they were coming under fire for a post that someone left on one of their message boards. While the initial court ruling went against Prodigy and found that online service providers could be held liable for the speech of their users, this decision served as the genesis for Section 230, and the ruling was overturned by the new law.

He also shares how he entered the field of community management and describes navigating moderation at Prodigy in the '80s and '90s. For context, all deleted posts were printed so as to maintain a record. He also discusses conversations with early community platforms and how Prodigy attempted to look after its employees' emotional wellbeing during times of turmoil at work.

Here's more of what Patrick and David discuss:

• What was it like moderating before Section 230?
• Editorial standards as a framework for community moderation practices
• The popularity of Prodigy's message boards

If you enjoy our show, please know that it's only possible with the generous support of our sponsor: Vanilla, a one-stop shop for online community.

The basis for Prodigy's community decision-making (10:28): "[Most of our staff at the time came from the editorial arm of CBS], so they were looking at [moderation] the way you would an editorial decision. What runs in our newspaper? … How do we treat their speech? Is it freedom of speech?" –@dfloresbx

After deciding whether or not to allow the word "suck" on Prodigy's message boards (10:48): "Over time, those standards became both more loose and more restrictive. We were looking at things on a word by word basis and running all the posts through automation and against lists of not just seven dirty words, but more like 77,000 dirty words and trying to figure out what would be appropriate for our audience." –@dfloresbx

Printing out every submission you receive (24:51): "When I got hired [at Prodigy], … part of what they did was have us print every message we rejected. It's possible that when I got there, we were printing everything because there just wasn't that volume, but at a certain point, the volume became such that every post that was rejected needed to be printed, and then you had to mark why it was rejected. The reason being that someone might contact management and say, 'Why was this rejected?' We needed a record." –@dfloresbx

Bringing a moral compass to your moderation standards (45:17): "I use the phrase morally repugnant because that's something that we actually used at Prodigy to say we weren't going to post certain things because they were morally repugnant. … [But now, I go on] Twitter in the morning, there's probably been a tweet by someone overnight, and it's likely to be morally repugnant, and it's just sitting there. Now people are commenting on it, and that's the entire day's focus." –@dfloresbx

The emotional strain of working in community:

"Especially at Prodigy, that was a very intense situation to be in because as a community manager, you're trying to be friendly. You're trying to be helpful. You're trying to relate to the people that you're dealing with. Your favorite moments are when the community responds as a community and does things that really make a difference in their real lives. Conversely, when things go wrong, you're that individual who they turn to and say, 'Well, why did you do that?' … Well, I didn't do that. I'm representing the organization that did. That was a lot of the conflict. Your personal self, your professional self, and then not just professional self, but yourself representing this larger organization." –@dfloresbx (33:25)

"Trump, pandemic, economic disparity, racial injustice, which has existed forever, and then all of those things coming together right here in 2020. It's a unique time. It puts a strain on everything, and it puts a strain on how we see ourselves and the responsibility that we have with the platforms that we manage. I think most of us are doing the best that we can. We can only do the best we can, and we should always be striving to do a little better." –@patrickokeefe (42:50)

David Flores is the director of social media at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. He's also the co-editor of Einstein's blog, The Doctor's Tablet. Prior to Einstein, he worked in various community management and editorial roles at news outlets including Everyday Health, tvguide.com, wsj.com, and Prodigy. He came to the world of online community after a stint as a police reporter in suburban New York after graduating from Fordham University. David lives in the Bronx with his wife, Elaine, and their dog, Dexter.

• Sponsor: Vanilla, a one-stop-shop for online community
• David Flores on Twitter
• Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• The Doctor's Tablet
• David previously worked at Everyday Health, TV Guide, wsj.The Wall Street Journal, and Prodigy
• Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
• Anette Beebe on Community Signal
• Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe Inc.
• Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co.
• The Wolf of Wall Street
• John Coate on Community Signal

• View transcript on our website

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you'd like to share, please leave me a comment, send me an email or a tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported Community Signal on Patreon.

For years, Facebook executives have persistently shut down efforts to make the site less divisive, according to reporting from Deepa Seetharaman and Jeff Horwitz of The Wall Street Journal.

As community professionals, we're tasked with helping people start and participate in conversations that matter to them. We're often held accountable by "engagement" metrics –– such as the number of people participating in conversations and the sentiment surrounding those conversations.

