One question website operators often ask is: what if I add a Ninja Post forum to my site and a rogue operator comes along and begins to speak ill about my enterprise?

Chances are that your forum will primarily host conversations about your product and other topics of general interest to your community. However, during the course of these conversations it’s possible that someone could speak ill about your product. (Gasp!) There are two potential scenarios: there’s the raving lunatic scenario where a crazy person comes to your site and starts acting a fool. Then there’s the more common scenario when someone expresses a legitimate gripe.

Ninja Post’s moderation tools are designed to deal with the extreme case, the raving lunatic scenario. When someone engages in libel, their posts can be removed, their account can be banned, and their IP address can be turned over to authorities.

In a more common case, the legitimate gripe scenario, a customer might come to your Ninja Post forum with a complaint. Perhaps it’s an unfounded or unwarranted complaint in your eyes. But to them it seems like a legitimate complaint and they’ve come to you seeking resolution.

Although some website owners shudder at the thought of someone airing “dirty laundry” on their own site, here’s the rub: people are going to talk about your product or service anyway so why not hold the conversation on your turf? At least your privy to the conversation and have the opportunity to set the record straight.

Chances are, if someone comes to you with a complaint, he or she wants to be “won back.” When your customers explain why they’re upset, and you acknowledge their point of view, everyone can benefit. Mediating complaints in a public forum is not for every problem. However, it is useful for many problems, especially more trivial ones. And when a site owner can employ his or her happy customers to act as his proxy in such matters it is a powerful testament to his or her business.