When Good People Go Bad

Presented at the CMX Connect Cape Town meetup: https://events.cmxhub.com/cape-town/

We all know how great in-person communities can be, but what happens when things don't go so well? What happens when people in your community cause conflict and make things difficult for everyone else? In this talk, we'll look at a few examples from how this has happened in the global WordPress community, how we worked through it, and what lessons you can learn to help members of your own communities when times get tough.

The real-world examples that I included in the talk are not mentioned in the slides.

Transcript

1. When Good People Go Bad Dealing with Difficult Community Members
2. 2 Types of Community Conflict: Company <-> Member Member <-> Member
3. Lay the groundwork Make your program rules clear from the start
4. Reach out Reassure the affected parties Gather information
5. Set a deadline Make sure everyone knows when mediation will conclude
6. Discuss internally Work out a game plan Involve a neutral third-party if necessary Draft a public response
7. Follow through Inform affected parties Publish public response
8. Follow up Check-in after resolution
9. Hugh Lashbrooke @hlashbrooke hugh.blog