community-management

Use this skill when building community programs, moderating forums, creating advocacy programs, or managing feedback loops. Triggers on community management, forum moderation, advocacy programs, community engagement, feedback loops, community metrics, and any task requiring community strategy or operations.

What is community-management?

Quick Start

Open your terminal or command prompt
Run: npx skills add AbsolutelySkilled/AbsolutelySkilled --skill community-management
Start your AI coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, or any supported agent)
The community-management skill is now active and ready to use

Overview Files

community-management

community-management is a production-ready AI agent skill for claude-code, gemini-cli, openai-codex. Building community programs, moderating forums, creating advocacy programs, or managing feedback loops.

Quick Facts

Field	Value
Category	operations
Version	0.1.0
Platforms	claude-code, gemini-cli, openai-codex
License	MIT

How to Install

Make sure you have Node.js installed on your machine.
Run the following command in your terminal:

npx skills add AbsolutelySkilled/AbsolutelySkilled --skill community-management

The community-management skill is now available in your AI coding agent (Claude Code, Gemini CLI, OpenAI Codex, etc.).

Overview

Community management is the discipline of building, nurturing, and sustaining groups of people united around a shared interest, product, or goal. Done well, a community becomes a durable competitive moat - members recruit each other, generate content, surface problems, and amplify launches. Done poorly, it becomes a moderation burden and a reputation liability.

This skill covers the full lifecycle: strategy and positioning, day-to-day moderation, member advocacy programs, engagement design, feedback loops, and the metrics that tell you whether any of it is working.

Platforms

claude-code
gemini-cli
openai-codex

Related Skills

Pair community-management with these complementary skills:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is community-management?

How do I install community-management?

Run npx skills add AbsolutelySkilled/AbsolutelySkilled --skill community-management in your terminal. The skill will be immediately available in your AI coding agent.

What AI agents support community-management?

This skill works with claude-code, gemini-cli, openai-codex. Install it once and use it across any supported AI coding agent.

Maintainers

@maddhruv

Generated from AbsolutelySkilled

SKILL.md

Community Management

When to use this skill

Trigger this skill when the user:

Designs a community strategy or chooses a platform
Writes or audits community guidelines and moderation policies
Creates an ambassador, champion, or advocate program
Plans engagement programs (events, challenges, office hours)
Builds feedback loops from community back to product or leadership
Defines community health metrics or builds a reporting dashboard
Scales community operations (hiring, tooling, automation)

Do NOT trigger this skill for:

Pure social media marketing or paid ad campaigns (use a marketing skill instead)
Internal company culture programs (those are people-ops, not community management)

Key principles

Community is a garden, not a broadcast channel - You tend it; you do not control it. Members talk to each other, not just to you. Your job is to create conditions where good things grow, then get out of the way.
The 1-9-90 participation rule - In any community, roughly 1% create original content, 9% contribute (reply, react, upvote), and 90% lurk. Do not design only for the 1%. Lurkers get value, generate SEO, and often become contributors later. Measure reach, not just posts.
Moderation sets culture - What you allow is what you become. If you tolerate low-effort negativity, your community fills with it. Enforce rules consistently and early. The first 100 members set the tone for the next 100,000.
Value before extraction - Ask nothing of your community until you have given generously. Answer questions, write guides, make introductions, celebrate member wins. An ask for a survey, testimonial, or referral lands differently when you have a deposit history.
Measure engagement depth, not vanity - Monthly active members and reply rate tell you more than follower count. A community of 500 people who help each other daily is more valuable than 50,000 who never interact.

Core concepts

Community types

Type	Primary value	Examples
Product community	Support deflection + feedback	Figma, Linear, Notion communities
Developer community	Ecosystem growth + advocacy	GitHub, Stripe, Twilio DevRel
Interest/hobby community	Connection + identity	Subreddits, Discord servers
Customer success community	Retention + expansion	Enterprise user groups
Professional/learning	Career growth + networking	Dev.to, Hashnode, alumni networks

Knowing the type determines success metrics, content strategy, and moderation bar.

Engagement ladder

Members move through stages. Design experiences for each transition:

Aware -> Lurker -> Reactor -> Contributor -> Champion -> Leader
  |         |          |            |             |           |
discovery  reads     likes/     posts/         creates      co-runs
 content   only     reacts     replies         content    programs

Most programs focus on converting Lurkers to Reactors (low friction - add emoji reactions, polls, "introduce yourself" threads) and Contributors to Champions (recognition, early access, direct feedback access).

Moderation approaches

Approach	When to use	Trade-off
Reactive	Small/early community	Low overhead, slow to catch issues
Proactive	Scaled community	Prevents problems, requires mod team
AI-assisted	High-volume channels	Fast + consistent, misses context
Community self-moderation	Mature, trusted community	Scalable, requires strong culture
Graduated enforcement	Default for most communities	Fair, builds trust, reduces appeals

Community metrics

Health metrics (weekly review):

Daily/monthly active members (DAU/MAU ratio - above 10% is healthy)
Question response rate and time-to-first-response
New member 7-day retention (did they come back after joining?)
Member-to-member reply ratio (community helping itself vs staff only)

Growth metrics (monthly review):

New member growth rate
Top-of-funnel sources (organic search, product in-app, referral)
Activation rate (lurker -> first post within 30 days)

Business impact metrics (quarterly):

Support ticket deflection rate
NPS delta (community members vs non-members)
Feature adoption driven by community education
Qualified leads or expansions attributed to community

Common tasks

Design a community strategy

Use this framework to scope a community before building it:

Define the community job-to-be-done - What will members get that they cannot get elsewhere? Be specific. "Connect with peers" is not specific enough. "Get unblocked on [product] integrations within 2 hours" is.

