How do you create Community Guidelines (Examples + Template)

Apr 6, 2022

Setting up community guidelines is an important step for every community founder aiding in improving communication, avoid conflict, and prevent chaos in the community!

To make the process quick and simple We've created guidelines for community members along with a set of community guidelines examples to aid. Additionally, we've included our best practices for writing community guidelines yourself.

Community guidelines are a set of recommendations and guidelines to your group. These guidelines are intended to assist users understand what's expected of them in the area of community and also the important rules and do's.

  The reason Community guidelines are crucial  

The creation of community guidelines is the first step to building your community into an environment that is positive and welcoming. These guidelines help shape the relationships that members of your community can expect to have.

Community guidelines tell the members of your community what they should publish, what queries to post and who should contact for assistance.

At the same time the guidelines for your community outline the types of interactions and posts that you are not permitted to post in the group. This might be something that is as easy as refraining from asking unrelated questions, or as significant as putting a stop to trolling.

Community guidelines can be useful to:

  • Encourage positive, relevant communication
  • Prevent Conflict
  • Eliminate the possibility of harassment and abuse
  • Increase community engagement
  • Highlight the finest of your company

There are many possibilities to develop guidelines for your online community. Review the guidelines for community examples below to discover what they do in practice.

6 suggestions for creating community guidelines

If you're creating community guidelines that will help control your online communities There are 5 points to bear in mind. These guidelines will assist you to make sure your community guidelines are inclusive and cohesive.

  1. Create a mission statement

A mission statement is designed to summarize the core values of your community. Try to show your community members the reason you created your community first and why your company is distinctive.

It is the time to outline the goals you'd like to accomplish and what goals you're setting for your group. A mission statement gives users the chance to be a part of your organization. They are also enticed to become active members of your online community by giving them a clear mission.

  2. Define any strict rules

In the process of creating community guidelines, it is necessary define guidelines for prohibited actions or behaviors. This is your strict rules which will result in consequences like a warning, or in extreme cases, ordered to leave the community.

Your rules of the road can contain:

  • Untruths
  • Spam
  • Discrimination based on race, gender or any other discrimination
  • Personal attacks
  • Illegal activities
  • Trolling
  • Explicit material

A section of your community's guidelines has to be dedicated to outlining precisely what kind of content cannot be allowed within your community to ensure everyone's interactions are secure and open to all.

  3. Make sure you highlight the positive aspects

When you're creating community guidelines Try to write a balanced checklist of what to do and not to do. Nobody wants to be reminded of going back to the school! If you only focus on the negatives, you risk deflecting community members from your area prior to them even starting.

Aim to make your guidelines more than just a list of regulations against certain activities. It should also contain suggestions for positive actions as well as ideas to post.

Make sure you highlight the good things about belonging to your community. This includes:

  • What kind of web pages are perfect for your group
  • Relevant discussion ideas
  • Fun weekly or daily topics for your Content

Be aware that you're trying at enticing people to join your group, therefore don't block them out with the rules of your community. Highlight the benefits of being part of your community. Help members become engaged.

  4. Use your brand voice

Take a look at the examples of community guidelines below for inspiration.

  5. Your community should be able to assist you.

If you want help when creating your community guidelines, try asking your community for input.

The best people to ask for feedback are those who are using your community every day. They'll be the ones who are most able to recognize what's working and what's not. The existing members of your community may also have ideas about what you could incorporate or subtract from the current rules to improve them.

To invite community opinions, open up a survey to your whole community or contact a group of people directly for their opinions. Be sure to collect a diverse range of perspectives to make sure that the guidelines are appropriate for all members of the community, not only for most influential people who contribute.

  6. Set your community's guidelines front and center

If you're going through the trouble of creating guidelines for your community, ensure that you put them where they can be seen. These guidelines must be prominent and center in your community area.

You might like to include your community's guidelines into your public communications such as in newsletters or on your website's community landing page. Also, you can give new members access to your community guidelines as part of your introduction process.

It is important to make public the guidelines for your community so that any and all members know what to be expecting from your community before they start.

Utilize this community-wide guidelines template to draft your own

Creating your own community guidelines can be a tough task We've put together this template for community guidelines to help. With our template for community guidelines We've compiled all the necessary elements for creating your own community guidelines, as well as optional additional features.

The community guidelines template can be fully customizable so you can modify and remove elements in the way you like. Additionally, you can alter the language to match your company's brand.

Template for Community Guidelines 1

Introduction

Welcom to the [brand] community!

This space is for [your mission statement].

