community-management

name	community-management
description	Use when building online communities, defining moderation policies, managing community engagement, handling crises, designing ambassador programs, or measuring community health. Covers community building frameworks, engagement tactics, forum/Discord/Slack management, user-generated content, community events, feedback loops, community-led growth, and toxicity handling.
user-invocable	true
allowed-tools	["Read","Write","Edit","Grep","Glob","Bash"]

Community Management -- Building and Nurturing Engaged Communities

1. Community Maturity Model

Stage	Size	Focus	Key Activities	Duration
Inception	0-100	Seed founding members	Personal invites, daily posts, respond to every post within 1hr	1-3 mo
Establishment	100-1K	Build habits and culture	Recurring events, nurture power users, member spotlights	3-6 mo
Growth	1K-10K	Scale without losing quality	Moderation team, self-serve resources, sub-communities	6-12 mo
Maturity	10K+	Sustain and evolve	Member-led initiatives, governance model, strategic partnerships	Ongoing

Risk at each stage: Inception = ghost town. Establishment = quality dilution. Growth = moderation overwhelm. Maturity = stagnation.

2. Platform Selection

Platform	Best For	Strengths	Weaknesses
Discord	Developer/gaming/tech communities	Real-time chat, bots, roles, channels	Overwhelming for non-tech users
Slack	Professional/B2B communities	Threaded discussions, integrations	Expensive at scale, message limits (free)
Circle/Discourse	Brand/course communities	Structured forums, SEO-friendly	Less real-time engagement
Reddit	Public discussion, broad reach	Organic discovery, voting	Less brand control, toxicity risk
Facebook Groups	Broad consumer audiences	Familiar UX, large user base	Algorithm-controlled visibility

Decision framework: Choose Discord/Slack for real-time, high-engagement technical communities. Choose Circle/Discourse for async, structured knowledge-sharing. Choose Reddit for organic growth and public discourse.

3. Community Structure (Discord/Slack Example)

WELCOME & INFO
  #rules-and-guidelines
  #introductions
  #announcements

DISCUSSION
  #general
  #topic-specific-1 (e.g., #frontend, #backend, #devops)
  #topic-specific-2
  #off-topic

SUPPORT
  #help-and-questions
  #bugs-and-issues
  #feature-requests

ENGAGEMENT
  #showcase (member projects)
  #events
  #jobs-and-opportunities

MODERATION (staff-only)
  #mod-log
  #mod-discussion
  #reports

Channel hygiene: Archive inactive channels quarterly. Pin important resources. Use slow mode (1 msg/30s) on high-traffic channels during events.

4. Moderation Framework

Tiered Response System

Level	Behavior	Response	Example
1 - Minor	Off-topic, mild spam	Gentle redirect, move post	"This fits better in #off-topic"
2 - Warning	Disrespect, repeated minor	Written warning (DM)	First formal notice
3 - Temp ban	Harassment, NSFW, doxxing	24h-7d ban, log incident	Cooling-off period
4 - Perm ban	Hate speech, threats, illegal	Immediate permanent ban	Zero tolerance

Moderation Team Scaling

Community Size	Mod Ratio	Structure
< 500	Founder + 1-2 volunteers	Informal
500-5K	1 mod per 500 members	Lead mod + team, weekly sync
5K-50K	1 mod per 1K + automod	Tiered roles, mod queue, documented policies
50K+	Paid community managers + volunteer mods	Formal program, training, SLAs

Automod essentials: Keyword filters (slurs, spam patterns), link restrictions for new members, rate limiting, duplicate content detection, new account quarantine (e.g., 10-min wait before posting).

5. Engagement Tactics

Recurring Programs

Program	Frequency	Purpose	Format
Welcome thread	Daily/weekly	Onboard new members	Intro template, ice-breaker question
AMA (Ask Me Anything)	Monthly	Bring in experts	Scheduled Q&A with guest
Challenge/hackathon	Monthly/quarterly	Drive creation	Theme + deadline + prizes
Member spotlight	Weekly	Recognize contributors	Interview or showcase post
Feedback Friday	Weekly	Collect input	Structured feedback thread

The 1-9-90 Rule

• 1% create content (nurture these heavily -- they are your community engine)
• 9% engage (comments, reactions -- encourage them to create)
• 90% lurk (make it easy to consume, periodically nudge toward participation)

Activating lurkers: Low-barrier polls and reactions. "React with your answer" posts. Welcome DMs with a specific ask ("Share one thing you're working on").