Choose the right platform - Match the platform to member behavior:

Member behavior	Platform
Async Q&A, SEO-friendly	Discourse, GitHub Discussions
Real-time chat	Discord, Slack
Long-form content	Circle, Beehiiv
Professional network	LinkedIn Group
Developer-native	GitHub Discussions, Dev.to

Define the success metric for month 1, 6, and 12 - Month 1 is activation (10+ active members, first unanswered question answered by a peer). Month 6 is habit (DAU/MAU above 8%). Month 12 is impact (support deflection, NPS lift).
Write the founding documents - Community purpose statement, code of conduct, and welcome message. These set culture before scale forces you to enforce it.

Build moderation guidelines

A moderation policy template:

## [Community Name] Community Guidelines

### What this community is for
[One paragraph on the community's purpose and who it's for]

### What we expect from members
- Be helpful: answer questions you know, ask questions clearly
- Be respectful: disagree with ideas, not people
- Be on-topic: [specific scope e.g. "questions about the API, not general JS"]
- Be real: no impersonation, spam, or promotional posts without disclosure

### What will get you removed
- Harassment, hate speech, or personal attacks
- Spam, affiliate links, or undisclosed promotion
- Sharing private information without consent
- Deliberately spreading misinformation

### Enforcement ladder
1. Post removed (no warning needed for clear violations)
2. Public or private warning
3. 7-day suspension
4. Permanent ban

### Appeals
Email [address] with your username and a description of what happened.
We review appeals within 3 business days.

See references/moderation-playbook.md for escalation procedures and edge cases.

Create an advocacy / champions program

A structured advocate program creates a high-trust inner circle that amplifies content, provides product feedback, and helps new members.

Program tiers (3-tier model works well for most communities):

Tier	Name	Requirements	Benefits
1	Contributor	90 days active, 10+ helpful posts	Badge, early blog features
2	Champion	6 months, referred 5+ members	Private Slack, beta access, swag
3	Ambassador	12+ months, created community content	Co-marketing, advisory council seat

Program launch checklist:

Define nomination criteria (quantitative + qualitative)
Build a private channel or space for advocates
Create a benefit matrix (what they get at each tier)
Write the welcome packet (expectations, perks, how to get help)
Set up quarterly touchpoints (call or async update)
Build a way to graduate/remove advocates who go inactive

Design engagement programs

Recurring programs sustain activity between product launches:

Weekly threads - "Show and tell Friday" or "What are you building?" reduce the barrier for sharing. Templates make posting easy.
Office hours - Monthly live Q&A with a founder, PM, or engineer builds trust and generates questions the docs should answer.
Community challenges - 30-day build challenge or integration hackathon drives activation. Small prizes (credits, merch) beat large cash prizes for engagement.
Member spotlights - Interview a power user monthly. Signals that contribution is recognized. Converts lurkers who aspire to be featured.
Onboarding drip - Automated welcome sequence: day 0 intro post prompt, day 3 resource digest, day 7 "have you tried X?" nudge. Dramatically improves new member retention.

Implement feedback loops

Two types of feedback loop matter:

Community -> Product:

Maintain a public roadmap or idea board (Canny, GitHub Discussions, Linear)
Tag and route feature requests from community to PM weekly
Close the loop: comment on ideas when shipped, declined, or deprioritized
Run quarterly "community pulse" surveys (5 questions, NPS + 4 open-ended)

Product -> Community:

Pre-announce features to advocates 2 weeks before launch for feedback
Share release notes in community first, before email
Post a "why we built this" explanation, not just "here's what's new"
Create a changelog thread where members can comment and ask questions

Measure community health

Build a simple dashboard updated weekly:

Community Health Dashboard - [Week of DATE]

ENGAGEMENT
  MAU:                  [N] (vs [N-1] last week, [N-52] last year)
  DAU/MAU ratio:        [X%]  target: >8%
  New members (7d):     [N]
  New member 7d return: [X%]  target: >25%

SELF-SERVICE
  Questions posted:     [N]
  % answered by peers:  [X%]  target: >60%
  Median time to reply: [Xh]  target: <4h

ADVOCACY
  Active champions:     [N]
  Content created by members: [N pieces]

TOP TOPICS THIS WEEK
  1. [topic]
  2. [topic]
  3. [topic]  <- feed to PM weekly

Scale community operations

Signs you need to scale: response time exceeds 4 hours, mod queue grows faster than you clear it, no single person knows what happened last week.

