Ushahidi Mailing Lists

On Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 9:57 AM, Heather Leson <hleson@...> wrote:
> HI Loren and Pablo, thank you kindly for the braining on this topic.
>
> As you can tell, we need to do some re-thinking about support models as a
> small Open Source organization. This means also clear communication on our
> wiki and website to help people get connected. Your insight into this is
> well-noted.
>
> There were already some plans in the works to do an overhaul, so you have
> given us more fodder and reason to dig in. Thank you.
>
> I could use a hand on the Forums to clean up all the open items. You are
> absolutely correct that we can do that better. Thank you.  If anyone would
> like to help out, this is greatly appreciated.  I've been thinking a lot
> about feedback loops. Personally, I think that we need better Forum
> software, but the root cause remains - overwhelming communications channels
> to be improved and opportunity to better respond to community growth. For
> this, I hear you loudly.
>
> Pablo, I would be very happy to talk with you more on this topic. Loren,
> thanks for also reaching out off-list.
>
> Heather

I've learned from bitter experience that the only practical solution
for a forum/blog comments is moderated, real named members only. I
know what the social media marketing gurus say about that, and I
respectfully disagree. Spammers have infinite resources and trolls
need to be banned, named, shamed, and if possible, dealt with via
well-funded attorneys.

Your most precious resource is your time, and spending even a few
seconds of it setting up imperfect "moderation" software is better
spent making clear that a lack of comments is preferable to garbage.
If live named people actually have a contribution to make, they won't
mind having to register, use their real name and be subject to banning
if they violate guidelines or even at the whim of a community manager.



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