6. Ambassador / Champion Program

Selection criteria: Active 3+ months, helpful to others, aligned with values, diverse representation.

Tiers:

1. Contributor: Recognized active member. Badge/role, early access to announcements.
2. Ambassador: Leads discussions, mentors newcomers. Swag, exclusive channel, quarterly call with leadership.
3. Champion: Co-creates content, represents community externally. Compensation/stipend, conference invites, advisory role.

Management: Monthly check-ins, quarterly reviews, clear expectations document, graceful off-ramp for inactive ambassadors.

7. Crisis Management

Severity Levels

Severity	Example	Response Time	Actions
P1 Critical	Data breach, legal threat, member safety	< 1 hour	Lock channels, leadership involved, legal review
P2 High	Raid/brigading, viral negative content	< 4 hours	Temp lockdown, mod all-hands, public statement
P3 Medium	Heated debate, misinformation spreading	< 24 hours	Mod intervention, pin clarification, cool-down
P4 Low	Complaint thread, minor policy violation	< 48 hours	Normal moderation process

Response Template

CRISIS COMMUNICATION:
1. Acknowledge: "We're aware of [situation] and are investigating."
2. Action: "Here's what we're doing: [specific steps]."
3. Timeline: "We'll provide an update by [time]."
4. Follow-up: "Here's what happened, what we learned, and what changes we're making."

Post-crisis: Debrief within 48 hours. Document lessons learned. Update policies if gaps identified. Communicate changes to community.

8. Community-Led Growth (CLG)

Flywheel: Great community -> members create content/referrals -> attracts new users -> some become community members -> repeat.

Tactics:

• User-generated content programs (templates, tutorials, showcases)
• Referral program (invite codes with community perks)
• Community-sourced testimonials and case studies
• Member-led workshops and study groups
• Public community metrics as social proof ("Join 5,000+ developers")

Measuring CLG impact: Track signups with community referral attribution. Measure time-to-value for community members vs non-members. Compare retention rates: community participants vs general users.

9. Community Health Metrics

Metric	Formula	Healthy Range	Frequency
DAU/MAU ratio	Daily active / Monthly active	15-30%	Weekly
Post-to-member ratio	Posts per week / Total members	5-15%	Weekly
Response time	Avg time to first reply	< 4 hours	Daily
Resolution rate	Questions answered / Questions asked	> 80%	Weekly
New member activation	New members who post in first 7 days	> 30%	Weekly
Churn rate	Members inactive 30+ days / Total	< 20%/month	Monthly
Sentiment score	Positive posts / Total posts	> 70% positive	Monthly
Escalation rate	Mod actions / Total posts	< 2%	Weekly

Health Dashboard

COMMUNITY HEALTH SCORECARD
Period: [Date range]

Engagement:  [DAU/MAU] [trend]    |  Growth:  [Net new members] [trend]
Activity:    [Posts/week] [trend]  |  Quality: [Resolution rate] [trend]
Sentiment:   [Score] [trend]      |  Churn:   [Rate] [trend]

Red flags: [Any metric trending in wrong direction for 2+ periods]
Actions:   [Specific interventions for underperforming metrics]

10. Feedback Loops

Collection methods: In-community polls, quarterly surveys (NPS + open-ended), feature request voting boards, exit interviews for churned members, sentiment analysis on posts.

Processing: Categorize feedback (product, community, content, support). Prioritize by frequency and impact. Close the loop publicly ("You asked for X, we built X").

Cadence: Weekly feedback review (community team). Monthly feedback report to product/leadership. Quarterly community survey with published results.

11. Legal and Compliance

• Terms of Service: Define acceptable use, content ownership, dispute resolution
• Privacy: Disclose data collection, comply with GDPR/CCPA, provide data export/deletion
• Content liability: Establish that user-generated content does not represent the company
• Minors: If community may include minors, implement COPPA compliance (age gates, parental consent, content restrictions)
• Moderation documentation: Log all mod actions with timestamps and reasons (needed for legal disputes)