I was just playing around with Freenode IRC (trying to set up a permanent #edem channel), when I came across their channel guidelines. We’re still drafting our community ground rules for Zilino, and I found these very applicable:
Channel GuidelinesIRC is a low-bandwidth method of communication, in comparison with physical presence. Many of the cues of physical communication, tone of voice, facial expression, hand movements, etc., are missing in IRC, since only text is transmitted back and forth.Speakers in physical proximity with each other communicate quite a bit of emotional context via this extra bandwidth. This context enables them to avoid misjudging the intent of their conversational partners. It also functions as an unconscious negative feedback mechanism to reduce the incidence of emotional “firestorms” which tend to disrupt the efficient flow of conversation. Human beings look for this feedback and indeed they may be designed to require it. In the low-bandwidth world of IRC, they must get emotional feedback via the text they receive.This process is subject to exaggeration. Small amounts of emotion become magnified in the perception of the observer. So, it is very important to keep channels calm. An informal conceptual measurement of the emotional content of a channel is its “channel temperature.”Think of a person’s emotional state as kinetic energy. Enthusiasm, happiness, anger, frustration, all add to the energy level. The more emotion is experienced, the “hotter” the participant. The average emotional state of a channel is its temperature. Emotions in IRC become exaggerated and conveying them directly increases channel temperature. Pent-up frustration, in particular, is often released as a series of inappropriate, “high energy” outbursts. An important objective of the freenode channel guidelines is to avoid “feedback loops” in channel interactions by reducing channel temperature.The guidelines which follow are designed with the benefit of years of experience with IRC, beginning during the 1993-1994 period when the design limitations of IRC began to become clear due to the increasing scale of IRC networks. Adopting the guidelines will help improve the quality of your channel.We intentionally avoid drawing a distinction between channel operators and users. Everyone is a user, regardless of their privilege level, and each user has the ability to influence the usability of the channel.
The site then goes on to list a few concrete recommendations. Here’s a selection:
- Polish your catalyst skills. The catalyst role is key to keeping channel interactions friendly and efficient.
- Look for the best in people. If you assume people have no self-control, they’ll confirm your belief. If you look for personal responsibility, and ask for personal responsibility, most people will respond well.
- Set a good example. Be what you want other people to be. If you want them to be calm, be calm. If you want them to be courteous and friendly, be courteous and friendy. The habitual behavior of people on a channel is the most powerful influence on newbies arriving on the channel.
- [...]
- Take critiques to private message. Criticizing someone’s behavior on channel holds them up to public scrutiny in a negative way. It’s usually overkill. In your messages, don’t address the subject of whether you have channel operator privileges; just be courteous. Request nicely that they change their behavior. In many cases you’ll discover that problem user you are dealing with is merely inexperienced. An aggressive tone makes for a longer and more involved discussion, and pent-up frustration which will raise the channel temperature sooner or later. You can always use channel operator privileges, or have someone else use them, as needed; but with a courteous tone, you’ll need to do that a lot less.
So, maybe not a complete blueprint but definitely good building blocks, for sure!
The concept of channel temperature or mood in online discussions is worth investigating further. Having a mechanism in place that indicates in real time when a conversation is in trouble could help improve the overall efficiency of allocating scarce facilitator resources.
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