Yesterday I wrote an article on how new visitors to the Yuvutu chatrooms can more easily integrate themselves into the community. Today I'm going to write about how we, the more established members of the community, might be able to help improve the Yuvutu experience through our own participation and interaction. This might also be useful to some of our new moderators that have been brought on board recently. Again, keep in mind that I myself am not an admin/mod/owner/whatever, just more of a "concerned citizen".  :-)

You'll notice that I frequently refer to Yuvutu as a community, because this is more than just a website where we all hang out and perv. We meet people, we become friends, sometimes we get to meet in person, but frequently we often find at least one or two people that we have formed good relationships with and make a conscious effort to come here and communicate. It's a great experience, but to continue to to ensure that it is great, it might be helpful to keep in mind how we communicate with others often dictates that.

I've noticed a trend in some of the more regular users that they are becoming less tollerant of those that we label "trolls" - individuals who constantly beg for attention, bark orders, demand action from those on cam, or otherwise disregard the rules. I've also, unfortunately, noticed that this is starting to overflow onto new users who are not exactly on the same page as the rest of us when it comes to chatroom etiquette and community standards. As a result if a new user comes on board and says something that we don't consider to be courteous or respectful, there has been a call to block the user so that we don't have to read their messages, and they can't watch our cams or listen to our audio.

However, let me offer you this perspective from the end of new visitor here. Say somebody new shows up, they're perving on somebody's cam in the room, and they say "Hey, can I see your pussy?". Said person on cam gets offended, along with a few others, and everybody is suddenly saying "BLOCK!", and many in the room block this person. They don't offer to ask the new person to curb their behavior, in fact, they don't want anything to do with the new person at all. Suddenly, the new person can see that he or she is no longer seeing their conversations, and when they click on somebody's webcam or audio, they're notified that they've been blocked. They ask in the forum why they've been blocked, but nobody can see their text either. Or if somebody does see it, they tell the new person that they've been blocked and it is no use begging to be unblocked. Worse yet, some users decide that it is appropriate behavior to call this new person names or to harass them in an attempt to chase them off.
 
Now, put yourself into that new person's shoes. They're not aware of the community standards, most of which are unwritten and merely expected to be known. Nobody has tried to explain to them what they are, and most of the other people here have either cut off communications with the new person, or has abused them. How would you feel if you were treated in this fashion? Unfortunately, for many new visitors, they're going to end up taking one of three stances: 1) There are some people here who are unfriendly, and therefore it is okay to be hostile back towards them; 2) Everybody here is a jerk so it is okay to treat everybody else like a jerk; 3) This place stinks and there's somewhere else to go, and the new person leaves, never to return.

Why should we all care about this? We should care because our behavior towards other people reflects on the community as a whole, and if the impression is that this is a bad place to visit, then Yuvutu will be treated as a bad place by others. There's an old saying in the marketing world that if somebody has a good experience somewhere, they will tell three other people about it, but if they have a bad experience somewhere, they'll tell nine other people about it. If Yuvutu earns a negative reputation on the Internet, a place where rumors and lies can be spread instantly around the globe, then Yuvutu will end up becoming a much smaller, more unfriendly place and eventually dry up and go away.

So here is how you can help improve the Yuvutu community:
 
1) If you see somebody behaving badly, POLITELY correct them. You can send them a message privately or you can post it in the room, let them know that their behavior is discourteous and discouraged. If you think it is helpful, you can even point them back to my blog post aimed at helping new visitors (apparently some people are already do this, thank you for your confidence in my thoughts!). We do not have to automatically jump on their case or block them. Give them the benefit of the doubt first that they just don't know.

And to that extent, before you decide to correct them, reflect on whether or not their behavior is detrimental to the chatroom. For example, if somebody is on cam showing and a lot of people are giving requests, but the person on cam is not complaining, or is even encouraging it, are they actually hurting anybody? Consider the situation first.

2) Take some time to get to know the new users.  It's very easy to get roped into our close-knit circle of friends and only talk with them. Sometimes, however, this can give off an impression that there is nothing here but unapproachable and closed-off cliques. Presenting yourself as open and approachable can often take the edge off a new visitor and encourage them to participate in a positive manner.

3) If they continue to engage in bad behavior, report it to a moderator. You do not have to take it upon yourself to try to punish users engaging in bad behavior. We now have moderators here who can take action when they see it. I don't know if a list of moderators is going to be published, but you can certainly ask around and find out who they are and when they are online. Let the moderators take the heat. The moderators are able to come into busy rooms, and if worse comes to worse, kick those users out of the rooms on a temporary basis. 

If there isn't a moderator around, then use the "Feedback" link at the top of the website to report the offending behavior. If you can, provide a screenshot of what is going on so that the administrators can clearly see what is happening and take action. They'll e-mail you back if they have any further questions.

Hopefully this is helpful to all who read it, and maybe if we can work together, we can turn around some of the negative things that have been happening. Most of all, I just want to see Yuvutu continue as a thriving and friendly community where we can perv and be perved. ;-)