SLIDE 1 Like Herding LOLcats: Managing the Internet's Most Unruly Gaming Communities
Mike Drach Writer/Producer, Forumwarz
SLIDE 2
SLIDE 3
What is Forumwarz?
SLIDE 4
SLIDE 5
SLIDE 6
SLIDE 7
Finding an audience
SLIDE 8
Finding an audience
SLIDE 9 The troll reigns supreme — shocking!
Perma- noob 1% Emo Kid 22% Hacker 30% Troll 47% Camwhore 21%
(not really though)
SLIDE 10 Role-play spices things up
SLIDE 11
SLIDE 12
SLIDE 13
Lesson learned #1
Never take it personally
SLIDE 14 Never take it personally
poop.
SLIDE 15
Lesson learned #2
Show no weakness
(but don’t show off)
SLIDE 16
Show no weakness (but don’t show off)
SLIDE 17 Have you hugged a troll today?
Photo by tlcohio on Photobucket
SLIDE 18
Lesson learned #3
Choose your mods wisely
SLIDE 19
Choose your mods wisely
SLIDE 20
Lesson learned #4
Have the right tools
SLIDE 21
Have the right tools
SLIDE 22
Have the right tools
SLIDE 23
Lesson learned #5
Be timely, but not too timely
SLIDE 24
Be timely, but not too timely
SLIDE 25
Lesson learned #6
Be human, but present a unified front
SLIDE 26
Be human, but present a unified front
SLIDE 27
Lesson learned #7
Let the haters hate
SLIDE 28 Let the haters hate
SLIDE 29
Let the haters hate
SLIDE 30
Lesson learned #8
Throw the book at them
SLIDE 31 Throw the book at them
Forumwarz’s TL;DR rules: 1,850 words!
Image by Arabidopsis on DeviantART
SLIDE 32 Throw the book at them
- Frequently add, update and append rules
- Be transparent about rulemaking
- Know your own rules!
SLIDE 33
Lesson learned #9
Keep your enemies close
SLIDE 34 Keep your enemies close
- Ignore/Reply/Ban? Meditate on it
- Community/hellbans/disenvowelment can
be better
- Sometimes it pays to simply reach out
- Permanent or long bans can lead to
- ffsite trolling, which is harder to control
SLIDE 35
SLIDE 36
Lesson learned #10
Don’t underestimate your users
SLIDE 37 What’s the worst they can do?
- Posting shock
- Posting illegal content
- Orchestrating hacks or scams
- Posting personal information (“doxing”)
- Attacking your reputation on other sites
SLIDE 38
What’s the worst they can do?
SLIDE 39
SLIDE 40
SLIDE 41
SLIDE 42
SLIDE 43
SLIDE 44
Balancing player energies
SLIDE 45 Trolls can be your friends!
- Trolls are just the most visible, vocal
minority
- Try to “jiu-jitsu” their energies
- Your community can be your most
valuable resource
SLIDE 46
SLIDE 47
This is a pony that shoots chainsaws from its mouth.
SLIDE 48 Community management FTW!
SLIDE 49 A mod-est proposal
community code of conduct
- Adapt it to fit your site
- Hit up mike@forumwarz.com
for details!
SLIDE 50
SLIDE 51
K? Thanks! Bye!
SLIDE 52 Find us on the webs: www.forumwarz.com And on the Twitters: @forumwarz @mikedrach