Friday Protip: Rip Off the Bandaid

by Sanya Weathers

The time to tell a community bad news is when they’re already furious about something. If you ever catch yourself thinking “boy, if they knew what was coming on Monday, they’d REALLY be mad,” don’t wait until Monday.

Think it through. If your news is bad enough to make people quit, there is no difference between quitting on Monday versus Thursday. However, if your community is in an uproar for an extended period of time, because bad news was spaced over a long time frame, casual users and lurkers will pick up a very negative impression of your product.

Get it over with. Rip off the bandaid.