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We have incorporated additional means for attracting members. 1 thing we identified
early on is the importance of having some very clear rules of the road -- guidelines
if you may. We talked about this when I think the Ning Creators network was starting or
whatnot.
Because, you think with diabetes, for example, there wouldn't be controversy, there wouldn't
be discussion. You know, who can argue about it? I mean like, "KILL ALL THE!!"
But every single topic has that sensitive part about it. So for diabetes, it could be
anywhere where politics and religion gets in the way. Or, ethics for that matter. So,
stem cell research -- people have very strong opinions pro or against them. So, if someone
starts discussion about it or health care reform, Republican or Democrat from very different
places, it can get ugly very fast, and it does.
So, you need to know that that's going to happen. And you need to be prepared for that,
and what you're going to do in that case so establishing some clear guidelines -- clear
rules as to what will happen, don't make them up at the moment of, although some things
you cannot be fully prepared for, but somethings you can anticipate, so what's acceptable behavior?
I always use the example of, if you have… I don't know in the current Terms of Use if
it would fly or not, but let's say for argument's sake that you had a nudist social network.
So, I mean, in the nudist community, it would be completely acceptable in fact it would
be expected for you to, you know, be naked. And it's fine. But that would clearly not
be acceptable in TuDiabetes.
So, that's a good reference. So, what's acceptable? What's fair play? And, if you don't abide
by this, what will happen? And then, exemplify what constitutes, you know, the expected behavior
-- what do we want you to do. So we created a thing called the "Values of TuDiabetes."
And, we keep refreshing -- we have the Terms of Use and the privacy in it. We had to get
the help of an attorney for that, I mean you have to get those. Once there was the possibility
to have those complimenting the Ning ones (Terms of Service), that was great because
you have some specific needs and some elements that pertain to medical use, and you cannot
take this as medical advice, and this is no way meant to substitute what your doctor says,
and so on. But that's like, nobody ever reads that, so it has to be like really, you know,
boom, boom, boom, bullet - with examples if at all possible.
And exemplify it through what you do, what you say in your network, when you're interviewing,
when you participate, and when you have step in.
That balance between, you know, staying, holding -- and jumping in, I'd say is probably one
of the biggest challenges because especially the fact, and it's likely to be the case,
if you're passionate about the topic, you're likely going to have an opinion about it.
So, let's say, if it is stem cell research, or healthcare reform, or your choice of an
insulin pump, for that matter. There's people who are very adamant about a particular pump
-- I don't it -- but they get really passionate. This is the right one, this is the wrong one…
it's like okay!
So, you have to exemplify, walk the talk. You know, if you're saying that this is what's
expected, you have to do it as well. And maybe, that doesn't mean you don't, Emily was asking
me yesterday, 'Okay, so now I'm not just a member of the network, I'm also a staff of
D.H.F." I was like, as long as you don't, you're not planning on, you know -- just posting
naked pictures -- exactly, something like that, you're more than entitled to your personal
opinion, but stated as such.
And other than that, abide by the guidelines because you're exemplifying what you're expecting
others to do.
That is very important, I think because it sets the tone for what people can expect.
If they leave, and they return, if they haven't been to the community in a while, or if they
see a situation or crisis of any kind, they have an idea of what to expect as an outcome,
and expect as an environment. And describe it as a safe place for people to talk about
[Fill in the name].
Or, you know a place you would never want to go back to. If you're not doing a good
job of enforcing those rules that you're saying you're enforcing. So that, I think that has
to do, we see in the case of TuDiabetes, we see about a 40% rate of returning members,
depending on how long that you know, how you've measured that over, it roughly is that way.
So people, there's a lot of churn, there's a ton of communities out there that are doing
similar things, but we feel it's important to, what we say we're doing, we've been doing
it well, and keep at it. You know, again, if there's a particular situation that requires
us to intervene, to do so if we just need to let the community resolve things itself
because they need to talk this out, as long as they don't kill each other, you know, you
need to step back.
So, I think that balance is tough but it's important an important once to develop.