Negotiating conflict and negativity in an onlineCommunity for recovering heart pateints

When an online community has been set up to support members living with heart disease, it has a responsibility to provide a safe environment in terms of emotional security and accurate health information. Unfortunately, in online communities as in communities generally, relationships developed among members can sometimes go awry. Situations can arise where private exchanges between members exacerbate public discord and conflict erupts: occasionally with both sides having legitimate reason to feel aggrieved. At this point, a usually selfregulating community can polarise and request the moderator's intervention. What happens when the moderator is perceived to be doing nothing about the situation and members of the community take matters into their own hands? This paper discusses the implications and challenges of conflict in a therapeutic community. It acknowledges that sometimes the situation can be too complex for simple resolution and that in such circumstances, one or both of the conflicted parties may have to withdraw from the site for a period of time.