But in this conversation with reporter Jeff Horwitz, you'll learn that while Facebook obviously wants to gain more attention from users and increase time spent on the platform, there's less internal consensus around the ethical dilemma of reaching these engagement goals by amplifying divisive groups and content. Alternatively, a lack of concrete metrics to measure impact is perhaps one of the things stopping Facebook from taking a step back and thinking about how their platform is impacting the world.

Is Facebook already too much of a monolith to change its path? Or is Mark Zuckerberg still not convinced that the company is at the center of a moral dilemma when it comes to polarizing its members and advancing the spread of misinformation?

In this episode of Community Signal, Patrick talks to Jeff about the article and dives into the context surrounding the story learned while talking to Facebook employees. They discuss:

• The engineers that are continuously pushing to build a more fair and just Facebook
• How decision-making works at Facebook
• Why "social good" has fallen out of favor

If you enjoy our show, please know that it's only possible with the generous support of our sponsor: Vanilla, a one-stop shop for online community.

Polarization is being encouraged by Facebook's algorithms (3:15): "[Facebook] found that in some instances, its platform was increasing polarization. … Facebook's algorithms would spit out increasingly divisive content in an effort to boost engagement unless interrupted." –@JeffHorwitz

The impact of delaying tough platform decisions (7:00): "Some of the engineers really regretted that they hadn't been able to take action [against polarization] earlier because if they had, potentially, [Facebook] wouldn't have had this large ecosystem of misinformation and misinformation publishers that actually started defending its own interest. Making those changes once you've already got an established platform and communities on this platform is a lot harder." –@JeffHorwitz

Founders and the C-suite can hold back community initiatives (10:26): "You can't outrun the founders. I've found myself reporting up the chain before to CEOs, COOs, and founders who would continually weaken my initiatives." –@patrickokeefe

Allowing metrics to get in the way of progress (20:11): "If Facebook was asking the question, 'Are we making the world worse?,' how do you even answer that question? Facebook is a very metrics-driven organization, and that was a pretty hard thing to quantify. It was like, if you can't quantify it, then how do you know you've solved it? Thus, if you can't quantify it, maybe we should just move on." –@JeffHorwitz

So, why hasn't Facebook made more substantial changes? (25:26): "It's a product that really does work and it really is successful in just a truly profound way. Making changes to it, I think, is pretty hard. Even if there are so many other ways for Groups to be or for News Feed to be, this is the way that has built Facebook into a wild, almost unparalleled success. Why would you give that up?" –@JeffHorwitz

Jeff Horwitz is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal focusing on Facebook. Before joining The Wall Street Journal, he was an investigative reporter for the Associated Press.

• Sponsor: Vanilla, a one-stop shop for online community
• Jeff Horwitz on Twitter
• Facebook Executives Shut Down Efforts to Make the Site Less Divisive by Jeff Horwitz and Deepa Seetharaman for The Wall Street Journal
• Investments to Fight Polarization by Guy Rosen, VP of Integrity at Faceboook
• Community builder Derek Powazek's take on why Facebook hasn't implemented substantial changes
• Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
• Away's founders sold a vision of travel and inclusion, but former employees say it masked a toxic work environment by Zoe Schiffer for The Verge
• Facebook will pay $52 million in settlement with moderators who developed PTSD on the job by Casey Newton for The Verge
• Patrick's Twitter thread about this story
• Howard Rheingold on Community Signal
• Support peace and healing for Darnella Frazier
• Chris Cox, chief product officer at Facebook
• Zuckerberg Lieutenant Returns to Facebook, a Year After Departure by Jeff Horwitz for The Wall Street Journal
• Twitter Refutes Inaccuracies in Trump's Tweets About Mail-In Voting by Davey Alba and Kate Conger for The New York Times
• Many Facebook employees think the company needs to stand up to Trump now more than ever by Shirin Ghaffary for Recode
• Reporting by Jeff Horwitz for The Wall Street Journal

• View transcript on our website

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you'd like to share, please leave me a comment, send me an email or a tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported Community Signal on Patreon.

Black Lives Matter.

As community professionals and hosts, we have the power to cultivate thoughtful spaces online. We serve communities and, if you're a regular listener of this show, I doubt you're serving racists.

Systemic problems can feel overwhelming, but small things make a difference. Your community and how you manage it, regardless of the size of it, can be a part of the solution. I encourage you to think about that as you make choices that shape these platforms.

On May 28, a couple of days after Twitter added a fact-checking notice to one of his tweets, Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting online communities and platforms.

