The Art of Community

Foreword

From ants to anteaters, bees to beekeepers, community is a fundamental part of our life on the planet. We thrive when we are immersed in it, suffer when deprived of it, and wherever humans go we create it. We define ourselves by our communities: tribe, family, work, clubs, schools, churches and temples, these are who we are. We are born into community, and if we’re lucky we’ll end our days surrounded by it.

It’s no surprise that as soon as humans began to go online, communities formed, but as easy and natural as group formation is for us in real life, we can find it frustrating online. Many of the cues that grease the wheels of human interaction in person are missing online. Gone is the grin that can soften a criticism, the pat on the back that can heal a rift. How can you “hug it out” when your antagonist is a continent away and you know no more about him than his handle and a few lines of signature? Online groups can breed the most vicious of rivalries. The Hatfields and McCoys have nothing on alt.tv.doctorwho.

Communities are tough enough to maintain when you’re all in the same room; how much harder is it to build, maintain, and nurture a community online? That’s why this book is such a boon to those who run communities and the rest of us who participate in them. Jono Bacon has firsthand experience with managing a group of the most bloody-minded and independent people on the planet: open source programmers. The information in this book has been forged in the white-hot crucible of free software. You don’t get tougher than that.

My experience with online forums began 25 years ago when I started a bulletin board for Macintosh users called MacQueue. It’s not easy to start a flame war with dual 14.4 kbps modems and 20 MB of storage, but the MacQueuers managed. A few years later I joined The Well, a legendary online community based in Sausalito, California, and imbued with the peace and love ethos of the San Francisco hippies. That didn’t last long. The Well went through an arc I came to know intimately, one that most online communities seem to follow.

When any affinity group forms online it’s a joyous occasion. The founders and early members are wreathed in the cooperative enthusiasm that accompanies most new beginnings. Conversations are civil, helpful, and kind. Posts twinkle with good spirits and bonhomie. All’s right with the Web. Then the rot begins to set in. Tempers flair, resentments build, rivalries form. It’s a lot like marriage.

Unlike most marriages, however, online members have looser ties to the group and a reduced stake in its success. When trolls become annoying, the flame wars too fiery, members move on, and pretty soon that happy online forum turns into a ghost town, or worse.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. With his usual wit and good humor, Jono has written a guide with everything you need to keep your online groups healthy and productive. With proper planning, a modicum of guidance, and the occasional banishment, your community can avoid that seemingly inevitable descent into fear and loathing. We need good community managers because we need healthy communities online. I’ve started my share of communities online, and killed a few with neglect, too. I’m so grateful to Jono for giving me the tools to do it right from now on. I know we all are.

—Leo LaporteBroadcaster and Founder of the TWiT Network Petaluma, California June 30, 2009