A simple moderation process
We’ve been moderators in various communities across the web and IRL. Great moderators interest themselves for healthy, positive, vibrant Community of Practice. After all, being a moderator is an important community role. It influences the culture within a community!
In this post, we generalise our facilitation approach in online Communities of Practice (and share some classic gifs). We follow these steps to find pockets of activity and be responsive to community members.
0. Schedule time for moderation
We’ve often come across organisations or projects that try to do community moderation on the fly. Others say “everyone on Team X is a moderator”, but don’t allow for time to actually do the moderation. Lots of people think that moderation is something that just “happens”. It’s not, moderation needs designated time. Schedule at least a half an hour each week to run through your moderation process. Your community will be a lot more engaged for it!
1. Check for new introductions
Every community should have a place for people to introduce themselves. Whether a forum thread or an #introduction Slack channel, this space helps community members get to know each other.
Provide a prompt to help people introduce themselves. In the Keep Badges Weird community, we ask people to tell the community why they’ve joined and a “weird” tidbit or fact. We check for new introductions and reply to people once they’ve written about themselves. The “weird” tidbit provides for some very interesting initial conversations. Oh, and we issue a badge once people have introduced themselves too!
2. Check for new members
The introduction thread or channel is also a great place to keep track of new members who have joined the community. Depending on where your community is organised, you might also have the ability to see when people join or sign up. The Keep Badges Weird community is on the Participate platform, so moderators can easily see when new folks have joined. We’ve set our notifications to let us know!
Whenever a new member joins your community, take a moment to reach out and welcome them. We send direct messages and ask people to introduce themselves. We’ve written about how important personal invitations are in quick wins to improve participation.
3. Check for comments and shares
Discussions and comment threads might be a bit more sporadic then introductions. Check your community forum and channels for any new discussions, questions or comments. If you have ways for people to submit resources or ideas, you’ll want to check those too!
Use “follow” or “track” functions to allow you to watch discussions so that you don’t miss new messages. People need timely and relevant feedback. It can be disheartening if someone doesn’t receive an answer. Great moderators do their best to make sure that conversations keep moving.
4. Check for event updates
A successful community will have regular events and activities. Get into a habit to make sure the community events calendar is up-to-date. Activities grow as communities do! Setting the habit in the beginning means you’ll have updated information when a lot more of it is flowing at you. It seems simple, but outdated links or text often make it impossible for people to take part in events.
5. Post regularly
There are a lot of different types of content and one or another might work better for your community. Experiment with various formats and ask people for feedback. Share different kinds of information and share early and often. Make a schedule, though, and post on a regular basis. People will get used to seeing moderator posts, and they’ll know that there is momentum in the community.
Moderation is both a science and an art. There are practical tactics and processes you can use to increase participation. There are empathetic behaviours need to help community members feel like they belong. Both are essential for building communities. Be sure and check out our Steps to Success when building a Community of Practice for waaay more tips and tools!