Community Strategy Insights

The latest insights on community strategy, technology, and value by FeverBee’s founder, Richard Millington

The “Company Censored Me” Trap

Richard Millington
Richard Millington

Founder of FeverBee

Here’s a common narrative. A member complains about an issue in your community.

She complains about every discussion, posts personal details of staff members to complain too, keeps going until she’s removed.

Then she writes to relevant people or different publications claiming she’s being censored by the website for criticising the company.

Sometimes it’s a deliberate trap (like a terminated employee seeking a letter of reference) sometimes it’s just a natural journey of anger.

I’d estimate the majority of ‘website censored me’ stories are really ‘member was a nuisance to others’ stories.

Take screenshots of the bad behavior (before removing it). Remove all but one of the repetitive spam criticisms. Reply to this one message with clear instructions and steps in how to be heard. Provide a direct email contact to resolve the problem and a clear warning about spamming the community. If you ban her, keep the post available for others to see (hard to argue you’re censored when the post is still there).

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