I realised the other day that I've been participating in online communities for over a decade, from telnet-based chat rooms via mailing lists to Facebook. Here, mainly for my own reference, are the major repeating themes I've seen over that time:
- Whatever you do, don't listen to the loudest voices in preference to the rest
- You can't avoid conflict in the community, and even splits, no matter how had you try to control who joins
- Calming voices are invaluable
- Controlling voices are deadly
- Conversations that drift off topic and into running jokes are the sign of a good community developing - but if it goes too far, it alienates newcomers
- Once your community starts forming groups to develop rules, it's dead
- The people with the most vested in the community are often the deadliest to it
- Communities that grow too large will fragment and, if you can't accommodate that, move elsewhere
- Beware: those who police other's behaviours, those who believe in one true way and those who hate change
- Communities, like people, have a life span. Once it's gone, it's gone