Scaling steps in order:

Document everything first - Playbooks, moderation guidelines, onboarding scripts. Undocumented processes cannot be delegated.
Promote community moderators - Trusted members make excellent part-time mods. Lower cost, higher trust from community, deep context.
Automate the repetitive - Welcome messages, FAQ responses, link-to-docs for common questions. Tools: Zapier, Community.com, or Discord bots.
Hire a community manager - When paid staff is needed, hire for empathy and writing quality first, platform expertise second.
Add a second platform only if members demand it - Resist the urge to be everywhere. Every additional platform splits attention and quality.

Anti-patterns

Anti-pattern	Why it fails	What to do instead
Launch and abandon	Community stalls without consistent presence; members feel ignored	Commit to a minimum weekly activity level before launching
Megaphone mode	Broadcasting announcements with no dialogue; members disengage	Reply to every post for the first 90 days; model conversation
Inconsistent moderation	Enforcing rules for some members but not others breeds resentment	Write rules down; apply them to everyone including your champions
Vanity metric focus	Optimizing for member count inflates numbers without engagement	Report DAU/MAU ratio and peer reply rate alongside member count
Extracting before giving	Asking for surveys, testimonials, or referrals from a cold audience	Build a history of value before any ask; follow the 10:1 give-to-ask ratio
Scaling platform before culture	Launching on five platforms before one is healthy	One platform, one community, fully activated before expansion

Gotchas

Launching before minimum viable activity exists - A community that opens to the public with zero existing content and no seeded discussions looks like a ghost town. New members arrive, see nothing happening, and leave permanently. Seed 20-30 high-quality posts and recruit 10-15 active founding members before any public launch.
Inconsistent early moderation sets permanent culture - The first 100 members watch what you allow. If you let one snarky reply or off-topic promotion slide because the member seems valuable, you've told everyone that rules are negotiable. Apply the guidelines uniformly from day one, including to champions and early advocates.
Onboarding drip through the wrong channel - A welcome email sequence works only if new members gave an email address. On Discord or Slack, members may join without providing email. Build the onboarding drip natively in the platform (pinned welcome messages, introductions channel, bot prompts) rather than relying on email for activation.
Platform migration destroys community momentum - Moving from Slack to Discord or Discourse to Circle requires re-importing content, re-authenticating members, and rebuilding integrations. Most communities lose 40-60% of active members during a migration. Only migrate when the current platform has a fundamental limitation; don't chase the newest tool.
Measuring success by member count, not engagement - A community of 50,000 members with a 0.5% DAU/MAU ratio is dead. Report the ratio, not the raw count, to stakeholders. Optimization for follower count (e.g., paid social to grow the number) produces empty membership with no real community value.

References

references/moderation-playbook.md - Moderation policies, escalation procedures, and edge case handling. Load when writing or auditing community guidelines.

Only load the references file when the current task requires detailed moderation policy or escalation procedure depth.

References

advocacy-programs.md

Advocacy Programs

Program types

Type	Size	Commitment	Best for
Ambassador program	10-30 people	High (10+ hrs/month)	External representation, content creation
Champion program	20-50 people	Medium (5-8 hrs/month)	Internal community support, mentoring
MVP program	5-15 people	High (15+ hrs/month)	Technical communities, deep expertise
Advisory board	5-10 people	Low (2-4 hrs/month)	Strategic input, product direction

Application template

Use this template for ambassador/champion applications:

[Community Name] Ambassador Program - Application

1. Your name and community username:
2. How long have you been a member?
3. What do you do professionally?
4. Why do you want to join the ambassador program? (2-3 sentences)
5. What would you like to contribute? (Select all that apply)
   [ ] Create tutorials or guides
   [ ] Host or co-host events
   [ ] Answer questions and mentor members
   [ ] Represent the community at external events
   [ ] Create social media content
   [ ] Help with community moderation
   [ ] Other: ___
6. How many hours per month can you commit?
   [ ] 2-5 hours
   [ ] 5-10 hours
   [ ] 10+ hours
7. Link to 1-2 examples of your community contributions (posts, answers, etc.)
8. Anything else you'd like us to know?

Selection criteria scoring

Score each application on a 1-5 scale across these dimensions:

Criterion	Weight	What to look for
Community tenure	15%	Active for 3+ months, consistent participation
Quality of contributions	30%	Helpful, accurate, well-written posts
Alignment with values	20%	Tone matches guidelines, positive interactions
Relevant expertise	15%	Domain knowledge that fills a gap in current advocates
Commitment level	20%	Realistic time commitment, specific contribution ideas

Minimum qualifying score: 3.5/5.0 weighted average. Interview candidates scoring 3.5-4.0. Auto-accept candidates scoring above 4.0 (still conduct a welcome call).