I believe that holding Trump accountable for his rhetoric and fighting white supremacy are the same fight. This executive order is designed to stop you, me, and big platforms from doing exactly that. On this episode, we're talking with attorney Anette Beebe about the resulting fallout and answering some of your questions.

Among our topics:

• What damage has Trump's executive order done already?
• How does this impact community moderation right now?
• The publisher vs. platform "debate"
• Does adding notices to content make you liable?

If you enjoy our show, please know that it's only possible with the generous support of our sponsor: Vanilla, a one-stop shop for online community.

The importance of being able to hold Trump accountable for his tweets (1:13): "I believe that holding Trump accountable for his rhetoric and fighting white supremacy are the same fight." –@patrickokeefe

Content moderation is hard (9:37): "It's very tough to get content moderation right 100% of the time. It's very subjective. We have to remember that these platforms, a lot of the big ones especially, aren't just operating here in the U.S. They're global. Global norms may be very different from what we're used to here in the United States." –@anette_beebe

Fact-checking notices don't impact Section 230 (21:02): "Section 230 has always been about reducing liability or immunizing platforms from putting stuff up or taking stuff down. Adding more speech, [like Twitter did with its fact-checking notices], takes it away from Section 230 and starts getting into your First Amendment.

… Obviously, what the president tweeted out, talking about mail-in ballots, that's where it started. [Twitter can] have a different opinion that, 'No, this isn't likely to cause fraud.' What would someone sue for? Having a difference of opinion? That's their First Amendment right. They can have a difference of opinion against the president. Thank you for living in the U.S. This is what we can do here." –@anette_beebe

Editing content can cause issues (23:32): "Editing can [open you up to liability] if it's materially contributing to the content or materially altering it. Removing a link isn't materially altering it necessarily. I haven't seen any cases where that has been an issue. There may be a Section 230 case that I'm just unaware of, but I've never seen that be an issue or fixing capitalization, some of those basic editorial things that one would do. Those have always been fine. It's when you change 'is a bad guy' to 'is not a bad guy.' That would be materially contributing." –@anette_beebe

Study is needed prior to legislation (31:35): "I have not seen any empirical studies done that would suggest, one way or another, that the [Section 230] harms we hear about, they're so big that this is actually a huge issue. We're on a 24-hour news cycle and people love dirty laundry.

… How many issues are there really? Versus how much we're perceiving it's a big issue because we're hearing about it all the time? I would love to see some studies done that actually weigh these types of issues out so we can make better-informed decisions before we just put pen to paper and start legislating things without really having a full understanding." –@anette_beebe

Anette Beebe has worked in the legal field for over 21 years, spending close to eight years as in-house counsel, now general counsel for Xcentric Ventures, which operates one of the oldest consumer complaint forums, RipoffReport.com. Anette formed a solo practice in late 2012 that caters primarily to businesses that operate online and individuals who have concerns about online content. In her spare time, she works to educate youth and adults about repercussions from internet use through public speaking and online courses through her company, Smarter Internet Use, and blogs about fighting fair on the internet.

In April of 2019, she was involved with efforts to maintain the Texas Citizens Participation Act, the Texas anti-SLAPP law, and had a hand in the redraft of the modified law. Anette is a member of the internet Lawyers Leadership Summit Group, a co-chair of the Digital Communications Committee within the American Bar Association's Forum on Communications Law, a member of the First Amendment Coalition and a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

• Sponsor: Vanilla, a one-stop shop for online community
• Twitter labels Trump tweets with a fact check for the first time
• Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship
• Previous Community Signal episodes discussing Section 230: perspectives from community pros and hosts, Patrick and Scott Moore, David Greene, and Eric Goldman
• Anette Beebe
• Community Signal's call out for questions for this episode
• Amanda Petersen's response to the call out
• Eric Goldman, law professor at Santa Clara University and previous guest on the show
• Eric Goldman's deep dive into the executive order
• The text of Section 230
• Ravelry bans pro-Trump content
• Details about FOSTA-SESTA, legislation aimed at sex trafficking
• The first Trump tweet to receive Twitter's fact-checking notice
• Tweet from Kevin Poulsen about how Twitter wouldn't be able to host Trump without Section 230
• Joe Biden and Trump saying they want to revoke 230
• Breakdown of Herrick v. Grindr ruling

• View transcript on our website

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you'd like to share, please leave me a comment, send me an email or a tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported Community Signal on Patreon.

