Community Building 101 - Building Great Communities, Addressing Common Problems

I needed this video SO much! Thank you Devin!

ChrissaBug

100% agree with the idea of setting and maintaining the vibe of a community. I think it's important to realize that you are in fact the head of your community, and there are very few external "rules" you have to follow in your space. I think a key part of this concept is expressing your expectations clearly, opening, and frequently to your community. This gives everyone fair warning and puts the people I like to call "rules lawyers" on notice. Most people will recognize that term from tabletop RPGs, but I think the archetype exists in most facets of social life. I think when you let those combative "but i'm not breaking the rules!?" aggressors linger for too long unchecked, that's when you lose control of your community. I think the best way to handle it, is to come out strong and early with the idea that your community has custom rules that suit those who manage it, and play by them, or piss off. Keep in mind that the establishment of these expectations is important for both the people that eventually will be unwelcome, and also for the good members who remain. You don't want the good members of your community to feel like they don't understand what is, and is not ok, and why someone got shown the door. I think it allows you to establish control, and foster the environment you want, without appearing overly arbitrary.

After learning how to not care about true hateful and bigoted comments, I was pretty happy to get my first regular hate comment (I even pinned it lol) but either way the need to care left me at some point, and I just started doing stuff. I think it's been a lot of wasted time but then again I learn very effectively once I gather a lot of data. I'm a bit of a freakazoid though so I comment and stuff whenever I feel like it, but I've been changing my day to day lifestyle to focus more on introspection, journaling, yoga/exercise, avoiding twitter/etc entirely, and starting to ease into a state of creation rather than endless Mindflayer activities that I've been conditioned to be over the past 20+ years. The only reason I'm even commenting here is because if there's any community I want to be a part of it's this one, but in the end of the day it's also not as effective. I think it's something I have to find for myself, as I don't think any one of us has the single right answer. I'm a freak of nature and I just comment like a Soul Reaver lol so I guess I just better trust that I've learned enough from my experiences to make healthy life changes to achieve a balance, and my entire medical team agrees. I do get personal meaning from the things I write, but I'm spending much more of that energy ignoring the internet and instead journaling and feeling empty space so I can hopefully create something of value.

Rebecca Loran