Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Turning the jerk dial down
Like most communities, both online and off HoL has a few moments of tension and some grumpiness. That's life. However, it doesn't mean that we can't improve on things.
A few people have told me that they know someone who's been put off from contributing or even visiting HoL because of some of the behaviour on the site...and that's a shame. Liz and I work hard to try and make the overall tone positive and the environment safe. Our visitor statistics show that HoL is getting more and more popular. We're growing the number of unique daily visitors every month and according to figures provided by the Hornsey Journal, we get twice the number of visitors as their sites, but could we do more to make HoL and even better place to visit?
The other day I was reading social media guru Clay Shirky writing on dealing with bad behaviour in online forums:
That provides some options for turning the jerk dial down. One is to make identity valuable........... Another approach is to partition public platforms, thus reducing the incentive to publicly act out.
Both points resonate with me when thinking about forums in general and left me with two questions:
- Do we have a need to turn the jerk dial down on HoL?
- If so, how should we put Shirky's insights into practice?
On partitioning the platform, the obvious answer is to do away with, or make less central, the latest activity feature. I've tried that before and was met with a storm of protest. It remains an option.
Any thoughts on the general issues and HoL responses most welcome.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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Is there a danger of sanitizing the site ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida
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Permalink Reply by Mr Growbag on
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do away with, or make less central, the latest activity feature. I've tried that before and was met with a storm of protest.
Well, at least one HoL member (me) is 100% in favour of this change. Particularly if it were to be replaced with the "latest posts in the forum" section which is currently below it. This change would solve the problem of the landing page being dominated by the most vocal contributors' issues. For example, the recent banner discussion ran to over 14 pages and dominated the news feed for days. Had the news feed not been there, the story would have remained on the front page for the same time, but as one of many posts in the "latest posts in the forum" section, giving other issues a chance to breathe.
While this could arguably make the site slightly less dynamic - perhaps this could be counteracted by adding a twitter feed to the front page using the keyword #harringayonline? People who wanted their thoughts to go up could then do so in 150 words or fewer. Opinion8 have one and I think it's a good use of the technology.
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Permalink Reply by Takaokagiejin on
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I rather like the latest activity section as it keeps the site dynamic but also agree that, like in the real world, some people shout rather than speak and attack rather than share thoughts. If I knew the answer to this one I'd be applying for Ban Ky Moon's job! What does Guru Clay mean when he says "make identity valuable"? Is it that some people behave better when they think they might lose out if they dont?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Thanks for your comments Mr GB. It's the sort of change we've been thinking about. I'm not so sure about the Twitter stream though. The Opinion8 one feeds in the very active Crouch End Twittersphere; it has nothing to do with the site in general. If we fed in the Harringay Twitter activity, you'd pretty much get HoLfolk.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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You pay too much attention to busy bodies who stop you in the street and have nothing better to say than they don't want to join your site because there are jerks on there. I bet their real reasons are far less edifying. I also resent the implication that you and Liz are definitely NOT jerks when I know you have emails from site members and local politicians asserting otherwise.
Get a life and hang out with people who like you and respect what you're doing. You can't please all the people all the time.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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@John Exactly what I told him!
@OAE Isn't it that word that rhymes with Banker? Or is that too 'heftig' ?
If you gurgle 'Jerk' into German you come up with 'Trottel' which when translated back via gurgle becomes 'Idiot'.. I think the meaning of Jerk probably stretches over both of those translations
http://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-german/jerk
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Thanks for your comment John. However, in my view you seem to be far too ready to dismiss others' views in this case, albeit reported ones. I can't speak for Liz, but I apologise for any inference that I consider my posts a jerk-free zone. I try but I'm sure I don't always succeed.
Of course I can't please all the people all the time; I'm not trying to. I'm aiming to do what's best for the site..
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What you are saying is that you have some members who if you didn't have, the site would be better. If you REALLY feel that way then delete them. That's what's best for the site.
The problem is, you're just not quite sure and hence posts like this.
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Eh, no. I'm not saying anything like that John. I'm playing Shirky's comments into the local context and asking if they resonate here and IF they do what we should do about it, if anything.
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But you obviously do think they resonate here. Why else would you bring up the people who have been put off joining by other's behaviour? Do you think those people would join if the site was just nice things said about them? I bet they would...
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Hi you guys. Can someone tell me the English for jerk?
I've tried the Urban Dictionary but it's only confused me.
I'd hate to think that I harbor/harbour some latent jerkist tendencies which might break out from time to time.
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