Onboarding new advocates

Week 1 - Welcome

Welcome call (30 min) with community lead
Add to private advocate channel
Share advocate handbook (see below)
Pair with an existing advocate as a buddy

Week 2-3 - Ramp

Shadow an existing advocate at an event
Complete first contribution (one post or one Q&A session)
Attend advocate-only sync meeting

Week 4 - Independent

Lead or co-lead their first activity
Check-in call with community lead (15 min)
Set goals for first quarter

Advocate handbook outline

Create a handbook covering:

Program overview - Mission, values, what success looks like
Expectations - Monthly minimums, meeting cadence, response time expectations
Benefits - Complete list with how to access each one
Resources - Brand assets, content templates, talking points
Communication channels - Where to ask for help, report issues, share ideas
Content guidelines - What they can and cannot say publicly on behalf of the community
Offboarding - How to step down gracefully, alumni status

Benefits menu

Offer a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic benefits:

Recognition (intrinsic)

Public advocate profile on community website
Special badge/role in community platform
Featured in monthly community newsletter
LinkedIn recommendation letter from community lead

Access (intrinsic)

Direct line to product team (private channel or monthly call)
Early access to new features or content
Input on community roadmap and program design
Invitation to internal company events (virtual or in-person)

Tangible (extrinsic)

Annual swag package (quality over quantity - one good item beats five cheap ones)
Conference ticket sponsorship (1-2 per year for top advocates)
Gift cards or stipend for content creation expenses
Reference or portfolio material for career development

Quarterly review process

Every 90 days, review each advocate:

Activity check - Did they meet monthly minimums?
Quality check - Was their content/support high quality?
Engagement check - Are they active in the advocate channel?
Satisfaction check - 5-minute survey: "How's the program going?"

Possible outcomes

Thriving - Exceeding expectations. Offer expanded role or additional benefits.
On track - Meeting expectations. Acknowledge and encourage.
Declining - Below expectations. 1:1 conversation to understand why. Offer support or reduced commitment tier.
Inactive - No activity for 30+ days. Check in personally. If no response in 14 days, move to alumni status with an open invitation to return.

Measuring advocacy ROI

Track these metrics to justify program investment:

Metric	How to measure	Target
Content created	Posts, guides, videos by advocates	3-5 pieces per advocate per month
Questions answered	Replies from advocates marked as helpful	30% of all answered questions
Members recruited	New members attributed to advocate referrals	10-20 new members per quarter
Events hosted	Events led or co-led by advocates	2-4 events per advocate per quarter
NPS of advocate program	Survey advocates directly	Above 50
Cost per advocate	Total program cost / number of advocates	Track trend, not absolute

Scaling the program

Program size	Cadence	Management needs
Under 10 advocates	Monthly group call + async channel	5 hrs/week community lead time
10-25 advocates	Bi-weekly group call + regional sub-groups	10 hrs/week, consider part-time coordinator
25-50 advocates	Weekly async updates + monthly call + annual summit	Dedicated program manager
Over 50 advocates	Tiered structure with advocate leads managing sub-groups	1-2 FTE program team

Graceful offboarding

When an advocate leaves:

Thank them publicly (with their permission)
Grant "Alumni" badge/role
Keep them in a lighter-touch alumni channel
Ask for exit feedback (what worked, what didn't)
Leave the door open: "You're welcome back anytime"

engagement-frameworks.md

Engagement Frameworks

The engagement ladder in practice

Each rung of the engagement ladder requires different nudges:

Level	Behavior	Nudge to next level
Lurker	Reads content, never posts	Low-friction polls, emoji reactions, "click to agree"
Contributor	Posts occasionally (1-2x/month)	Tag in relevant threads, ask their opinion directly
Regular	Posts weekly, replies to others	Invite to beta programs, ask to co-host an event
Champion	Helps others, creates original content	Formal recognition, moderator nomination, exclusive access
Advocate	Represents community externally	Ambassador program, speaking opportunities, co-creation

Onboarding sequence

Day 0 - Welcome message

Welcome to [community]! We're glad you're here.

Here are 3 things to do in your first 5 minutes:
1. Introduce yourself in #introductions - tell us what you're working on
2. Read our community guidelines: [link]
3. Check out this week's discussion: [link to active thread]

Questions? Ask in #help or DM any moderator. We don't bite.

Day 2 - Value message

Hey [name], hope you're settling in!

Here are the 3 most popular resources our members love:
- [Resource 1] - [one-line description]
- [Resource 2] - [one-line description]
- [Resource 3] - [one-line description]

Found something useful? Share it in #general - others will thank you for it.

Day 5 - Connection message

Hi [name]! Quick heads up - we have [event name] coming up on [date].

It's a great way to meet other members and [specific benefit]. No prep needed.

RSVP here: [link]

See you there!

Day 14 - Check-in

Hey [name], you've been with us for 2 weeks now!

Quick question: what's one thing you wish was easier to find in this community?

Your feedback helps us make this space better for everyone.

Event formats

Weekly recurring events

Format	Duration	Best for	Structure
Office hours	30-60 min	Q&A with experts	Open mic, first-come-first-served questions
Show and tell	45 min	Showcasing member work	5 min per presenter, 2 min Q&A each
Study group	60 min	Learning together	Pre-assigned reading, guided discussion
Co-working session	90 min	Accountability	Brief check-in, silent work, closing share

Monthly events

Format	Duration	Best for	Structure
AMA (Ask Me Anything)	60 min	Expert access	Collect questions in advance, live answers
Workshop	90 min	Skill building	Demo + hands-on exercise + Q&A
Retrospective	30 min	Community reflection	What went well, what to improve, action items
Challenge kickoff	30 min	Engagement spikes	Announce theme, rules, prizes, show past winners

Quarterly events

Format	Duration	Best for	Structure
Community summit	Half day	Deep connection	Keynote + breakouts + networking
Hackathon	1-3 days	Creation energy	Teams, theme, judging criteria, prizes
Awards ceremony	60 min	Recognition	Categories, nominations, voting, announcements

Gamification patterns

Use gamification sparingly. It should amplify existing value, not replace it.

