A recent CNN article highlights the controversy surrounding BeautifulPeople.com, a dating site that markets itself as an elite community for beautiful people with a “strict ban on ugly people.”

The admins of BeautifulPeople.com have recently exiled 5,000 members for gaining too much weight over the recent Holiday season, and the public is outraged, as can be expected.

While I disagree with the discrimination of individuals for gaining a few pounds over the Holidays, I must however, agree with the admins of BeautifulPeople.com for upholding the principles and values of their online community.

I understand that to many, the above statement seems contradictory, and in some ways it is. An individual must look at both sides of the story to truly understand the purpose behind the actions taking place within this community.

Why Did This Happen?
BeautifulPeople.com was founded as an elite online dating community; founded on the niche premise that all members must be “beautiful” in the eyes of community members. Therefore, under those terms, the 5,000 members in question were flagged by their fellow community members as no longer meeting the criteria for membership within the community. The administrators simply upheld their principles and values of their niche community and swiftly retracted membership to the affected 5,000 former members.

Is This Wrong?

Well, in the court of public opinion, is seems that many are outraged by the decision and have taken a negative stance toward the site. However, in terms of proper community management, values, and standards, the site admins did exactly what should have been done to preserve the community of which they founded.

Why Should Communities Uphold Fundamental Principles?

One of the fundamental challenges of both online and offline communities/lodges/clubs, is that failure to uphold the fundamental values and principles of such communities, can and often will be detrimental to the membership quality of said community.

Many online communities boast about their niche memberships, yet they often allow anyone to join their ranks for sheer numbers. Facebook was once a niche community of College and University alumni, until they opened their doors to the general public. With the sudden influx of members that did not share the commonalities of the original members, some of Facebook’s original membership have since moved on to other communities that still preserve the types of niche communities they value the most.

As a former Sysop/Admin of various online communities, I urge fellow Community Managers and Admins to setup fundamental principles and values for your communities, and to preserve them as much as possible. While this strategy may hinder membership growth initially, it will however, dramatically increase membership quality. Some of the most successful online communities are based on a high quality membership base which acts as the foundation for future growth and success.