A guide to successful community moderation exploring everything from
the trenches of Reddit to your neighborhood Facebook page.
Don't read the comments. Old advice, yet more relevant than ever. The
tools we once hailed for their power to connect people and spark
creativity can also be hotbeds of hate, harassment, and political
division. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are under fire
for either too much or too little moderation. Creating and maintaining
healthy online communities isn't easy.
Over the course of two years of graduate research at MIT, former tech
journalist and current product manager Anika Gupta interviewed
moderators who'd worked on the sidelines of gamer forums and in the
quagmires of online news comments sections. She's spoken with
professional and volunteer moderators for communities like Pantsuit
Nation, Nextdoor, World of Warcraft guilds, Reddit, and FetLife.
In How to Handle a Crowd, she shares what makes successful communities
tick - and what you can learn from them about the delicate balance of
community moderation. Topics include:
-Building creative communities in online spaces
-Bridging political division--and creating new alliances
-Encouraging freedom of speech
-Defining and eliminating hate and trolling
-Ensuring safety for all participants-
-Motivating community members to action
How to Handle a Crowd is the perfect book for anyone looking to take
their small community group to the next level, start a career in online
moderation, or tackle their own business's comments section.
