What can a community manager do when members become too critical? With Community Director Ami Defesche

Dear Bri: Community Strategy, Fiascos, and Drama

In this episode, the inspiration stems from a late-night LinkedIn DM from a distressed community manager handling a tumultuous Discord community. They felt overwhelmed and discouraged by all the suggestions and criticism constantly comming from community members.

To better help Discordant on Discord, I invited Ami Defesche as my guest expert. Ami is a community builder with a passion for helping dreamers and doers in small business. She's currently the community director at Wildcard Alliance — and formerly at Intuit and Blackbaud.

As an experienced community builder, Ami shared strategies and tools for managing overwhelming feedback and toxic behavior in rapidly expanding communities. So, tune in to learn about the importance of mission statements, setting boundaries, and self-care practices for community managers.

In this episode:

(03:01) The Communitea: Discordant on Discord’s letter

(04:43) The Challenges of Managing a Discord Community

(06:15) Strategies for Managing Community Feedback

(12:48) Tools and Techniques for Community Moderation

(20:29) What to Do if You’re Starting a Discord Community Today

(23:52) Self-Care for Community Managers

Expect: Community strategy, online community building best practices, and community growth strategies.

Resources Mentioned:

❤️ Sign up for Heartbeat. Bri’s recommended all-in-one community platform.

💛 Join Ember. The place for go-getter community creators building community-powered businesses.

Noteworthy quotes:

“If you're going to start a community anywhere, start as best as you can with the thought that one day it's going to have 10, 000 people in it […] What would you want in place to make sure that was a productive group?” - Ami Defesche

“You have quite a bit of agency as the moderator, as the community manager to set the framework for how members behave in this space and what you expect of them.“ - Bri Leever

“My dad always said: ‘avoid creating a policy where what’s required is a hard conversation.’” - Bri Leever

Ami Defesche

Ami Defesche is a community builder with a passion for helping the dreamers and doers in small business. Currently the Community Director at Wildcard Alliance, formerly Intuit and Blackbaud.

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Bri Leever

Bri got her start building a community and growing it to a multi-million dollar revenue stream for a social enterprise in Portland, OR. Now, she supports folks used to running their business on content, coaching, and consulting to create their community offer. She's a Community Strategist by day and a Campervan host by night on the Big Island of Hawaii and you'll usually find her on, in, or under the water.

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And before you go…

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