People have gotten crafty when it comes to staying connected during this time of social distancing. Zoom calls with family and friends, Animal Crossing weddings, and drive-through birthday parties are just a few of the ways we're showing up for the people we care about. HER, a dating and social app for LGBTQ+ womxn and queer people, is also doing its part to foster safe socializing for its community. That said, you might say this comes as first nature to HER, because safety has always been a must when it comes to representing and providing a space for their members.

In this episode of Community Signal, HER's head of community, Shana Sumers, discusses the recent changes that have been made to help community members stay connected during the pandemic. She also shares some of the tools and policies that keep members of HER safe from scams and persecution because of their sexual identity or gender orientation.

Patrick and Shana also discuss:

• How community moderators make a difference on HER
• Reasons why members find value in HER even after finding a partner through the community
• Delivering a premium and safe experience on HER without forcing everyone to pay a premium
• Why the 40+ community is Shana's favorite on the app

If you enjoy our show, please know that it's only possible with the generous support of our sponsor: Discourse.

When you happen upon a scammer meeting (12:47): "It's almost like [scammers] have a room where they have figured it all out. … We've even caught some of our scammers having conversations with each other when they figure out there's code words that they have. It's just a whole mastermind process." –@shanahasatwitr

Ensuring the safety of HER's LGBTQ+ community (18:44): "We're available in [about] 113 countries worldwide, but we [also pay attention to] where it's still illegal to be an out LGBTQ+ person and where people get highly prosecuted. … We wanted to be sure that the app was available in places that it was safe. If you were comfortable enough to come onto the app and show your face, that that's because you were in an area where you can, and if you didn't, that you have the option to be able to with our incognito mode." –@shanahasatwitr

Why building your brand and profile on HER could lead to more dates (26:35): "[We saw adding posts to your profile] as a way to hold people accountable, [but it's also] a way for you to build your brand and make yourself seem more appealing to the community, which would then lead to more likes, more messages, and hopefully more dates." –@shanahasatwitr

Fostering inclusivity for the HER community (36:27): "Our community is so intersectional that we want to be able to find ways that everybody can feel represented. Even though we do have a big group of people who identify as lesbian or bisexual, it's not far off to have people who are identifying as non-binary and we want to be sure that all of those are represented, all of those fit, and thankfully, the profiles give us a lot of data in that area so we can continue to adjust and make sure that people are seeing things that make them feel like they are part of the community." –@shanahasatwitr

Shana Sumers is a black, queer womxn, who is the head of community for HER App, the largest social and dating app for LGBTQ+ womxn and queer people. With a community of over five million users worldwide, Shana has worked from the ground up to launch and grow a community that supports the wants and needs for this rainbow-filled group. Online communities, in-person events, social media, content creation, email marketing and customer support are just scratching the surface of skills utilized by Shana on a day to day basis.

• Sponsor: Discourse, civilized discussion for teams, customers, fans, and communities
• Shana Sumers on Twitter
• The HER App
• Incognito mode has arrived
• HER's community guidelines
• HER premium
• We Met on HER
• COPPA: Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule
• Shana's podcast: Bad Queers

• View transcript on our website

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you'd like to share, please leave me a comment, send me an email or a tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported Community Signal on Patreon.

We're several months into the COVID-19 pandemic and the daily loss of lives is still devastating and the longterm effects on our communities and society as a whole have yet to be seen. For many of us, the pandemic has affected our routines, our families, our work, and our livelihood. While some online communities have seen more engagement from community members (I love this story that mentions how Ethel's Club pivoted from a brick and mortar social club to an online one), we're also seeing tremendous layoffs across all industries.

Amidst all of this and despite being just a few months old, Pandora's community is aspiring to be a space where members can connect over music and everything impacting their lives right now. In this episode, community manager Erick Linares shares the strategy behind the launch of the Pandora community and how he's working with his team to foster great conversations.

Patrick and Erick also discuss:

• Why Erick thinks a superuser program will be integral to the Pandora community
• The challenge of making the case for a new community during the COVID-19 pandemic
• How the mentorship Erick received at Fitbit propelled his career growth and how he's paying it forward

If you enjoy our show, please know that it's only possible with the generous support of our sponsor: Discourse.

