We’re thinking about creating something of a community council - a group of users who help moderate the site and encourage quality discussion. They’d also act as a community-driven conduit between The Conversation and our community.
Basically, they’d help set the standard of The Conversation’s community. Community-driven moderation is a feature of many sites and we’ve often stressed the importance of our users taking responsibility for the quality of the conversations they take part in. This is the next logical step of that and we’d like to hear your thoughts on the idea.
The what
A handful (or so) community members would be given access to some moderation rights, such as the ability to “hide” posts for review by myself. Over time, we may look at increasing these moderation rights.
We would like community council to include members who are actively engaged with the community: connecting with other users, people who go out of their way to write interesting posts and replies, who have show an interest in the future of The Conversation. People who want it to be better.
The why
We don’t see everything and we’re not always around to moderate 24/7. And this is your community too. We want to include you in what we do for the site – that’s why we’ve been talking to you about our ideas before we start executing them. It’s time we provide you with a direct way to do it.
Would you be happy to see something like this on The Conversation? Would you want to be a part of it?
We’re taking expressions of interest at the moment, so if you’re interested in potentially being part of our community council, nominate yourself below or send me an email.
- Cory Zanoni, community manager