Engagement Are controversial topics a key to engagement?

[Cedric]

Every community leader wants an active community where members are constantly engaging. But let’s face it - controversial topics often get people talking faster than anything else. Think about it’s heated debates, polarizing opinions, or sensitive subjects, these discussions seem to spark more interaction than everyday chatter.

We'll take it to the test:

Normal question	Controversial question
How do you encourage shy members to participate more in discussions?	Are lurkers ruining your community?
What’s the best way to enforce community rules fairly?	Are community rules killing creativity and engagement?
How do you grow your community while keeping it active and engaged?	Is prioritizing growth over quality a mistake?
How do you keep members coming back to your community?	Are giveaways and rewards cheapening real engagement?
Are controversial topics a key to engagement?	Are controversial topics exploiting your community for engagement?

Do you see the difference in the tone and how you'd respond to these questions, while they have the same topic?

Some thoughts:

• Do controversial topics create meaningful engagement, or do they just fuel drama?
• Can encouraging these discussions strengthen your community, or does it risk dividing members?
• How do you balance open debate with maintaining a welcoming, respectful environment?
• Should leaders allow all types of controversy, or are there some topics that should always stay off-limits?

What do you think?

 

[Arantor]

They’re one method, but I don’t personally like it. It weaponises the reactionary instinct and instead of asking the question becomes a dare to be proven wrong.

Betteridge’s Law comes to mind: any headline that asks a question can be answered with the word “no”. Often, all too often, correctly.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I love the use of the table in this post!

As for the topic, yes, it works. It could create toxicity really quickly, though, and if it does and you posted it, you have you to blame.

You have to be careful about it.

I do it occasionally with my blog. I run ads on my blog. It usually goes a little viral, and I make a little extra from the ads.

However, it's easier to avoid it turning too toxic on a blog versus on a forum. A forum is too user-generated to control much of it.

 

[Nomad]

I loved how you re-framed the same questions to create controversial questions! I think controversies are good for the community, but I also believe that you need to take a lot of care on monitoring the discussions because some posts might knowing or unknowingly hurt other members. For instance if there is a topic "Are forum owners using open source not serious about their communities?" can hurt feelings of someone like me who uses open source.

 

[Cedric]

I loved how you re-framed the same questions to create controversial questions! I think controversies are good for the community, but I also believe that you need to take a lot of care on monitoring the discussions because some posts might knowing or unknowingly hurt other members. For instance if there is a topic "Are forum owners using open source not serious about their communities?" can hurt feelings of someone like me who uses open source.

That is exactly my point. I think it's great to use a controversial question every now and then, and you will see more engagement from it. But it's a double sided sword. You need to be careful how you ask the question and consider any possible consequences it may have.

 

[Henrywrites]

I believe that it works. It goes in a way that it makes everything to be alright and in the right place. Creating controversial topics brings the spark in the conversation and makes a lot of people want to take part in the discussion that is ongoing. This is why I believe that it definitely works wonders most of the time.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I think it can work, controversial topics would definitely bring in more members, though it could also cause some drama on your forum. As long as you're able to handle whatever comes along, I think it'll be more helpful than harmful in some cases.

 

[Kyng]

I feel like there's a sweet spot: a healthy level of conflict that best drives activity within a community.

If there's too little conflict, then users will get bored, and drift elsewhere. If there's too much conflict, then users will get fed up of each other, and leave the board in order to avoid each other. (Either that, or the users who are left will be the kinds of people who thrive on conflict - and that's not who I am, so I'd be stuck running a community that I couldn't fit into!)

 

[KatBookTrailers]

Controversial topics can definitely bring engagement, but it can also cause unnecessary strife with members leaving if allowed to go too far. Once these topics hit the board, the mods have to remain on guard and be active in preventing excessive flaming, tangents that don't benefit the topic or the site and also not be afraid to be assertive in dishing out staff actions.

On one of the forums where I'm an Admin, these types of topics can also lure new people to sign up so they can contribute. But those aren't always the people I want at that place, but it does bring activity.