Yesterday I read the excellent article by Cory Doctorow: Let the Platforms Burn and this particular anecdote The thing is, network effects are a double-edged sword. People join a service to be with the people they care about. But when the people they care about start to leave, everyone rushes for the exits. Here’s danah [...]
I’m thinking of starting my own community here analogous to a subreddit that has not migrated. Do you have any tips or advice for someone starting out? My biggest fear and the only thing holding me back is nobody showing up :(
edit: I think it’s important to mention I don’t have moderation experience, but there’s a first for everybody and I’m willing to commit the time and effort to maintain a community.
double edit: looks like I confused your OP tag for a mod tag. In either case, I am open for anyone that might have any type of advice.
The only tip is, be an active poster. If you start a community, you have to be the one regularly posting content until you get above like 1000 subs and others start posting consistently. If you can’t dedicate yourself to that, it won’t go anywhere
It’s really fine if nobody shows up. If anything, you could always just post or cross post something every once in a while to help the community pick up steam. What you should be concerned about is too many people showing up. The reddit admins (as well as certain sections of redditors, it seems) have forgotten that moderating is pretty tedious and not everyone has the time or energy to spend on moderating. If I were you, make your moderating policy clear from the start and stick to it as objectively as possible. When changes to that policy has to be made, clearly communicate to your community what changes are made and why. Some changes will not be accepted by the community, and you should do your best to remind yourself that it’s not a personal attack on your values if they disagree.
Treat it like a personal blog maybe? Like Tumblr or a journal. Might help get over the mental hurdle of people not being present, and viewing it like your own private web page just for you. Posts also help it show up in all so eventually someone will see it.
What kind of community? In general, the easiest way to make a forum active is to post things that are easy to respond to. Ask questions that have a lot of good answers, or give people an opportunity to share opinions that are easy and fun to express. If it’s relevant to your topic, and it can be done in a friendly way, start an argum—I mean, a debate. Start a debate. Every niche interest has at least one topic people can debate endlessly, so you can get some action by starting a thread about that.