Turning question-askers into conversation starters (14:45): "When we respond as moderators, we have a signature that says, 'Come share your playlist with me in the playlist swap.' [With small things like that] we're trying to drive engagement [so that members don't simply] ask a question and then bounce out because that's not actually engagement, that's just coming in and asking a question and then waiting for your answer and never coming back." –@thegateceo

Creating authentic conversations with your community (16:35): "[We don't just create content that says] 'Hey, go listen to our podcast' or 'Go listen to our playlist that we've created as Pandora.' We're being very personable. Some of the posts that we've created on the community are like, 'How are you dealing with COVID-19 anxiety?' Then [I share how I am] actually coping with it and how my employees are coping with it. … These are the types of conversations that are going to help our users want to engage with us and be very personable and not to only think of this as a support space or a space for Pandora, but a space where they can actually share their own experiences." –@thegateceo

What makes a great boss? (36:22): "The difference between a good boss and a great boss is having someone who looks out for your career beyond what you can do for them in this moment." –@patrickokeefe

In December of 2014, Erick Linares took on a role at Fitbit as a customer support specialist and wore many hats during his tenure. Erick grew from a support specialist to community and social support specialist to transitioning to the community team manager of the Fitbit community, under the leadership of Allison Leahy.

In March of 2019, Erick took the leap to Pandora as community manager to begin the efforts of building the totally new Pandora Community, which launched in September of 2019. In addition to his community role, Erick also oversees the social care programs for both Pandora and SiriusXM.

Erick lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is passionate about all things music as he's earned a Bachelor's degree in sound arts. Prior to working at Fitbit, Erick ran live sound for the San Francisco 49ers during their inaugural season at Levi's Stadium.

• Sponsor: Discourse, civilized discussion for teams, customers, fans, and communities
• Erick Linares' website
• Erick Linares on LinkedIn
• Pandora Community
• Pandora and SiriusXM
• Fitbit, where Erick previously worked
• Allison Leahy, formerly of Fitbit, on Community Signal
• The Khoros online community platform
• The Pandora Help Site
• Pandora's Playlist Swap
• Pandora's Music Genome Project
• Pandora's Getting to Know You Playlist Challenge
• SiriusXM is trialing free streaming until May 15th

• View transcript on our website

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you'd like to share, please leave me a comment, send me an email or a tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported Community Signal on Patreon.

Nicholas Tolstoshev is talking programs. Brand representative programs, where brands pay you for access to your community. Ambassador programs, where you reward your best contributors. And empathy programs, where you help your coworkers see things from the eyes of your members and customers.

This discussion also ends on a note that we probably all need to hear right now, and that's the importance of leaning on and being honest with each other about our shared challenges of navigating life and work during the pandemic. Nicholas shares how he has worked to start these honest and difficult conversations at Automox. Here's to workplaces that are being encouraging and understanding during these difficult times.

Patrick and Nicholas also discuss:

• Building ambassador programs and empathy programs to strengthen communities
• Empowering community members to create and moderate conversations of their own
• How Nicolas cultivates the internal employee community at Automox

If you enjoy our show, please know that it's only possible with the generous support of our sponsor: Discourse.

Balancing your brand ambassador program (11:33): "[When creating a brand ambassador program], you've got to balance the rewards versus what [the ambassadors are] doing. You don't want to either over or under reward and then have to course-correct later because much like having something be free and then charging for it, that's always a hard thing to overcome." –@tolstoshev

Empowering your users to build their own communities (27:50): "If you don't make room for people to have [unofficial] conversations on your own site, it's not going to stop them from having those conversations. They're just going to go have them somewhere else. That was the lesson that an early mentor of mine drummed into me. Be part of the conversation and the best way to do that is to make a place for it. If somebody has already made a place for it, then go meet them where they are." –@tolstoshev

The positive effects of community during the pandemic (40:10): "Since the pandemic hit … I was finding myself stuck at home and feeling isolated and depressed and not having much motivation to work. I had the idea to do this program where a small group of us get together and just share what's going on and what's frustrating in their lives. ... It was a huge benefit for me. I rolled this out to the rest of the company and fortunately, the execs saw the benefit in doing it. It's been rewarding to build community internally within the company and help people get through such a difficult time." –@tolstoshev

Nicholas Tolstoshev is a sysadmin turned community manager having worked on technical communities for Intuit, Spiceworks, Webroot, LogRhythm, and currently Automox. He also launched Growers Network, a community in the cannabis space.

• Sponsor: Discourse, civilized discussion for teams, customers, fans, and communities
• Nicholas Tolstoshev on LinkedIn
• Nicholas has managed communities for Intuit, Spiceworks, Webroot, LogRhythm, and currently Automox
• Growers Network, a community in the cannabis space
• Sean Dahlberg on Community Signal
• The Spiceworks brand representative program
• The unofficial Spiceworks Discord
• Meetup wants to charge users $2 just to RSVP for events — and some are furious (via The Verge)
• BoardReader

• View transcript on our website

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you'd like to share, please leave me a comment, send me an email or a tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported Community Signal on Patreon.

