The MacSerial Community meltdown has some big lessons, particularly in the context of these days of "Web 2.0″ and "user-generated content". It also speaks loudly to the questions raised, debated and debated again in the wake of the events leading to Kathy Sierra's decision to stop blogging. It involves cyberbullying and power plays, and in the best human tradition, reads like a soap opera. But this meltdown is distinctive - it was over two years in the making and involved trusted volunteers. The genesis of the conflict appears to begin two years ago, when two moderators came into conflict with each other. One was ready to strip the other of their mod powers when they withdrew to their own server, voluntarily resigning mod powers. However, the underlying conflict was not resolved and was driven farther underground.
The lessons learned for community creators include: Visibly manage volunteers; Stay active and visible in the community; Don't let resentments fester; and, Define community boundaries, communicate them, and enforce the rules.