Our community's goals are to [goals 1, 2, 3 , etc. ]

To meet the collective objectives of our community, it's important that all members are secure and feel supported. In order to ensure that everyone has the best possible experience Please take a look at our guidelines for community members:

Positive guidelines

  • (Introduce yourself to our groupHTML0 [Introduce yourself to the group
  • Please feel free to post queries and begin discussions on any topics relating to [your community focus]
  • (Treat people the same way you would in real life]
  • (Be courteous and talk in a respectful manner]
  • Respect the privacy of other community members [Respect the privacy of other community members
  • (Utilize community mentors and managers for support]
  • Send us your feedback via [contact emailContact email

Rules and Restrictions

  • Don't share any posts without permission]
  • Do not share any sensitive or personal data with anyone.
  • [Don't post irrelevant messages]
  • Don't share promotional content]
  • (Personal harassment, trolling, and attacks will not be accepted]
  • Do not post explicit, abusive or rude or offensive content [Don't post explicit, rude or aggressive content

Optional: Consequences

In the event that someone is who is in violation of these rules We will initiate steps to safeguard fellow members of the group. It could be a formal warning or in the event of repeated, or extreme behavior the person could be banned from the community.

If you experience or witness an act that isn't in line with the rules of our community, please reach us at [contact emailContact email. All reports are kept confidential.

Feel free to switch up the community guidelines template to fit your needs, your goals and the brand you want to promote.

4 community guidelines examples

If you're drafting community guidelines for the first time, remember there's plenty of community builders that are more experienced than you! Use these community guidelines examples for inspiration for the guidelines you create.

Here are 4 Community guidelines that show what works, what could be improved upon and ideas you can use.

  Community guidelines and examples Studio  

The Studio for Online Course Creators is an online Facebook group for creators to gather, build connections and discuss thoughts. These are the guidelines for community members to the group:

What works: The community guidelines were created to assist community members understand what is to be expected of the group and also what is not allowed. The examples of community guidelines have an open, friendly manner of speaking. They're simple, straightforward and simple to comprehend and include all information needed by members of the community to join the community.

How you can use the guidelines These guidelines for community members, there is positive, lively enthusiasm. Remember this in writing your own You're not trying to create guidelines that are strict You're creating your community to be a friendly community that's inclusive for all.

  Community Guidelines Examples - Veterinary Cytology Coffeehouse  

Founded by course creator Kate Baker, the Veterinary Cytology Coffeehouse is a community dedicated to veterinary professionals looking to understand more about Cytology and Hematology. Look over these community guidelines examples:

Community guidelines example from the veterinary cytology facebook group. Meant as an example to inspire users to create their own community guidelines.

What is working: The community is extremely technical, and the guidelines are reflective of that. There are clearly defined guidelines that can help with moderate participation, so the community guidelines define the kinds of posts members can make, as well as its limitations like helping members deal with health issues.

What you can use: If your community is focussed on a specific technical issue or topic, having clear community guidelines like these can be really beneficial. It's a good idea to identify the types of discussion you're looking for to make sure that the content of your community is relevant. Utilize these guidelines for community members to get started on the community guidelines you create.

  Community guidelines examples Shopify Plus  

It is the Shopify Plus community is aimed towards Shopify merchants looking to share their experiences as well as collaborate with their fellow members and network within the world of e-commerce. Look over their guidelines for community members:

What works: These community guidelines are a good combination of guidelines and rules for the community. They're clear and fun showing the Shopify branding while providing guidelines for behavior that aren't acceptable within the community. The site also lists fun-themed events like #partnerthursdays, which users can participate in.

What you can use Take inspiration from these guidelines for community members and let your brand personality reflect in. Try highlighting content themes within your group and other ideas in community involvement to get members excited to join.

  Community guidelines examples - Nurse Practitioner Study Group  

If you're in search of HTML0 guidelines for community members that have an introduction and mission statement, check out this blurb from the course's creator Latrina Walden. Walden established an group on Facebook for nurses studying to pass their exams. group specifically for nurses studying for their tests:

What's working: This community guidelines example follows a different style - the guidelines are written as paragraphs instead of as an entire list. Latrina Walden uses this as an opportunity to talk about herself as well as her personal background, and also to help her community members understand how to make use of the community and what it offers.

The best way to go about it is to help you: A mission statement in your community's rules can help in setting the tone of your community as well as highlighting who your community is for. Remember to also provide contact information to inform people how they can get in touch.

These community guidelines examples are all great starting points for shaping your own community guidelines. Borrow from these examples and use them to customize the community guidelines.

Are you ready to begin creating community guidelines?

Make use of our template community guidelines to get started and get ideas from these guidelines for communities examples to help you develop your community guidelines for your group.

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