Every community has its own shared language and for the Spiceworks community, that shared language revolves around IT. Made up of IT professionals and service providers that support them, the Spiceworks community convenes to share their collective expertise and find solutions.

In this episode of Community Signal, Sean Dahlberg, director of community at Spiceworks, shares how his team approaches community management and how they ensure that the community continues to offer value to its members, even as the company endures organizational change. Spiceworks was acquired last year by Ziff Davis and co-founder Jay Hallberg rcently announced his resignation. In response, Sean says that he and his team have prioritized being as open and honest with the community as possible in an effort to avoid rumors and reassure the community that the company is still committed to offering value to its members.

Sean and Patrick also discuss:

• Sean's transition from the Marine Corps, to the gaming industry, to Spiceworks
• The pepper scale system, which allows Spiceworks members to level up based on their specific area of expertise
• How Sean balanced the needs of Star Wars fans and MMORPG players

If you enjoy our show, please know that it's only possible with the generous support of our sponsor: Discourse.

Highlighting expertise in the Spiceworks community (20:16): "We use what we call the pepper scale system. You get points for engaging the community. Everyone starts as a little Pimento, and you can work your way up to Pure Capsaicin. One of the challenges with that is we have individuals who are up at Ghost Chili, Thai Pepper, even Pure Capsaicin and, when they're making posts, people are automatically giving it an assumption of expertise. The challenge there is with IT professionals, there's so many avenues, there's so much technology, technology is changing so much that just because I'm a Pure Capsaicin, that just means I post a lot. [We started a new status system, which] gives you a level expertise [based on those] different technology areas. I could be an expert when it comes to Active Directory, but I may know nothing at all when it comes to Linux. Now that's highlighted on my profile, but also in the topics themselves." –@ashentemper

Making the most of your data resources (34:05): "I used to be a front end developer myself. I know a little SQL. Don't ever hire me for it. We do data downloads, every day, of what's going on with the community. I was running my own reports in spreadsheets. One of our business analysts came by one day, and they saw this Excel sheet with 50 tabs, doing all these weird things. They're like, 'What are you doing?' I said, 'This is showing my first-time posters. This is showing my retention rate based off of the different pepper levels.' I guess they were so insulted about how bad these Excel sheets were that they actually went and built the real dashboards [for me]." –@ashentemper

The importance of anonymity for some community managers (42:20): "Back when I just started community management, at least in the game industry, you didn't use your [real] name. Part of the reason was fear of people coming and finding you and putting pies in your face. [Once], a user found the office and had a VHS of just videos of someone getting a pie in their face for 40 minutes. Then, at the end of it, said 'see you soon.' You never use your real name. If you go look at the game industry, especially back in the early 2000s, everyone had these weird [usernames]." –@ashentemper

Sean Dahlberg is the director of community for a vertical network dedicated to technology professionals called Spiceworks. He attended nine different schools growing up while living in various parts of the globe, joined the U.S. Marine Corps, and transitioned from there into the massively multiplayer online game development industry and now to working in the B2B technology space.

• Sponsor: Discourse, civilized discussion for teams, customers, fans, and communities
• Sean Dahlberg on Twitter
• Sean's website
• Spiceworks
• Spiceworks co-founder Jay Hallberg announces his resignation
• Ziff Davis, the company that acquired Spiceworks
• Nic, the senior community manager for Automox and a former community professional at Spiceworks
• The Spiceworks Partner program
• Trivia Crack
• Submit A Ticket, Spiceworks' webcomic
• Star Wars: The Old Republic
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

• View transcript on our website

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you'd like to share, please leave me a comment, send me an email or a tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported Community Signal on Patreon.

We started recording this episode about a week before its release, and since then, coronavirus COVID-19 has continued to spread across the globe. News and governmental guidance is being updated frequently and people in many regions are being mandated to stay home as much as possible in an effort to help flatten the curve.

The pandemic has obviously impacted online communities, too. In this episode of Community Signal, I (Carol), along with community professionals Serena Snoad and Rose Barrett share our communities have changed in recent weeks. But amongst the three of us, there was a common theme –– the work of maintaining our communities as sources of helpful and reliable information is more important than ever.

