DygiScape

WaPo + Anonymous Comments = Lockdown

One of the largest newspapers in the mid-Atlantic, Washington Post (WaPo), will be making an important decision with regard to their commenting infrastructure and essentially their online community. More »

Big Business VS. Small(er) Business

Having come from a large corporate empire to a smaller, mid-sized company, I’ve seen a lot of polar opposites when it comes to getting work done. Read on for a side-by-side comparison of these two work environments. More »

YouTube Changes TOS in Favor of Tenured Users (But I Disagree.)

YouTube recently announced a few changes in their Terms of Service (TOS) enforcement for misbehaving users. The changes will affect a lot of users in the way they are sanctioned for inappropriate activity. More »

The Casualties of Anonymous Communities

In the past week or so, there was an instance of a criminal act of posting ads for Craigslist readers to raid an unsuspecting person’s house (for free items). Today, there was another similar instance of this activity. What is causing this, are Anonymous Communities to blame? More »

Some Thoughts on Community Moderation

It’s probably a good time that I share my thoughts on the tireless debate surrounding online community moderation of user contributed content — what works, what doesn’t and what the future holds for moderation of the Web. More »

19 Moments of Online Protests — “Users Have Power, Too.”

One topic bounced through my head was about the power of users — a community — forged against challenges thrust upon them. I’ll take a look at 19 moments in Internet history where users have fought back against ‘the man’ and have won (and for some, lost).

More »

Social Media Frustrations: Trolls, Psychos and Haters

Continuing my mini-series on social media frustrations, this entry is focused solely on the crowd that disrupts online communities, stalks innocent users, and always seem to never seem run out of vitriol or other vile spew to spray all over online communities. I break them up into three categories: Trolls, Psychos and Haters.

More »

If Meetings at Work Became More Like the Web

I saw this video a while back, but it’s worth re-posting. This video mocks the behaviors of online forums.
Warning: Some NSFW material:

What Can WoW Teach Us About Community?

I haven’t purchased World of Warcraft yet, but a columnist for Venturebeat shares her observations as her husband and brother-in-law talked about the game. I found her account interesting and has a couple tips for new WoW users.

When a new player starts playing WoW, they must understand that there is a learning curve and need to adjust to new environments. Essentially, show some humility and be willing to learn.

Help others first before asking (or expecting) help. While you may be new, you can certainly bring many qualities to a team that they might not know. For example, if you aren’t the best fighter, be a good resource and stay on the look out for enemies.

Online community is the same. You can’t just show up at a new community and start ratting off things you hate about them, or they should do something else. You need to observe and take in the dynamics of the community then ease yourself into them. It’s good to have something to offer in the way of knowledge or expertise so they value you right away, but this isn’t necessary as if you ask questions, that can contribute to the discussions.

Be a good leader. While some communities online are “hosted,” it doesn’t make it better. If you take the initiative to inspire and encourage others to manage themselves and let their creatively expand — the community as a whole grows. As you lead others, they will lead others, and others will lead others. It’s a win-win situation for all.

I observed via my friend Rachel, she is a major WoW fanatic — but she is committed to her online teammates, as if they were right next door. This sense of commitment is necessary for her team to stay alive and prosper. Much like online communties, if no one respects it or is willing to “take one for the team,” then it will collapse.

Anyhow, that’s my thoughts on it. I’ll probably join WoW soon. We’ll see.

Digg Users Fight Back (and Win)!

Some of you may have heard about the recent drama that occurred on the popular social news website, Digg. Well, I’ll share my two cents about it, at least from my perspective with community management.

Essentially it started out when there was a story about decoding HD-DVD with a code (hex characters). The social news service was issued multiple cease-and-desist orders to remove those stories. In response, Digg momentarily shut the site down to remove the said stories that users posted. It didn’t stop there.

Once the site was re-opened, users grew infuriated. A mass of users was commenting on every story they could find in an effort to raise the awareness of Digg’s actions. Since the crowd spread the word virally, it was only a matter of minutes before the front page was sacked with anti-Digg and HD-DVD anti-piracy code related stories.

I thought the community reaction was amazing. For all this time, I figured people practically pledged allegiance to Digg considering there were numerous other pro-Digg stories in the past that garnered thousands of Diggs.

As you would expect, the crowd (or rather, mob) won. In a statement [blog posting] by Kevin Rose, he concedes his position in a unusual PR-style in his blog. He appeased the angry mob, while explaining why Digg removed such stories. This proved valuable since he communicated with his users.

The Consumerist has more details on this, in a live-blog style with before and after screenshots. As you can see, users were peeved.

So I thought, what if the users I manage did this to me — convince the crowd to fight back against the enforcement or removal of content? I firmly believe that it is about expectations that are set. The users don’t expect stories that are “grey-area” illegal to be removed. This conflict of interest between Digg’s legal/business needs and the users’ interest for technology has climaxed with this event.

Another thought comes the legality issue. Why would Digg be held responsible for their user’s content? Could they really be shut down? In a legal precedent in the past, AOL was found not legally responsible if users author offensive content. I’m no legal expert, but as long as reasonable action is taken, then the provider can not be held responsible. The users are.

I suggest that Digg re-evaluate their Terms of Service/Acceptable Use Policy, making clear some expectations regarding removal of stories. Then, to remind the users of the changes, make an informative blog posting on why the changes were made and send a message to users after they sign in about the changes in the TOS/AUP.

The fault in this matter was communication. If Digg appears as if they are arbitrarily removing articles without communicating it, it’s no question that users will be upset. The key to managing the response is to anticipate the response. When you anticipate the community response, you can effectively respond to it citing both sides of the matter instead of appearing on defensive.

What do you think about Digg removing stories? Share your feedback in the comments.

[tags]Digg, Community, Technology, People, Censorship, Management, OpEd[/tags]