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Moderating a group chat

Hopefully, you’ll never be in a tricky situation; but sometimes people can troll, spam or act against XR’s Principles and Values on group chats. In general, this is less likely to happen on closed, secure chats, but it is a good idea to have ‘agreed in advance’ rules for this type of behaviour. It is important to make sure difficult or contentious situations don’t escalate.

  1. Always make sure there are at least three trusted admins to moderate the chat. Create a separate (private) chat for these moderators, so there’s a space for people to support each other in response to questions or queries. MakeTake sureturns thatto only admins can add members or accessdo the invitemoderation. link

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  2. settings, turn off the group link (there is no group link in WhatsApp).

    Name the chat and use the header/description to make it clear what the chat is and why people have been added. Make sure that only admins can add members or access the invite link - turn off the group link in settings (there is no group link in WhatsApp). Be aware of where the invite links are posted, e.g. don't add private invite links to the Rebel Toolkit - spammers will find these and join your group chats.

  3. Create a group agreement. It is up to your group what rules you agree to, but it is best to ensure these rules are agreed to in advance. It also helps for rules to be the same on all platforms you are using to communicate. Ensure that when people sign up to the group they are pointed to the group agreement so they know what they are agreeing to, or that they are shown it before joining the group. Link the group agreement from the chat header/description

  4. Welcome newcomers. Answer questions and make sure people feel heard. Regularly Remind each other of chat etiquette

  5. Block and report spammers. See here for how to manage spammers in Telegram.

  6. Avoid posting sensitive action info, naming organisers or any info which can later be used as evidence. Also be aware that infiltration is common on open chats, so don’t share anything that can be used against people as evidence.

  7. If a member of the group keeps posting off-topic messages or dominating the space respectfully ask them to stay on track, or switch to a more suitable channel. Create another space for them to be heard. If they continue, follow up with a direct message, or ultimately consider blocking them from the chat with an explanation. Make sure that moderators follow the policy and are ready to be challenged and justify removals.

  8. If people leave the chat in response to a post, this is a sign of overheating - slow down, pause and reflect.

  9. Follow a ‘two strikes and you’re out’ policy. On the first occasion of ‘misbehaviour’ an admin should remove the person/people from the group, private message them to explain they have been removed, and calmly explain why (citing the rules you have agreed to). On the group chat itself that they have been removed from, explain that you have removed them from the group and why. If you have a group agreement in place most people will know the policy and know what will happen if there is bad behaviour on a group chat. You may decide in your group on a zero-tolerance policy for some misbehaviour.

  10. Give the removed person a cooling-off period and discuss re-adding them to the group provided they are willing to follow the group agreement. Ideally, if the person is happy to apologise, and wants to be added back into the group then you can add them back in, on the basis that there is only one more chance. As we said, if this is covered in the group agreement policy in advance, and everyone knows what happens in a bad behaviour situation, then nobody should be upset about this. Once that person has been let back into the group, admins should ensure that ongoing conversations are monitored and enforce the ‘two strikes and you are out policy’. If necessary, you may need to remove them from the group conversations permanently, and you may also want to assess whether or not you want them involved in the XR Local Group, Community Group, or Working Group at all.

  11. You may decide in your group on a zero-tolerance policy for some misbehaviour. For example: spamming (so spammers are removed straight away) and also inappropriate sexual behaviour, stalking behaviours, violent threats etc. Here's how to effectively remove spammers from Telegram chats.

  12. With the other moderators (ideally 3 or more) take turns to do the moderation, and make sure there is some kind of system where you know who is covering what and if somebody is going to be away (So you are not all away and off chat at the same time!) Make sure you support each other because it can be quite stressful if it all kicks off on a chat. Just make sure that moderators also follow the policy, and are ready to be challenged and justify the removals from a group - so make sure you choose people who understand the rules that the group have agreed on and are tactful and not using it as a power trip!

  13. If something comes up that is part of a long-running dispute that you do not feel able to deal with within the group, we recommend that you contact the XR Transformative Conflicts team by emailing xr-conflict@protonmail.com

We know that this task seems a bit onerous at first and everyone is generally quite happy on XR chats, but we really can’t stress enough how important it is to make sure difficult or contentious situations don’t escalate and also that everybody knows what the rules of behaviour are on the chats.

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