What is Community?

MilesDB

Well-known member
These days what do we really mean when referring to online communities? Is it a place for chit-chats or something more? I've been reading threads here and there and have an impression that people are hurting by not being able to migrate to XenForo without giving up important parts of their communities like gallery, downloads, links, etc.

Should one strictly stay with running a board to stay robust? Can it be called community then? I mean in the long term.
 
I think it depends.
I consider my forums as communities because people are there to help or learn from one another.
 
A gathering of like minded people. Its just a term i use that sounds more inviting then,"forum" or "Discussion Board" I try to use them all in my meta descriptions.
 
Mine was a community...the one I had for almost 5 years. And there wasn't a gallery, the portal for years was a static html page, no links other than what people added to the discussion, no downloads, etc.

It was a place to get together and talk.
 
Community is a group of people that have same interests/support same ideas. If your community is used using gallery than you should provide it then.
 
I am thinking about giving up on add-ons and just run a board. No worries about things not working or updates going quirky. On the other hand, I really like what this Russian developer does: CMS, Forum, Gallery, Blog, Video, Wiki and more can be bought in one package; and everything is integrated out of a box. I reckon their Forum is not top notch like XenForo though. These are two no-headache extremes, imho.
 
I don't think there are enough add-ons in the world to force people into being a community - that comes from people actually posting to each other over time. Just like, you can create the best party theme of all time with the best drinks and food but if the people at the party don't talk to each other, it's still a dismal party. If that makes sense.
 
How many communities have you been a member of that have imploded in one way or another over the years ??

I can tell you that just about every webmaster and SEO forum has, without naming any of them, most have suffered from highly inept management, spam problems, greed syndrome of ownership and so on, so the community was not important, in the end all of these forums destroyed their own communities by trying to monetize their communities.
 
How many communities have you been a member of that have imploded in one way or another over the years ??

I can tell you that just about every webmaster and SEO forum has, without naming any of them, most have suffered from highly inept management, spam problems, greed syndrome of ownership and so on, so the community was not important, in the end all of these forums destroyed their own communities by trying to monetize their communities.

Spot on.

Admin forums generally start out with a great atmosphere but from my experience they'll start a new community which flourishes and they decide to slap on the ads, banners to the extreme it becomes unbearable. If that isn't the route they take, They'll sell it for a nice tidy sum (after mugs such as myself contribute in the bucket load) only for them to sell and the new owners destroy it due to neglectful incompetence. It's one of the reasons I'll never fully involve myself with an admin forum again. It's a niche I find to breakdown in the end.

That said, there are a few admin forums that have continued but nowhere near the activity from years ago.
 
Yeah, I hate it when I join sites from friends and then spend time writing 500 to 5000 posts, and year later it gets sold for $150. If I join somewhere I join to be in for the long run (or at least until the fun is out of it).
 
OK then, forums are then ruined by bad management, not the community of members, that is the lesson here.

Sitepoint at one time had a great community, then THE OWNERS decided to ruin the community many times by restricting signatures, taking them away in some cases from long contributing members, then giving them back when the forum died.

The community members built the "Sitepoint Marketplace", then THE OWNERS split it off into Flipa to make millions for themselves leaving most of the members in the dust.

So community means nothing to most forum owners, think IB and what they did to their community in the name of greed and self interest.

I have many more examples of forums imploding, most of them are written about on my forums.
 
That's when the "love" for what your doing rather than "I want to be a millionaire" passes down on the community and ensures they have a pleasant visit at your forums. There's so many factors between the both I won't state the obvious but once the owners get an idea in they're heads when their forums get big they usually don't think back why their site became big and do the exact opposite from when they began this adventure.

Human nature shows and proves once management gains an ego their forums/sites take a plunge for the negative. Never forget your roots and why you started a venture because often than not it's a recipe for disaster with the bad decisions that they take.
 
These forums once the members build them become vehicles for the owners to cash in on, they think of the giant homes, the cars, the girls dancing for them on the beach and the alcohol fueled parties on the Riviera, the community becomes nothing more than figures in a media kit to these types.
 
These forums once the members build them become vehicles for the owners to cash in on, they think of the giant homes, the cars, the girls dancing for them on the beach and the alcohol fueled parties on the Riviera, the community becomes nothing more than figures in a media kit to these types.
Very true. unfornt.
 
These forums once the members build them become vehicles for the owners to cash in on, they think of the giant homes, the cars, the girls dancing for them on the beach and the alcohol fueled parties on the Riviera, the community becomes nothing more than figures in a media kit to these types.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Well said Anthony.
 
These forums once the members build them become vehicles for the owners to cash in on, they think of the giant homes, the cars, the girls dancing for them on the beach and the alcohol fueled parties on the Riviera, the community becomes nothing more than figures in a media kit to these types.
They're not? :(
I guess that's why I like my hobby forum so much. I'm making a little money. All I can fuel are sending out decals to those who ask.
 
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