How much experience have you had watching the trajectory of online communities?
Is anyone aware of any good write-ups on this topic? I’d be interested in seeing any insights as to why things happen the way they do, and what we can do to improve matters.
To answer my own question, here are a few write-ups I found about why the quality of an online community tends to decline over time, and what can be done about this problem:
Also, the book “The Virtual Community” that Richard Hollerith mentioned is available online, although I wasn’t able to find much information in it about the specific topic at hand.
Howard Reingold’s book with the string “Virtual Community” in it. Old though: 1994 or so, but very informative on pre-Internet communities. The chapter on France’s Minitel (term?) I found particularly valuable.
I’ve been participating in online communities since 1992, and most of my information has come from short comments by people trying to preserve the character of specific communities. Paul Graham’s comments on Hacker News are particularly worthwhile, but have not been collected in any one place.
Is anyone aware of any good write-ups on this topic? I’d be interested in seeing any insights as to why things happen the way they do, and what we can do to improve matters.
To answer my own question, here are a few write-ups I found about why the quality of an online community tends to decline over time, and what can be done about this problem:
A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy by Clay Shirky
What I’ve Learned from Hacker News by Paul Graham
Trolls by Paul Graham
Well-Kept Gardens Die By Pacifism by Eliezer Yudkowsky
Also, the book “The Virtual Community” that Richard Hollerith mentioned is available online, although I wasn’t able to find much information in it about the specific topic at hand.
Howard Reingold’s book with the string “Virtual Community” in it. Old though: 1994 or so, but very informative on pre-Internet communities. The chapter on France’s Minitel (term?) I found particularly valuable.
I’ve been participating in online communities since 1992, and most of my information has come from short comments by people trying to preserve the character of specific communities. Paul Graham’s comments on Hacker News are particularly worthwhile, but have not been collected in any one place.