Final Weigh-In on SEOChat

I promised a post that offered closure on the SEOChat issue. Here are the list of events:

1. SEOChat admins instituted some changes to the forum software
2. Members began complaining vehemently, particularly with regards to the “nofollow” links on signatures (which one can only earn by posting 100 or more times and spending 90 days on the forum)
3. Admins and some Mods began deleting threads criticizing the decision and banning longtime members (and mods) who criticized the decisions
4. I encouraged some folks to move to Cre8asite – there’s about 65+ ex-chatters there as of tonight
5. An SEOChat admin offered an apology and requested that members return
6. I invited several of the folks I liked/respected most at SEOChat into private discussions regarding the situation; primarily to help understand some of the non-public information that helped influence my decision and that of many others.
7. A member of that private discussion group shared some private info with folks at SEOChat – which got me very upset.
8. It’s possible that I overreacted by banning that person from private discussions.
9. More misinterpretation of events followed and more ugliness is now in progress.
10. Please get me out of here!!

I have a lot of regret about this situation. Whereas I normally feel like there’s an obvious right and wrong, in this situation, there are several members at SEOChat that I haven’t resolved with and I fear that there may be long-term angst and broken relationships with people that would, under different circumstances, have been colleagues and friends.

Conflict resolution isn’t something I relish and this situation is certainly a bad one. Integrating lots of rowdy, angry ex-chatters into cre8asite hasn’t been easy, nor has handling criticism and opinions from every side in my email, private messages, comments and at the forums in public and private. This is an event I’ll be happy to put behind me.

There is a positive to this experience – I now feel much more comfortable about where I spend my forum time and contributions. The admins/mods there are friends and colleagues – people I love to read comments from; people whose goals and motivations are for education, community building and personal growth. So, enough with conflict, enough with moderation and arbitration and trying to temper emotions – as of now, this conflict is over (at least at SEOmoz). Time to get back to posting good stories about the industry and helping people learn.

Thanks to everyone who’s supported the move to cre8 and everyone who’s kept the debate and discourse civil, even when they disagree. Although I won’t be in Chicago for SES, I hope to see you all in NYC next year. I’m also trying to speak at the Tokyo SES show in late April – more on that to come.