Comments on: Four Steps to the (Gov 2.0) Epiphany: Better Government Through Citizen Development http://govfresh.com/2009/12/four-steps-to-the-gov-2-0-epiphany-better-government-through-citizen-development/ Open Air Government Wed, 09 May 2012 06:31:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Sandy Heierbacher http://govfresh.com/2009/12/four-steps-to-the-gov-2-0-epiphany-better-government-through-citizen-development/comment-page-1/#comment-7287 Sandy Heierbacher Sat, 25 Feb 2012 23:32:00 +0000 http://govfresh.com/?p=2700#comment-7287 I totally agree, Alexander!  I've run a bunch of different interactive online spaces for the NCDD network over the years, and I've found that the more successful you are at getting people posting, the more ground rules you should set and enforce to keep the space civil and on-topic. For most of our online spaces, we just try to encourage comments, period -- and prevent spam from ever getting posted.  But when you're able to get things going, ground rules provide the moderator with something "real" to share with people who aren't acting appropriately, so they don't think you have a bone to pick with them. In case you're interested, the ground rules for NCDD's very active member listserv are posted at http://ncdd.org/rc/item/2624.  We developed those rules over the years collaboratively with subscribers, and they make moderation a lot easier (especially when a problem does arise). Online moderation is always tricky, though... It's often the less civil comments that get the most responses, and can really get a conversation going (that's even the case in the very civil "dialogue and deliberation community" that I'm part of.  (We also get a lot of quality discussion going when people ask sincerely for advice, of course.)  But as moderator it's tricky to know where the line is between "inappropriate" and "prickly enough to get people going."  Do you find that challenging as well? I totally agree, Alexander!  I’ve run a bunch of different interactive online spaces for the NCDD network over the years, and I’ve found that the more successful you are at getting people posting, the more ground rules you should set and enforce to keep the space civil and on-topic. For most of our online spaces, we just try to encourage comments, period — and prevent spam from ever getting posted.  But when you’re able to get things going, ground rules provide the moderator with something “real” to share with people who aren’t acting appropriately, so they don’t think you have a bone to pick with them.

In case you’re interested, the ground rules for NCDD’s very active member listserv are posted at http://ncdd.org/rc/item/2624.  We developed those rules over the years collaboratively with subscribers, and they make moderation a lot easier (especially when a problem does arise).

Online moderation is always tricky, though… It’s often the less civil comments that get the most responses, and can really get a conversation going (that’s even the case in the very civil “dialogue and deliberation community” that I’m part of.  (We also get a lot of quality discussion going when people ask sincerely for advice, of course.)  But as moderator it’s tricky to know where the line is between “inappropriate” and “prickly enough to get people going.”  Do you find that challenging as well?

]]> By: Can citizens love the government? | The MightyBrand Blog http://govfresh.com/2009/12/four-steps-to-the-gov-2-0-epiphany-better-government-through-citizen-development/comment-page-1/#comment-847 Can citizens love the government? | The MightyBrand Blog Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:47:05 +0000 http://govfresh.com/?p=2700#comment-847 [...] Four Steps to the (Gov 2.0) Epiphany: Better Government Through Citizen Development [...] [...] Four Steps to the (Gov 2.0) Epiphany: Better Government Through Citizen Development [...]

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