If you have a story to share about how your community has been impacted, we'd love to hear from you. But most of all, we hope that you are well, practicing social distancing, and doing your part to stay at home as much as you can.

Here's some of what you'll find in this episode:

• How we can help restaurants and food industry professionals as they brace for the impact of the pandemic
• Tips from a remote work community on how to adapt to working out of your home
• Evaluating misinformation about COVID-19 and maintaining your community as a space for accurate information

If you enjoy our show, please know that it's only possible with the generous support of our sponsor: Discourse.

The shifting conversations in the Zagat community (2:50): "Instead of sharing food photos and where we're going out to eat, we're talking about buying gift cards for where we're getting meal delivery from." – @CarAnnBen

Restaurants and food industry companies are making adjustments (4:06): "A lot of folks I know in catering are actually shifting towards delivering individual meals or thinking about how they can serve individual customers as opposed to bigger events. [One friend] started delivering seasoning salts. She's sharing recipes online. I think it's forcing [the food industry] or encouraging them to interact with their customers and community in a different way." –@CarAnnBen

How you can support your favorite restaurants (4:50): "Order delivery if the restaurants are still open. Remember to tip the delivery workers very generously. A lot of restaurants offer gift cards. I'd recommend calling or checking their website to see if you can get one from them directly. Then also just check on social media. Many restaurants are offering meals to people in the community at a reduced cost or for free, while they can, for people in need. That's been great to see from the restaurant side as well. Just get in touch with them, see if they're still open, and ask if there are ways that you can support directly." –@CarAnnBen

Creating a separation between home and work, if you're new to working from home (13:01): "Even if you're working from the house, just get up and actually leave the house, go for a little walk. It might be a minute around the block and then come back or [practice] other rituals, whatever works for you. For me, I have the habit of getting up in the morning, making my coffee, and watching a talk on YouTube [or a] TED Talk. Then I get my headphones on and start listening to some ambient music. That really helps me get into the headset that I'm starting my workday. [And] for parents, it's having conversations with the kids, around 'mom or dad is actually working.'" –@RemoteRose

Rooting out misinformation (26:44): "We are taking a harder line on handling [information related to COVID-19] where it's clear that the source is unknown. Particularly, when you're a health charity, when you are supporting people who are affected by a condition that could affect their cognition, I think you have to be very careful. With dementia, somebody could have difficulties with being able to process information and they may not be taking those steps to consider the source of information and where it's come from." –@serenastweeting

• Carol Benovic-Bradley, freelance community strategist, currently with Zagat in the United States
• Rose Barrett, from Ireland, co-founder of Grow Remote, a nonprofit with a mission to make remote work local
• Serena Snoad, online community manager at Alzheimer's Society, a charity in the United Kingdom

• Sponsor: Discourse, civilized discussion for teams, customers, fans, and communities
• Information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the World Health Organization
• Carol Benovic-Bradley
• Zagat
• We Support
• Randwiches
• Help Us Help The Restaurant Community by Zagat and the Infatuation
• Rose Barrett on Twitter
• Grow Remote
• ChangeX
• Serena Snoad
• Alzheimer's Society Forum
• CIPR (Chartered Institute for Public Relations)
• The Simplest Way to Spot Coronavirus Misinformation on Social Media, by Will Oremus

• View transcript on our website

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you'd like to share, please leave me a comment, send me an email or a tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported Community Signal on Patreon.

As community professionals, the array of platforms, reading material, conferences, and thought leaders available to us only continues to grow. And if you've read or written a job description for a community opportunity recently, you know that there's often an expectation around technical literacy for everyone in the field.

In a time when a lot of our day-to-day takes place in front of a screen, I felt a little punch in the gut while listening to this episode of Community Signal, when I learned that John Coate, an early community manager, had no knowledge of the tools available when he first started at The WELL. In fact, he says that his first day on the job was the first day that he sat down in front of a computer!

So, why was I surprised? Has our industry placed too much influence on speaking engagements, platform knowledge, and revenue-focused metrics instead of the values and actual community-related experience that should govern our work? As John puts it, "computers are just a way to connect people. Never forget that you're talking to real people, and it's good to treat them as if you really are in the same room with them." Sounds simple, but imagine if platforms like Facebook or Twitter followed this golden rule. We'd have a much different internet today. Patrick and John discuss this exact point and the work that John is doing to get us there. Because not surprisingly, the values that guided his work at The WELL 35 years ago are the same ones we need to call upon today.