Points system (if applicable)

Action	Points	Rationale
First post	10	Reward breaking the ice
Reply that gets marked as answer	25	Reward helpfulness
Original content (guide, tutorial)	50	Reward creation
Event attendance	15	Reward participation
Referred new member (who becomes active)	30	Reward growth

Avoid: giving points for low-value actions (reactions, logins) - this creates noise.

Badge system

Design badges around behaviors you want to encourage:

Welcome Wagon - Replied to 5 new member introductions
Problem Solver - Had 10 replies marked as answer
Storyteller - Published 3 original posts or guides
Connector - Introduced 2 members who then collaborated
Veteran - Active member for 12 consecutive months

Leaderboards

Use leaderboards cautiously:

Reset monthly to prevent permanent hierarchies
Show top 10 only (avoid shaming the bottom)
Rotate the metric being ranked (helpfulness, content creation, event attendance)
Supplement with "most improved" recognition

Engagement recovery campaigns

When engagement drops (>20% decline in MAM over 2 months):

Diagnose - Survey lapsed members: "We noticed you've been less active. What changed?" (3 questions max)
Content refresh - Audit top-performing content from past 6 months, create updated versions
Event blitz - Run 3 events in 2 weeks (variety of formats) to create energy
Personal outreach - Have moderators personally reach out to 20 recently-lapsed regulars
New blood - Run a targeted invite campaign to bring in fresh perspectives
Measure - Track recovery over 30 days. If MAM doesn't recover, the issue is structural (platform, relevance, or competition) and needs a deeper strategy review.

Content calendar template

Plan community content on a weekly cycle:

Day	Content type	Owner	Example
Monday	Discussion prompt	Community manager	"What are you working on this week?"
Tuesday	Educational content	Rotating member or staff	Tutorial, tip, or resource share
Wednesday	Q&A thread	Community manager	"Ask anything about [rotating topic]"
Thursday	Member spotlight	Community manager	Interview or feature on an active member
Friday	Celebration thread	Community manager	"Share your wins from this week"

Keep weekends unstructured - let organic conversation happen.

feedback-systems.md

Feedback Systems

Feedback collection methods

Structured feedback channels

Method	Frequency	Best for	Response rate benchmark
NPS survey	Quarterly	Overall sentiment	20-40%
Pulse survey (3-5 questions)	Monthly	Specific topics	15-30%
Feature request board	Always-on	Product input	N/A (track submissions)
Bug report form	Always-on	Issue collection	N/A (track submissions)
Post-event survey	After each event	Event quality	30-50%
Annual community survey	Yearly	Deep strategic input	10-20%

Unstructured feedback signals

Signal	Where to find it	How to process
Sentiment in posts	Forum threads, chat channels	Weekly keyword + tone scan
Support requests	Help channels, DMs to mods	Categorize and count themes monthly
Exit signals	Lapsed member behavior, unsubscribes	Track patterns, trigger outreach
External mentions	Social media, review sites	Monthly brand monitoring scan
Event chat	Live event Q&A, chat during sessions	Capture and categorize within 48 hours

Survey templates

Monthly pulse survey (5 questions)

1. How would you rate your experience in [community] this month? (1-5 stars)

2. What was the most valuable thing you got from the community this month?
   [Open text, optional]

3. Is there anything that frustrated you or felt missing?
   [Open text, optional]

4. How likely are you to recommend [community] to a colleague? (0-10 NPS)

5. What topic should we focus on next month?
   [ ] Option A
   [ ] Option B
   [ ] Option C
   [ ] Other: ___

Post-event survey (4 questions)

1. How would you rate today's [event name]? (1-5 stars)

2. What was the most useful takeaway?
   [Open text]

3. What would make this event better next time?
   [Open text]

4. Would you attend a follow-up session on this topic?
   [ ] Yes, definitely
   [ ] Maybe, depends on timing
   [ ] No, I got what I needed

Annual community survey (10-12 questions)

1. How long have you been a member? [Multiple choice: ranges]

2. How often do you visit the community? [Multiple choice: daily/weekly/monthly/rarely]

3. What's your primary reason for being in this community?
   [ ] Learning and professional development
   [ ] Networking with peers
   [ ] Getting help with specific problems
   [ ] Staying up to date with trends
   [ ] Contributing and giving back
   [ ] Other: ___

4. Which community activities do you find most valuable? (Select top 3)
   [ ] Discussion threads
   [ ] Events and webinars
   [ ] Resource library
   [ ] Q&A / help channels
   [ ] Networking opportunities
   [ ] Member spotlights / showcases

