There are clear lines community and moderation professionals navigate around hate speech, defamation and other leading risks in their communities. But the grey areas can be trickier. ACM Pro member Danielle Schwerin, an experienced community manager and moderator, shares her thoughts on how we moderate the fine lines of discrimination and why it's our responsibility to step up.

I'm a passionate moderator. A believer in the power of moderation to create and maintain a safe, healthy space for participants. Spaces (communities) where conversations can take place around your shared purpose, free of the use of language and behaviour that is psychologically harmful to any of your participants - whether they form part of a majority or a minority group within your group (or society).

There's a West Wing episode called "Shibboleth" in which the character Toby (played by Richard Schiff) discusses the importance of banning school prayer with Leo (John Spencer). The crux of the conversation is that school prayer should be banned not because of an abstract concept or anti-religious sentiment, but specifically because of the "the fourth grader who gets his ass kicked at recess 'cause he sat out the voluntary prayer"… because "It's another way of making kids different from other kids when they're required by law to be there."

In this scenario, when children are required to be in a space, the government has a responsibility to protect the minority from the wrath of the masses for the greater good. Even when to do this, the majority may need to be deprived of something they feel is a right.

What we're learning more and more is that microaggressions of a discriminating nature have serious negative effects on the mental health of the targets. And these in turn have a direct role in the society we maintain and uphold, often making it resistant to meaningful reforms. For a good breakdown of what a microaggression is, and why it's a lot more than people being too sensitive about things, check out this Vox article.

While most people clearly and unequivocally reject blatant displays of racism or racist attitudes, the underlying attitudes (brought into existence by a history we have not outgrown), still underpin intolerance and discrimination in our society and citizenry. And those underlying attitudes affect the language we use in casual conversation - whether we intend them to or not. The same can be said for many other forms of bigotry or exclusion.

Language is of course, an evolution, and words we considered appropriate even a decade ago look dated by today's standards. If you don't believe me, watch Friends and tell me how many unacceptable things the characters say in any given episode mentioning Ross' ex-wife or Chandler's parents.

Returning to the West Wing (what can I say, I'm a fan) I would argue that within your community, you as a community manager, as a governing actor, have a duty of care to your community members to protect them against harms – structural, and individual - including microaggressions. You are therefore responsible for the presence of any casual racism, casual sexism, casual homophobia, ableism and casual bigotry of any form that appears within your space.

This doesn't necessarily mean you need to crack the whip and hide/delete every contribution that includes even slightly aggressive language, or every single instance of a microaggression. But it does mean you need to educate yourself on what constitutes a microaggression and establish an enforceable position that reflects the culture of the space you’re nurturing.

Beyond Blue is a great place to start for learning. Their Invisible Discriminator campaign helps explain the effects of casual racism on Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. There are also lots of courses available to help explain systemic racism, how to be an ally, and what represents cross-sectional inappropriate language.

Encourage your employer to help you grow as an individual and as a community manager by organising the time and resources to get the appropriate training, and if you work for yourself, carve out some time and budget to do this important work.

My employer recently helped our entire team by arranging for some education on racism, and I can't tell you how much it has helped me to think more critically about the choices I make personally, and the ones I make on behalf of my clients and their communities that I share oversight of.

Once you've educated yourself, it's time to develop strategic moderation policies that attempt to create more distinct lines within the grey areas of how we use language. Every example you encounter in your community is both an opportunity to moderate, and an opportunity to create a public record of where and how your community draws that line.

Start with a historical list of all the examples that come to mind (and plenty of them will when you start educating yourself). Add to it as you continue your work. Use previous experiences to inform new experiences and challenges. Work with peers and colleagues to decide how to handle each situation, in line with your community tone and values, and in the interests of protecting the most vulnerable members of your community.

You will slowly and steadily build a community risk management manual and approach that helps you moderate consistently and to create a safer space.

Lastly, when you speak with those users you chose to moderate, be clear on why you are moderating, but be kind. You don't have to label someone a racist/sexist/homophobe just because they have included a casually inappropriate reference. Missteps happen innocently, and these are opportunities for compassionate correction.