I found these rules in a public group chat.
Kirby's Rules of Moderation:
1. Stay Neutral - Moderators should act fairly and avoid personal bias.
2. Transparency Matters - Decisions should be clear and explainable.
3. Rules Before Power - Enforce guidelines, not personal opinions.
4. Context Is Key - Consider intent before taking action.
5. Encourage Discussion - Promote healthy conversations, not silencing.
If you ask AI a question about online communities, and it sounds like me, that's because it might be.
In January, it was revealed that Meta had trained its AI on LibGen, a database of pirated books that originated in Russia, which includes my book. But it took a lawsuit to reveal that, and it stands to reason that other AI tools are engaged in similar practices.
“When I was looking for the job in community … a lot of these companies were really looking for business development or sales or growth hacking. They were just sugar coating it with the title ‘community manager,’ which was really interesting to me because I know that for them it sounded appealing but they really didn’t want to invest in communities.” –Shreyas Narayanan Kutty
https://www.communitysignal.com/join-for-the-code-stay-for-the-community/
“... One of the things that you have to recognize is that it’s going to be as smart or as dumb as what it learns from. … Machine learning is only as right as whatever the data was that it was trained on.” –Cj Adams
https://www.communitysignal.com/machine-learning-by-communities-for-communities/
“... Generally, visualizations are for people other than just the person making them. Your audience is going to work that much harder to understand the message you’re trying to get across, so you’re creating some cognitive burden for them to just read it, let alone take away the point that you’re trying to get across.” –Tammy Armstrong
https://www.communitysignal.com/how-data-and-teenagers-power-the-future-of-online-community/
Higher Logic failed in its commitment to users of Vanilla Forums, an open source community software, and that's a real shame. It's also something that community pros cannot afford to forget.
https://open.vanillaforums.com/discussion/39620/higher-logic-has-terminated-open-source-vanilla
Working online community, moderation, trust, safety, and policy in the Trump era. All jokes I swear.
“We [online community pros] should advocate for those higher roles because each time one of us does that, each time someone insists that they get the director title instead of the community manager title because their job reflects it … instead of just accepting that they can be community manager because, hey, the money’s good and I’m being paid like a director, it matters. …
Discourse, an excellent 21st century forum vendor has a searchable list of forum
commumities
The future of the internet is likely smaller communities, with a focus on curated experiences
#onlinecommunities #socialmedia
https://www.theverge.com/press-room/617654/internet-community-future-research
“My goal as the global community manager is to have a model or multiple models lined up side-by-side that I can show to anyone at the company and they will say, ‘I can get behind these numbers.’” -Meredith Humphrey
“... It’s about creating a sense of belonging, again, in this sort of membership community and feeling like you’re putting your hard earned dollar between something that is holding the powerful to account.” –Rebecca Quarls
https://www.communitysignal.com/news-membership-as-a-community-model/
“Our core mission remains the same: to create the tools and digital spaces where people can build authentic, constructive online communities free from ads, data exploitation, manipulative algorithms or corporate monopolies,” Mastodon says. - https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/13/24342603/mastodon-non-profit-ownership-ceo-eugen-rochko #mastodon #SocialNetworks #Fediverse #DecentralizedNetwork #SocialMedia #FederatedNetwork #OnlineCommunities #DataExploitation #ManipulativeAlgorithms #CorporateMonopolies #TheVerge
I love when online communities make principled choices to differentiate themselves.
It's #FollowFriday! Here are 2 podcasts that help me stay updated on social media trends, trust & safety, privacy, content moderation, and free speech impacts:
** 404 Media Podcast **
https://www.404media.co/the-404-media-podcast/
** Ctrl-Alt-Speech **
https://ctrlaltspeech.com/
“The domination of the major [social media] platforms isn’t infinite. It’s going to end one day. It’s our responsibility to think about what we are going to build in its place.” –@bassey
“When I hear people invoke free speech on a for-profit social media site, not only does that not exist today, it never has existed, and it never will exist. Let’s deal with what reality is actually giving us and talk about that instead of these fantasies that actually are pretty much not good for anyone involved.” –@ubiquity75
https://www.communitysignal.com/elon-musks-quest-to-make-twitter-worse/
What’s your favorite plugin/platform for a membership-based online social and learning community? I have a small student organization that could use a place to share educational materials, discussions, personal experiences, etc.
I’m not sure if I should focus on the social, with something like BBPress, or if there’s a LMS system that would do better (just learned about Fluent Community but haven’t tried it yet). I’m familiar with the #WordPress ecosystem but am open to other self-hosted options too.
Reddit has launched Reddit Pro Trends and AMA Ads to help brands decode consumer conversations for targeted ad campaigns #Reddit #CES2025 #DigitalMarketing #BrandEngagement #SocialMedia #SocialMediaMarketing #OnlineCommunities #BrandSafety
“This is higher education so we want people to express themselves in an academic way. They need to be able to remain respectful and they need to be able to use sources and facts and evidence because this is the game that we call science, and you’re not allowed to just to give your opinion. We keep challenging the users and explaining to them what we expect. Surprisingly, that works.” –@BieTanjade
https://www.communitysignal.com/higher-educations-troll-hunter/
