Very clearly in response to the recent outburst from Tseric, Sanya Weathers, most recently and formerly of EA Mythic, dishes it out like it is. It gives good perspective on what being a community person is all about. Great read I like these two parts the best:

The secret to making friends out of board warriors, and lasting for more than eight months on the front line, is sincerity. If you can fake sincerity, you belong on the publishing side of the business. You can’t fake it as a community manager. You have to like the people you’re dealing with or you’ll burn out. You have to BE one of the people you’re supporting or you’ll burn out. (And you need support from the company that employs you or you’ll burn out publicly, but that’s another rant.) I never went to a player or press gathering where I didn’t feel like I’d come home. If you don’t feel that buzz? If you don’t see your friends in the people who traveled miles just to talk to you? Get out. You don’t have what it takes.

If you genuinely care about your customers, both developer and player, you will make the right decisions, none of which involve going postal in public.

And from one of my OCR friends, who exclaimed “sooooo true” at this line:

The real frustrations for a real community person will never have to do with the players.