Team Rubber BlogTeam Rubber talks on the Internet in a blog

Rrrrrrepost! From the Delib blog:

It wasn’t long ago at all that I was getting the fright of my life trying to drive my car on six inches of solid ice and we were blogging about how the internet was awash with people talking about the snow.  Skip forward a few weeks and now the hot topic (pardon the pun) is that the sun’s come out – hooray!

Personally, I love that a little bit of sun puts a smile on everybody’s faces – and, of course, the great British tradition of talking about the weather is just as true for the internet as it is for the tea break or the awkward, chance social encounter in the street.  For a bit of fast feelgood Friday afternoon opinion research, then, I thought I’d see what Twitter search would turn up on the topic of ‘sun’.  I tried out the advanced search to see what came back for the word ‘sun’, displaying a ‘positive attitude’ (tweets including smilies, aww) within 15 miles of Bristol and Soho (to see which Delib office was among the happier, hipper crowd of smiley Twitterers).

Perhaps unsurpisingly, there’s more volume from the London lot, but that’s by the by: just reading a couple of these made me happy by being able to share a little bit in the joy of others.  I reckon everyone should generate a local RSS feed in the same way and subscribe to it as a kind of instant-life-affirmer…  Or you can just have a look at my results for Bristol and for Soho.

P.S. Spotify is also providing me with free Badly Drawn Boy and Beach Boys – happy days, indeed.

PREAMBLE TO THE DISCUSSION:

PRESENTERS

* Ken Fisher – Ars Technica
* Alexis Ohanian – reddit.com
* Drew Curtis – Fark.com
* Erin Kotecki Vest – BlogHer Inc

DESCRIPTION

Many start blogs and social networking sites, but few build vibrant, self-sustaining communities. This panel explores some of the most successful ventures that grew independently and continue to grow today. Lessons learned, plans for the future will be discussed along with some best practices for those who seek to develop true communities.

TYRANNY OF THE WILL OF THE MINORITY

Drew Curtis coined “the tyranny of the will of the minority” to explain how the few in a community will try to dictate the tone and topic of the discussion to the majority. This drew a small hallelujah from me as my experiences in forums have reflected this.  Interestingly, Alexis Ohanian later stressed the importance of trying to understand the voice of a sometimes often barely audible “silent majority”.

MODERATION

It was interesting to hear Alexis mention that comments need to be moderated in context of a greater discussion and not judged in an isolated moderation queue.

COMMUNITY IS A HOUSE PARTY

Drew Curtis believes in managing his Fark community like a house party. Come for fun but abuse the decor and you’re out.

BAD COMMUNITY MANAGERS

They tell rather than ask
They don’t inform the community of coming updates
Interestingly, they listen to the community TOO much

GOOD COMMUNITY MANAGERS

Have patience, level-headedness, calmness, handle users with grace, multi-task – Erin calls them the “calm multi-tasker”.

AVOID A GHOST TOWN

If you’re making a community don’t make forums look like a ghost town with too many sub-forums as this will dilute content.

USER ANONYMITY

Drew Curtis says “if you can’t say something with your name attached then go to hell”.