Yesterday, I was reading Kev’s post on Online Communities. This is a topic that has interested me for years, because I really do think we’ve lost something online and it’s possible to bring it back. In the past, I’ve attempted to create small communities online using forums associated with my blog, but this has never worked out. I think the lack of audience and the inconvenience of registering for a forum really turns people off.
Kev’s idea is to create a general Mastodon instance limited to 500 users with a low $1-$2 monthly fee. I think this is a wonderful idea, because by putting a price on entry it should cut down on people not serious about participating and by limiting the number of users, it makes it harder to just disappear in the masses. That should cut down on some of the negative hot takes and general bullying that occurs online.
However, I’m not so sure a Mastodon instance is the best platform. I think it makes the most sense for success purposes, but Mastodon was obviously influenced by Twitter, and both services have conditioned us to quick responses, tapping the like button, and narcissistic ramblings. Sure, there are some great conversations on both platforms, but for the most part it’s just chest pounding and quick responses to topics that make people angry. I know I’m quite guilty of using these platforms this way.
I guess, that’s why I feel like a forum or message board is still a better option for creating a long-term community. The topics must be generated, and more effort tends to go into the posts. It breaks the habit of just quickly tapping an app and firing off an angry response to “insert whatever offends you here.” You have room to share ideas and expand on them and I feel like communicating in a different way is key to creating a good online community. We need to stop with the microblogging.
Of course, the problem with forums is spam which is easily corrected by password protecting it. I honestly don’t know how much work goes into running a Mastodon Instance (I imagine quite a bit) so I can’t compare it to running a forum, but I’m sure both platforms have their fair share of backend work. Forums also create an issue by not usually having an app (or at least not a good app) so that would probably turn some folks off, which might not be a bad thing.
Anyway, I’m all for the creation of small online communities. I do feel like the future is in smaller groups that are protected behind a login/password where people can feel a bit more at ease with sharing and not dealing with bots, trolls, and general assholery. I think the hardest part of creating a community like this by not allowing it to become an echo chamber or by allowing one or two people to set the tone for everything. You need active engagement and open minds.
What about discord? The main downside is you wouldn’t have ownership of data, but if that’s not a huge concern, discord is fantastic for small communities (and there’s a mobile app). I’ve administered one for a few years and the tooling is pretty solid. Just a thought. There may be glaring negatives in overlooking.
Discord is a great example. I’m a member of 5 Discord servers, all massively different from each other. One is based on people who were on a forum together in the mid-late 2000s (hey, another community), it’s invite-only and generally only open to people who know each other already. Another is a server for people with epilepsy, another for 11ty support, another for podcasters, and the last one I lucked into – a server started by Wil Wheaton that is invite only, and I just happened to get in at the right time.
Anyway I very much enjoy the three servers that are either invite-only (Wil’s, and the forum one) or a shared experience (epilepsy). I agree that there are some problems with doing it via Discord but honestly…unless you are okay dealing with server maintenance of some sort it’s a good option.
Discord does seem to be the current best option for creating an online community at this time. It checks off the boxes of being mobile friendly and easy to set up. I’m sure some folks would have some issues with privacy, and I guess the eventual addition of ads, but I really can’t think of a better option
You know, I honestly forgot about Discord. I’ve used it a few times in the past, and I think my only concern would be it feels a bit more like a chatroom than a community. I felt like I was always struggling to keep up, although I did read they added some forum type post options I believe now. It probably wouldn’t be nearly as difficult to keep up with if it had a limited number of members.
The more I think about it, I really think Discord may be a better choice than say a Mastodon Instance. I think my own personal preference for a message board makes me prefer that over Discord, but having an app really makes Discord seem like the best option for sure.
Separately, without fail I always seem to discover typos in these comments the second after I submit, and the lack of an edit option hurts my soul 🙂
That’s the story of my entire life on the internet.
I’ve been a longtime advocate for refocusing on small communities, especially ones that are topic-focused. I strongly believe that small communities are, on average, the best communities. I think we made a big mistake trying to cram everything into one or two mega-platforms, and especially so when algorithms were added in. I saw Kev’s post and I think it’s a fine idea—but he needs a theme. Communities only work if they have some idea/topic/theme/something, some binding element, to tie together the people into a “community”. Otherwise, it’s simply a group of users. But perhaps that’s what he wants.
I don’t think the tech is a make-or-break decision, at least if you’re intentional with how you establish community. I can’t tell you how many small communities I’ve seen thrive on the absolute worst platforms. That said, the initial platform choice can play an important role in how the group initially forms and what norms it has—and it can help shape its culture, especially in the absence of clearly enforced standards. If you want the resulting community to be thoughtful, then yeah, a microblogging platform like mastodon is probably a bad match, and a chat app like discord would be even further afield. A forum could be good, but so could a number or other options, as long as you invite the right folks and establish the culture you want.
For instance, I ran a small community of about 125 folks on Mighty Networks, which is primarily a digital course/community software. But I invited travel friends and I limited everyone to one post a day, but only about travel. Clear rules, and even though the platform wasn’t “great” for what I wanted, it worked well enough that we all quite enjoyed our time there. Funny enough, even though I thought it would be a much better platform for what we were doing, very few of the active members made the jump to mastodon when I moved the club there. Sometimes, the weird platform better matches the community. ♂️
Ya know, you are so right about the initial platform being crucial. I’m always amazed when I find active forums online and they are running on atrocious, outdated platforms, but no one seems to mind. It works and everyone has gotten used to it and I always find that really neat.
I also agree with the idea of needing a theme. You need that one ideal to bring the community together. Sure, the conversation may divert, but at the core everyone showing up has “this” in common. I also like the idea of having some rules in place to help maintain order. Nothing crazy, but maybe limiting the posts (as you mentioned you did) and even a ban on politics/religion (or at least setting up a sub-forum/group for those discussions to take place in).
Until social media hit, I don’t really recall many “general” message boards. Everyone seemed to unite under a topic whether that was in a chatroom or on a message board. Maybe that’s why it worked so well.