I read a good thread on Bluesky earlier. It ties in with something I've talked about before, but it bears repeating. It concerns matters of community management, and how a proactive approach that might, in the short-term, be perceived as "negative" is actually for the best in the long run. If you want to read the thread in question, here's the link.
The poster, "The Wyzard", posits a "10-1 rule", which is to say "every (1) shithead you don't ban costs you ten (10) other customers". They admit that the maths is not exact by the very nature of it being an abstract concept that one cannot truly represent mathematically, but I can see figures along those lines being very plausible.
The theory runs that if you have one person stinking up the joint — whether literally through their personal hygiene, or metaphorically through their behaviour — then while they might be a loyal customer, they will actively repulse other customers. And the number of customers they will repulse is more than the one, single person that they are, making them a net negative for your community.
Back when I was running Rice Digital, I ran into an issue with a persistent commenter who, during the site's time without much moderation going on in the comments section, had come to think of it as his own personal place to spew hatred and bigotry. Because I had taken over the site and the login details to be able to moderate the comments had gone astray several editor-in-chiefs ago, I took the executive decision to nuke the entire comments section from orbit and start afresh.
The commenter in question was not happy, because he believed he had ownership of this vitriol he had continually spewed on the site (including, among other things, stating that a particular TV show had "ruined lesbians for him" because the lesbians in question were not what he considered to be attractive), and it had not occurred to him that a website that does not belong to him, and which he doesn't pay anything for, does not owe him a damned thing.
The metaphor I used at the time was that of a clubhouse. When you run any sort of community, be it online or offline, whatever form it takes, you are effectively carving out a space that is for the use and enjoyment of that community, but which is ultimately the responsibility of someone. Picture, for example, a gaming club, where people come along to meet friends and play games together in a space specially designed for that. Sounds great, right?
Now imagine that every week you show up to that gaming club, there's some asshole whose table talk consists entirely of how much he hates trans people, what he's wanked over this week and why he thinks anyone trying to stop him talking about these things in spaces that might be occupied by people who do not want to hear those things is engaging in "censorship".
After a while, you wouldn't want to go along to that club any more, right? You'd come to dread the experience of this jackass stinking up the joint with his rancid opinions, so you'd find an alternative place to see your friends — or, worst case, just stop seeing them altogether. A net loss for you, your friends and the club in general.
Now imagine that this jackass is kicked out of the club after just one session of him spewing his odious rhetoric. While the initial reaction, particularly if the kicking-out is public, might be shock and even fear from certain members — "what if we get turned on next?" and all that — the long-term effect is that normal, well-adjusted people will feel safer and more comfortable coming along to that clubhouse and doing the things they enjoy. They will not need to abandon something they enjoy doing for the sake of one asshole.
It's the same with online communities. The longer you tolerate someone acting like a shithead as part of a community like that, the more annoyed other people will become, to such a degree that they will eventually leave your community, even if they otherwise like what you are doing. That's counter-productive, because all you will be left with is a single shithead who hates trans people (it's always trans people) and no actual community. And at that point you might as well give up, because I'm sure we've all had the experience where you've ended up being the last person in a room with the one individual no-one wants to be left alone with.
Anyway, I know I've talked about this stuff not long ago, but the thread linked above made me want to talk about it again. If you're someone who finds yourself in a position of responsibility for maintaining a community — whether it's something as small and simple as a comments section for your own stuff, or as large as the social media presence for a Brand™ — I would encourage you to bear that "10-1 rule" in mind. The 10 will thank you, even if the 1 doesn't.
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