The document discusses best practices for community management, including establishing codes of conduct, addressing issues like microaggressions and implicit bias, and promoting diversity and inclusion. It emphasizes acknowledging privilege, educating oneself, apologizing for mistakes, and creating a welcoming environment for all in online communities.

1. Putting Your Best Self Forward:
Etiquette and Branding in Your Community
Erica McGillivray
Senior Community Manager at Moz

2. Myth: The fewer rules, the better
@emcgillivray

3. No rules = branding disasters

4. Reddit’s
community freaked
out when they
started banning
topics/people
@emcgillivray

5. “Sad
Puppies”
and their
anti-
diversity
voting bloc

6. Don’t shut
down your
community
@emcgillivray

7. Community manager soul searching
@emcgillivray

8. Acknowledge we’re not perfect

9. Take stock of our rank and power
@emcgillivray
• Social
• Psychological
• Spiritual
• Organizational

10. Social
(common societal
privileges)
1
@emcgillivray

11. Social
• White
• American
• Thin
• Average height
• Youngish adult (32)
• Bachelor’s degree
• Middle class
• Work in tech
1

12. psychological
(self-esteem,
being comfortable
with yourself)
2
@emcgillivray

13. psychological
• Self-confident
• Self-driven
• Frequent traveler
• Public speaking
• Decisive
• Speak up in
meetings
• Okay with conflict
2

14. Spiritual
(connect yourself
to something
bigger)
3
@emcgillivray

15. Spiritual
• A purpose in life
• Event organizer
• Community
manager
• Writing and books
• Hosting parties
• Family and friends
who love me
3

16. Organizational
(in your
community or at
your work)
4
@emcgillivray

17. Organizational
• Tenure (4+ years)
• Full-time
employee
• Control a budget
• 10 years experience
• Reputation for
getting stuff done
• Know people
4

18. Privilege and implicit bias tests
bit.ly/bias-test
@emcgillivray

19. Educate
yourself,
don’t force
others to

20. Messed
up?
Apologize

21. rules, Moderation, inclusion,
feelings, and Diversity?
@emcgillivray

22. “I really hate the word
'diversity,' it suggests
something…other. As if it
is something…special. Or
rare. As if there is something unusual about
telling stories involving women and people of
color and LGBTQ characters on TV. I have a
different word: NORMALIZING. I’m normalizing
TV.” – Shonda Rhimes

23. Surprise! Your community
may be diverse already
@emcgillivray

24. Big Moz fans!
@emcgillivray

25. Building Codes of Conduct and policies
@emcgillivray

26. Your community is your living room
@emcgillivray

27. Use Geek Feminism’s template

28. Brand the
language

29. Brand-specific
needs
@emcgillivray

30. Don’t neglect the details
@emcgillivray

31. Definition
Microaggression: a subtle,
but offensive, comment or
action directed at a minority
or other non-dominant group
that is often unintentional or
unconsciously reinforces a
stereotype

32. Save yourself
a headache
@emcgillivray

33. What the
author wrote
What the
reader thinks
@emcgillivray

34. Knows they’re
wrong, does it
anyway
1
@emcgillivray

35. Unknown wrong
2
@emcgillivray

36. Sometimes
just @#$%^&
3
@emcgillivray

37. Sometimes
just @#$%^&
3
@emcgillivray

38. Internal trainings
@emcgillivray

39. Teams must consistently
enforce and understand policies
@emcgillivray

40. Our customer service team’s live chats
@emcgillivray

41. Our graphic
design team
@emcgillivray

42. Code of conduct fallacies
@emcgillivray

43. You must enforce it!
@emcgillivray

44. When you tell people
they’ve been bad:
So sorry!
Silence
I hate you too!
@emcgillivray

45. People (don’t) talk about problems

46. The Pay-off?
@emcgillivray

47. Happy and growing communities

48. Got questions?
@emcgillivray
erica@moz.com

49. Resources
#11 -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/16/shonda-rhimes-diversity-normalize-
television_n_6878842.html
#4 - http://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-the-biggest-troll-on-the-web
#5 - http://www.npr.org/2015/08/26/434644645/how-the-sad-puppies-won-by-losing
#6 - http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-09/why-were-shutting-our-comments
#18 - http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/how-privileged-are-you#.xlBWaRLx8 and
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
#20 -
https://medium.com/mozzer-expressions/i-was-racist-in-front-of-1300-people-2d622ad27ce8#.mlo2o78lr
#27 - http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment/Policy_resources
#28-29 - https://moz.com/mozcon/code-of-conduct
#31 -
http://academicaffairs.ucsc.edu/events/documents/Microaggressions_Examples_Arial_2014_11_12.pdf
#33 -
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/psysociety/e2809cbut-i-didne28099t-mean-ite2809d-why-ite28099s-
so-hard-to-prioritize-impacts-over-intents/
#34 -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/7423530/Duke-of-Edinburgh-asks-female-sea-
cadet-if-she-works-at-a-strip-club.html
#39 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkR6xjpzJck
@emcgillivray