5. How would you rate the quality of discussions? (1-5)

6. How would you rate the responsiveness of the community? (1-5)

7. How would you rate the moderation? (1-5)

8. What's the ONE thing you'd change about this community?
   [Open text]

9. What topics or content would you like to see more of?
   [Open text]

10. How likely are you to recommend this community? (0-10 NPS)

11. Any other feedback?
    [Open text, optional]

NPS implementation

Calculating NPS

Promoters: respondents scoring 9-10
Passives: respondents scoring 7-8
Detractors: respondents scoring 0-6
NPS = % Promoters - % Detractors (range: -100 to +100)

NPS benchmarks for communities

NPS range	Interpretation	Action
50+	Excellent	Maintain and optimize
30-49	Good	Identify what's working and do more of it
10-29	Average	Investigate detractor feedback for improvement areas
Below 10	Concerning	Urgent deep-dive into member satisfaction issues

NPS follow-up strategy

Promoters (9-10): Ask "What do you love most?" and "Would you be interested in our ambassador program?" These are your advocate pipeline.
Passives (7-8): Ask "What would make this a 9 or 10?" Small improvements convert passives to promoters.
Detractors (0-6): Ask "What disappointed you?" and follow up personally within 48 hours. Detractor recovery has outsized impact on retention.

Feature request board

Structure

Set up a board (Canny, ProductBoard, or simple forum category) with:

Submission template: Title, description, use case ("I want to [action] so that [benefit]")
Voting: Members can upvote requests (one vote per request per member)
Status labels: Under Review, Planned, In Progress, Shipped, Won't Do
Admin response: Every request gets an acknowledgment within 5 business days

Prioritization framework

Score feature requests using:

Factor	Weight	Scale
Vote count	30%	Normalize to 1-5 based on your community's vote distribution
Strategic alignment	25%	1-5 rated by product team
Implementation effort	20%	Inverse: 5 = easy, 1 = massive effort
Requester profile	15%	Weight higher if from power users or paying customers
Recency	10%	Bonus for recently active requests vs old stale ones

Feedback routing architecture

Define where each type of feedback goes:

Community Feedback
|
|-- Feature Requests
|   |-- High vote count (top 10%) --> Product backlog (high priority)
|   |-- Medium votes --> Product backlog (normal priority)
|   |-- Low votes --> Monthly review queue
|
|-- Bug Reports
|   |-- Critical (blocking, data loss) --> Engineering on-call (immediate)
|   |-- Major (broken feature) --> Engineering triage (48 hours)
|   |-- Minor (cosmetic, edge case) --> Engineering backlog
|
|-- Sentiment Signals
|   |-- Positive trends --> Marketing team (testimonials, case studies)
|   |-- Negative trends --> Community lead + product lead (weekly review)
|   |-- Crisis signals --> Escalation to leadership (immediate)
|
|-- Strategic Insights
|   |-- Market trends --> Product strategy review (quarterly)
|   |-- Competitive intel --> Product + marketing (as received)
|   |-- Use case evolution --> Product roadmap input (quarterly)

Closing the feedback loop

The "You asked, we did" post

Publish monthly. Template:

# You Asked, We Did - [Month Year]

Here's what changed this month based on your feedback:

## Shipped
- [Feature/change] - Requested by [N] members. [Brief description of what changed.]
- [Feature/change] - [Brief description.]

## In Progress
- [Feature/change] - Currently being built. Expected [timeline].
- [Feature/change] - In design phase. Will share preview next month.

## Under Review
- [Feature/change] - [N] votes. We're evaluating feasibility.

## Decided Against (with explanation)
- [Feature/change] - After review, we decided not to pursue this because [honest reason].
  Alternative approach: [if applicable].

---

Keep the feedback coming! Submit ideas: [link]
Your input directly shapes what we build.

Quarterly roadmap preview

Share a high-level roadmap showing:

What's planned for next quarter
Which items were influenced by community feedback (call this out explicitly)
Where members can provide input on prioritization

Feedback health metrics

Track monthly:

Metric	What it tells you	Target
Feedback volume	Are members willing to share input?	Stable or growing month-over-month
Time to acknowledgment	Do members feel heard?	Under 5 business days
Feedback-to-action rate	Is feedback actually being used?	15-25% of requests acted on within 90 days
Survey response rate	Is survey fatigue setting in?	Above 15% for pulse surveys
NPS trend	Is overall sentiment improving?	Upward or stable quarter-over-quarter
Closed-loop rate	Are you telling members what happened?	100% of shipped items mentioned in "You asked, we did"

moderation-playbook.md

Moderation Playbook

Moderation is the operational backbone of a healthy community. This playbook covers staffing, escalation procedures, response templates, automation rules, and moderator well-being. Use it when writing or auditing community guidelines or when designing a moderation workflow from scratch.

Moderation team structure

Scale moderator coverage to community size:

Community size	Volunteer mods	Staff mods	Coverage target
Under 500	1-2	1	Business hours
500-2,000	3-5	1-2	16 hours/day
2,000-10,000	6-10	2-3	20 hours/day
Over 10,000	10+	3-5	24/7

Minimum team size rule: never rely on a single moderator. Any community over 200 members needs at least 2 people who can act, so coverage survives vacations and burnout.

