Ask HN: How are online communities established?

I don't think HN is one. At the very least I don't have a sense of being a member of an HN community.

"The Art of Community: Building the New Age of Participation" (2012) https://g.co/kgs/P2V1kn

"Tribes: We need you to lead us" (2011) https://g.co/kgs/T8jaFS

The 1% 'rule' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%25_rule_(Internet_culture) :

> In Internet culture, the 1% rule is a rule of thumb pertaining to participation in an internet community, stating that only 1% of the users of a website add content, while the other 99% of the participants only lurk. Variants include the 1–9–90 rule (sometimes 90–9–1 principle or the 89:10:1 ratio),[1] which states that in a collaborative website such as a wiki, 90% of the participants of a community only consume content, 9% of the participants change or update content, and 1% of the participants add content.

... Relevant metrics:

- Marginal cost of service https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marginal_cost

- Customer acquisition cost: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_acquisition_cost

- [Quantifiable and non-quantifiable] Customer Lifetime Value: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_lifetime_value

Last words of the almost-cliche community organizer surrounded by dormant accounts: "Network effects will result in sufficient (grant) funding"

Business model examples that may be useful for building and supporting sustainable communities with clear Missions, Objectives, and Criteria for Success: https://gist.github.com/ndarville/4295324

1 - Not all people who have same preferences or like the same things are willing to discuss or share ideas about that.

2 - I like to think people gathering around some topic is a secondary move, the primary thing that make people gather around is 'VALUES' and 'Principles'.

3 - We like to discuss ideas with people who we value, we like to talk about what we like with friends, not strangers, why? Because we know that we share values, principles and a cosmovision with our friends, family, etc.

So if you want to build a community, build around 'principle and values' and from this common ground you can set a main topic to be addressed by everyone.

Not always will be a single topic, but a niche, like the hacker news, our discussed niche is "hacking things", our values? Defy the status-quo, think out of the box, catch the black swan, see through the non-obvious, seek for excellence, etc.

It wouldn't be so successful try to discuss how to "hack things" with a bunch of douchebags ;D

Edit1: Also I saw people talking about the moderation drama but if you have done the principles, values, rules... you are going to have your own community policing who doesn't reach the cultural/behavioral fit.

Rules must be the very first thing to avoid a 'broken window' culture.

Building Successful Online Communities: Evidence-Based Social Design

Here are the chapters:

  * Encouraging Contribution to Online Communities
  * Encouraging Commitment to Online Communities
  * Regulating Behavior in Online Communities
  * The Challenges of Dealing with Newcomers
  * Starting New Online Communities