Author: Eric Tracz

Clear community guidelines underpin every successful online community. They are the basic house rules which, if followed, allow everyone to give, take, and get along. Sounds simple, but many communities create guidelines which aren’t followed, are hard to understand, or are not even enforceable. Today we’re going to share exactly how to create reasonable guidelines that are actually followed.

A lot of online communities invest time, money, and resources in reducing the number of “lurkers” in their midst. These parasitic members who consume what they want but never contribute in return—who needs ‘em! One survey found that 30% of online community managers consider lurkers an obstacle. But are they really? Is it possible that lurkers are actually an asset to the community, or that having too many active users would be detrimental to participation and growth? Let’s take a look.

When it comes to community management, finding your purpose, or increasing value for your members, we often talk about interviewing members. These interviews are such powerful sources of insight that we believe they can help you surmount virtually any challenge the community faces.

We talked previously about how to onboard and integrate new members into your community. The main focus was on making them comfortable:

We’ve written before about how to identify and define your community’s purpose—but what if you decide to change course or head in a new direction? 

It is generally accepted that there are 3 categories of users within online communities: 

1. The 1%—Extremely active users who contribute the vast majority of content, answers, and activity. 
2. The 9%—All other casual or occasional contributors. 
3. The 90%—The ‘lurkers’ who only consume content (or don’t log in at all) and never contribute directly.