Moderator selection criteria

Select moderators who demonstrate:

Active community membership for at least 3 months
Consistently constructive and positive tone in their own posts
History of helping other members without being asked
Ability to remain calm and neutral in heated discussions
Availability for at least 5 hours per week
Passed a brief scenario-based assessment (see below)

Avoid selecting moderators who are primarily motivated by status or who have a history of arguing with other members. Empathy is non-negotiable.

Moderator calibration scenarios

Use these during moderator selection and quarterly calibration sessions:

The popular rule-bender - A well-liked member consistently posts content that technically violates guidelines but generates high engagement. How do you handle it?
- Good answer: apply the same standard as any other member; favoritism destroys trust faster than losing a popular member.
The escalating debate - Two respected members are arguing and the tone is deteriorating. Neither has technically violated rules yet. What do you do?
- Good answer: intervene early with a de-escalation message in the thread before rules are broken, not after.
The angry appeal - You removed a post and the author DMs you claiming bias. How do you respond?
- Good answer: acknowledge their frustration, cite the specific guideline, offer to escalate to the community lead if they disagree.
The dogpile - Multiple members are piling on to criticize one person's question. The original poster has not violated any rules. What action do you take?
- Good answer: defend the original poster publicly, redirect the thread, message the pile-on participants privately.

Violation tiers and enforcement ladder

Tier 1 - Immediate removal (no warning)

Content in this tier is removed without warning and typically results in a permanent ban on first offense:

Harassment, hate speech, or threats directed at any person
Doxxing or sharing private information without consent
Sexual content involving minors
Coordinated spam or phishing
Impersonation of staff, moderators, or public figures

Tier 2 - Warning then suspension

These violations receive a private warning on first offense. A second offense within 90 days results in a 7-day suspension. A third offense results in a permanent ban:

Personal attacks or insults directed at other members
Repeated off-topic posting after a redirect
Deliberate spread of misinformation
Undisclosed promotion or affiliate links
Tone that is consistently dismissive or contemptuous

Tier 3 - Gentle redirect (no formal action)

These are addressed publicly with a redirect, not a warning:

Low-effort posts or questions that belong in a different channel
Duplicate questions already answered in the last 30 days
Minor tone issues in otherwise constructive posts
Posts missing required information (e.g., bug reports without reproduction steps)

Escalation response templates

Tier 3 - Gentle redirect

Hey [name] - great question! This topic is a better fit for [channel/thread].
I've moved the post there so it gets the right eyes on it. Feel free to continue
the conversation in the new spot.

Tier 2 - First warning (private message)

Hi [name],

I wanted to reach out about your recent [post/comment] in [location]. It doesn't
quite align with our community guidelines - specifically [cite specific rule with
a link to guidelines].

We want this space to work well for everyone. Could you [specific ask: edit the
post / adjust the tone / move it to the right channel]?

This is a friendly heads-up, not a formal action. If you have questions about the
guidelines, DM me or any moderator - we're happy to help.

Tier 2 - Second warning (pre-suspension)

Hi [name],

This is a follow-up to our conversation on [date] about [specific guideline].
We've noticed [describe specific behavior], which is a repeat of the same pattern.

Per our guidelines, a second warning triggers a 7-day posting suspension. You'll
still be able to read the community during this time.

After the suspension, we'd love to have you back as a contributor. If you'd like
to discuss this, please reach out to [community lead name] at [contact].

Tier 1 - Immediate ban notification

Your account has been suspended from [community name] for violating our community
guidelines regarding [specific violation type].

This action is effective immediately and permanently.

If you believe this was made in error, you may submit an appeal to [email or form
link] within 14 days. Appeals are reviewed by [community lead] and you will receive
a response within 5 business days.

Appeal response - upheld

Hi [name],

Thank you for submitting an appeal. We reviewed the moderation action taken on
[date] against your account.

After review, we have decided to uphold the decision. The action was taken because
[brief, factual reason citing specific guideline]. Our review confirmed this
assessment.

The suspension/ban will remain in place. You are welcome to create a new account
after [timeframe if applicable] provided you agree to abide by the community
guidelines going forward.

Appeal response - overturned

Hi [name],

Thank you for submitting an appeal. We reviewed the moderation action taken on
[date] and have decided to overturn it.

Upon review, we found that [brief explanation of why the decision was incorrect].
We apologize for the inconvenience. Your account has been restored.

We're committed to consistent and fair moderation. Thank you for bringing this
to our attention.

Automation rules

Automation handles volume; humans handle nuance. Set up these automated rules for communities above ~1,000 members:

Auto-remove triggers (no human review needed)

Messages containing terms from a maintained slur list (review list monthly)
Links to known spam or phishing domains
Messages from accounts created less than 1 hour ago containing external links
Identical or near-identical messages posted to 3+ channels within 5 minutes

Auto-flag for human review (within 1 hour)

Content that has received 3+ member reports
Messages containing keywords on a weekly-updated watch list
First-time posters with messages over 500 characters in help or support channels
Messages with more than 50% uppercase characters
Links from domains not on an allowlist in channels where links are moderated

Auto-respond triggers

New member joins: send welcome DM with guidelines link and "introduce yourself" thread
First post in a help channel: prompt to include context/version/repro steps
Question with no response after 24 hours: flag to moderator queue for attention
Mention of specific keywords (e.g., "cancel", "refund", "legal"): route to staff

Moderation action log template

Log every formal moderation action (Tier 1 and Tier 2). Do not log Tier 3 redirects unless a pattern is developing.

