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 [...]
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.