Moderating isn’t removing negative posts, anyone can do that. It’s the skill of not removing negative posts.
When you remove a post, you tell the author s/he can’t express themselves. Sometimes that’s good. Your community isn’t a place for racist views. But often, too often, it’s very bad.
Peck believes the first stage of a community is politeness. Key words: first stage. The second is chaos, where members express themselves. You should treat negative posts as progress, not problems.
You don’t want your members to get along all the time. It’s boring. Members can’t express themselves. They feel inhibited, forced to be polite. They can never develop real bonds with other members, only open expression (including disagreements) can do that.
Overzealous community moderators will keep your community in stage 1. Good ones push them into chaos (stage 2), where the open expression happens.
Good community managers love heated debates, it’s shows progress. Bad ones force everyone to get along.