John and Patrick also talk about:

• How tools like Facebook and Twitter have changed the way that we communicate with one another
• John's transition from auto mechanic to online community manager
• The movement to decentralize the internet
• Metrics based on relationships, sentiment, and factual statements within the community

If you enjoy our show, please know that it's only possible with the generous support of our sponsor: Discourse.

The "online gift economy" that The WELL helped create (8:14): "The WELL, because of its open nature and desire to experiment, opened up chunks of the operating system for programmers to actually play with and make little utilities for the people as a way of practicing. There was this maker culture going on at the same time. As Howard Rheingold put it once, it was where the tool makers meet the tool users. In addition to being a place where people can converse, it was also a kind of birthplace of a sort of online gift economy." -John Coate

Is web rage the new road rage? (15:15): "Just the other day, I was thinking that in a way, [web rage is] not too unlike road rage, where you can yell at somebody in the car that cut you off … knowing that it's almost certain they're not going to stop and make you get out of your car and work it out with them physically. It's safe. … [Online], it is kind of a power spot that you're sitting in. This becomes part of your identity and you're confident and you say things and some people can too easily go about that in an ill-considered way, forgetting that if you were face-to-face with somebody in the same room, you would factor that into however you talk to them." -John Coate

Don't forget, there are still people new to online gatherings (16:35): "Amazingly enough, there are a lot of people who are still kind of new to online gatherings where groups try to come together in one form or another. The main thing is to remind people that the computers are just a way to connect people. Never forget that you're talking to real people and it's good to treat them as if you really are in the same room with them and you're talking directly to them and do the best you can to sort of simulate mentally some feeling of that if you can pull it off, which is not exactly that simple. I think it takes practice but I think it's easy enough to imagine, even if you haven't really done it that much. It did take me a while to learn it frankly." -John Coate

On creating your own online experience (25:50): "I think it should never be forgotten by anybody that even though the internet is dominated by Facebook, Amazon, all the big guys, all the big organizations, that doesn't have to dominate your experience. You can still find, I think, almost anything you want out there if you look for it long enough and far enough or if somebody turns you on to something." -John Coate

John Coate started in online community work at the beginning of 1986 at The WELL in Sausalito, California. As marketing director, he focused on the user base developing relationships with each other as the basis of the community.

In 1994, he co-founded sfgate.com. As general manager until 2001, he and his team pioneered a number of innovations, many of which are now standard features on most news websites. He also spent time at gaming company Sulake and worked as an in-game adult supervisor in their avatar-based world of Habbo Hotels.

Since 2015, Mr. Coate has been working with Edgeryders, teaching online community creation and management of workshops and managing portions of European Commission funded projects around the future of the internet and the rise of populism in Europe. In particular, he hosts and manages the Edgeryders forum, Internet of Humans, as part of the larger next-generation internet initiative known as NGI Forward. Another project, The Reef, studies a deep green co-housing and co-working space.

Edgeryders is an organization and community that acts as a talent pool for social benefit projects. They also work with the Swedish group that operates a large co-working creative space on the waterfront in Stockholm called Blivande.

• Sponsor: Discourse, civilized discussion for teams, customers, fans, and communities
• John Coate's website
• The WELL, where John was employee #2 and an early community manager
• A friend of the show, Chrispian Burks, is recovering from a heart attack. If you're able, please consider donating towards his recovery costs. Patrick is offering a 30-minute consultation call to anyone that donates $100 or more.
• SFGate, where John served as general manager
• Game company Sulake and Habbo Hotels
• Edgeryders and its forum, Internet of Humans
• NGI (Next Generation Internet) Forward
• Blivande
• The Farm, where John Coate and Matthew McClure first met
• Whole Earth Catalog
• Howard Rheingold, an early, active member of the WELL and a past guest on the show
• Bruce Sterling on the State of the World 2020
• Discourse, the platform on which Edgeryders hosts its community
• Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
• Karateforums.com turns 19 this year!
• Secure Scuttlebutt, a peer-to-peer communication protocol
• Sarah Hawk, VP of community at Discourse
• Patrick's book, Managing Online Forums
• The Virtual Community by Howard Rheingold
• Derek Powazek, author of Design for Community
• Game designer, entrepreneur, and startup coach Amy Jo Kim
• Rebecca Newton, founder of Virtual Community Summit
• Community Signal episode discussing cultural anthropology
• IMDb Shuts Down its Discussion Boards

• View transcript on our website

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you'd like to share, please leave me a comment, send me an email or a tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported Community Signal on Patreon.