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
   

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2. 2 Types of Community Conflict:
   Company Member
   Member Member
   

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3. Lay the groundwork
   Make your program rules clear from the start
   

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4. Reach out
   Reassure the affected parties
   Gather information
   

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5. Set a deadline
   Make sure everyone knows when mediation
   will conclude
   

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6. Discuss internally
   Work out a game plan
   Involve a neutral third-party if necessary
   Draft a public response
   

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7. Follow through
   Inform affected parties
   Publish public response
   

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8. Follow up
   Check-in after resolution
   

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9. Hugh Lashbrooke
   @hlashbrooke
   hugh.blog
   

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