Date:        YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC
Moderator:   [username]
Member:      [username of affected member]
Action:      [redirect / warning / content removal / temp ban / permanent ban]
Tier:        [1 / 2 / 3]
Guideline:   [specific rule violated, quoted from guidelines]
Evidence:    [link to message or screenshot ID]
Prior log:   [link to any previous entries for this member, or "first offense"]
Notes:       [any context - tone of interaction, appeal risk, escalation path]

Review the log monthly for:

Repeat offenders approaching the next enforcement tier
Patterns in violation type (may signal unclear guidelines or a new bad-actor wave)
Moderator consistency (similar violations should receive similar responses)
Time-of-day or day-of-week patterns (may indicate coverage gaps)

Edge case guidance

Public figures and brand accounts - Apply the same rules as any other member. Do not give special treatment. If a brand is self-promoting without disclosure, warn them like anyone else. Document the interaction carefully.

Coordinated harassment campaigns - If multiple accounts target a single member in a short window, treat it as a coordinated attack. Escalate immediately to community lead. Ban the accounts. Consider a temporary post freeze on the affected thread. Contact the targeted member directly to check on them.

Controversial but on-topic discussions - Not every heated thread is a moderation problem. Disagreement is healthy. Intervene when tone becomes personal, not when the topic is uncomfortable. Pin a note at the top of volatile threads: "This is a sensitive topic. Please keep replies constructive and on-topic."

Moderator conflict of interest - If a moderator has a personal relationship with a member involved in an incident, they must recuse and hand off to another moderator. Log the recusal.

Moderator error - If a moderator makes a wrong call, acknowledge it quickly and publicly if the original action was public. Overturn the decision, apologize to the affected member, and update moderator training to prevent recurrence. Do not delete evidence of the error.

Moderator well-being

Moderation is emotionally taxing work, especially at scale. Protect your team:

Rotate who reviews Tier 1 content - no single moderator handles all severe cases
Hold monthly private moderator check-ins to debrief difficult situations
Give explicit permission to step away and hand off when overwhelmed
Recognize contributions publicly and privately - moderation is often invisible work
Set a clear boundary between community hours and personal time; on-call schedules prevent the expectation of 24/7 availability from single individuals
Provide access to the same mental health support resources available to staff

Frequently Asked Questions

What is community-management?

How do I install community-management?

Run npx skills add AbsolutelySkilled/AbsolutelySkilled --skill community-management in your terminal. The skill will be immediately available in your AI coding agent.

What AI agents support community-management?

community-management works with claude-code, gemini-cli, openai-codex. Install it once and use it across any supported AI coding agent.

Is community-management free?

Yes, community-management is completely free and open source under the MIT license. Install it with a single command and start using it immediately.

What is the difference between community-management and similar tools?

community-management is an AI agent skill that teaches your coding agent specialized operations knowledge. Unlike standalone tools, it integrates directly into claude-code, gemini-cli, openai-codex and other AI agents.

Can I use community-management with Cursor or Windsurf?

community-management works with any AI coding agent that supports the skills protocol, including Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, and 40+ more.

community-management

What is community-management?

Quick Start

community-management

Quick Facts

How to Install

Overview

Tags

Platforms

Related Skills

Frequently Asked Questions

What is community-management?

How do I install community-management?

What AI agents support community-management?

Maintainers

SKILL.md

Community Management

When to use this skill

Key principles

Core concepts

Community types

Engagement ladder

Moderation approaches

Community metrics

Common tasks

Design a community strategy

Build moderation guidelines

Create an advocacy / champions program

Design engagement programs

Implement feedback loops

Measure community health

Scale community operations

Anti-patterns

Gotchas

References

References

advocacy-programs.md

Advocacy Programs

Program types

Application template

Selection criteria scoring

Onboarding new advocates

Week 1 - Welcome

Week 2-3 - Ramp

Week 4 - Independent

Advocate handbook outline

Benefits menu

Recognition (intrinsic)

Access (intrinsic)

Tangible (extrinsic)

Quarterly review process

Possible outcomes

Measuring advocacy ROI

Scaling the program

Graceful offboarding

engagement-frameworks.md

Engagement Frameworks

The engagement ladder in practice

Onboarding sequence

Day 0 - Welcome message

Day 2 - Value message

Day 5 - Connection message

Day 14 - Check-in

Event formats

Weekly recurring events

Monthly events

Quarterly events

Gamification patterns

Points system (if applicable)

Badge system

Leaderboards

Engagement recovery campaigns

Content calendar template

feedback-systems.md

Feedback Systems

Feedback collection methods

Structured feedback channels

Unstructured feedback signals

Survey templates

Monthly pulse survey (5 questions)