Controversial discussions in your community

Recently one of the Community Champions in a community I manage came forward to suggest that we link to a controversial video circulating on the internet. She approached the community team in private, in the separate Community Champions area of the discussions, as she was not yet certain that it was appropriate to place the video into the public-facing area.

I watched the video and was very surprised at how negative it was. It was a very shocking message, yet about halfway through it became more positive and uplifting. It caught my attention. But it was definitely controversial. People new to the issue at hand might be frightened by the video, while those who had been around for a while – and who were more knowledgeable about the larger issue – would probably be fine with it.

I spoke with my client and we agreed that it was best not to link to the video ourselves, in order to distance the organisation from the controversial message (the last thing they would want is for readers of this content to think that the organisation was somehow endorsing the sinister message).

But the video itself was not breaking any rules of the community, and so we couldn’t forbid the Community Champion from posting it. And furthermore we were aware that anyone could post the video at any moment.

Maintaining the values of your organisation

The decision that I reached with my client was that we would not interfere with the desire of the Community Champion to post this video into the community. Censoring our community members is something we would never like to do. If one of our Champions identified that it would be a good point of conversation for the community, then ultimately we were happy for the video to be posted.

We therefore suggested that if the Community Champions decide to post the video a message be included to prepare the readers/viewers for the content they would be seeing. That message would hopefully include a note stating that it was created by a certain organisation and though it’s a heavy message (and probably not the way we would have chosen to present the message), we welcome the infinite variety of opinions out there and people everywhere are free to interpret issues as they see them, and in this case the interpretation is quite sombre – so a warning is necessary.

If one of your members posts something that raises warning flags for you, don’t panic. You can always leave a comment afterward to state that this is not the opinion of your organisation and that you welcome differing perspectives into the conversations taking place in your community. And if you’re unsure you can always discuss the issue with us and we’ll help you come up with the best response.  In this way you will be upholding freedom of speech within your community, while avoiding any compromise of the values of your organisation.

Knowing when to back off is a virtue

There are inherently controversial topics that can flare up at any time. Among the most controversial are those pertaining to religion, political affiliation or personal belief systems of varying types. Sometimes communities will ban the discussion of certain topics. See this article for more detail: Should communities ban the discussion of certain topics?

At SiftGroups we always encourage our communities to begin from a place of trust. Starting a community off by banning the discussion of certain topics such as religion would be the backward approach.

From the outset of your community, we encourage you to create a system of moderation and a respectful culture backed up by house rules which help minimise the chances of negative controversy, rather than anticipating it - in other words, start from a point of trust and then respond to any issues as and when they arise. We encourage you to trust your members to recognise that personal beliefs are deeply engrained and not likely to change, and to recognise when to let things go.

Understanding the value of controversy – don’t be afraid!

Your Community Manager plays a key role in balancing the needs of your organisation, and the needs of your community. The nature of any organisation is likely to be risk averse - but playing it too safe can result in an unhealthy community.

A little controversy is great for a community, as it gets people talking - sharing ideas, emotions and opinions.  Emotions create meaningful connections between people, and this is ideal for strengthening the bonds within a community. Some community managers even go so far as to provoke controversy - see these two articles for more information: Why fights are so important and Use controversy with caution

In the case of the controversial video, the Community Champion ultimately decided against posting the video - possibly out of fear of upsetting someone.  I think that we missed a valuable opportunity to generate some controversial conversations. The day after we became aware of the video, Twitter and Facebook were absolutely heaving with comments and thoughts about the videos, and a protest group had even been set up on Facebook. The comments online ranged from explosive and raw to thoughtfully put and well-worded with questions for other readers – all of which were fascinating. Stimulating conversations and passionate debate were popping up everywhere, and we had missed the opportunity to have them within our own space.

I encourage you to avoid shying away from controversial topics in your community. Remember that you and your community staff can still maintain the values of your organisation while allowing the controversy (conversation) to take place.