Maddie posted last week about the survey currently being administered by the nonprofit, Civlination, for online community managers. Civilination is about stopping online hostility and bullying so everyone's voice can be heard. They want to get as many community managers as possible to take the survey, so please help me spread the word.
This issue is important. As a conflict resolution guy, I have to say I am often surprised at what people will say when they are separated from the receivers of the message by the internet. People will say stuff in emails and online that they would NEVER say face to face. But that doesn't mean that the solution is to take the conversation off of the internet and back to face to face. The solution is to learn (continuously) about how to deal with conflict and manage our own stuff.
I've said in my talks before that you can have two or three Ph.D.s and not ONCE learned anything about conflict resolution. This amazes me. And I do think it's changing. More and more schools have programs for kids, and you can now find undergraduate conflict resolution programs. That's good, but we need more. Which is why a nonprofit like Civilination needs to exist.
If your organization is starting an online community, what will you do to manage the conflict that emerges? Who has been trained in how to facilitate conversations online where feelings can get hurt and emotions can be sparked? These are things to think about before they happen, by the way. Not after.