Falsehoods programmers believe about community management

  1. You can launch without a content policy without different subcommunities declaring war on each other.
  2. You can create a content policy that makes everyone happy.
  3. You won’t spend your days doing battle with the community over your content policy
  4. You can completely automate moderation
  5. You can use automation as a moderation tool without problems
  6. Everyone agrees on a definition of porn.
  7. I’ll just call it “not safe for work.” No problem, right?
  8. …adult?
  9. Everyone at least agrees kink is sexual, right?
  10. Banning tricky trolls by IP address won’t cause any trouble.
  11. People won’t mind if I make them install a little security service on their device to access the community.
  12. I mean, surely the reputable brand behind that tool is trustworthy. Someone would have sued if they weren’t.
  13. On that note, I’m sure calling the police on this troubled user is fine. The system has always done well by me!
  14. It’s just a simple slur filter. How controversial could it be? Everyone agrees on slurs.