I have to be careful here and try to avoid sounding like a curmudgeon.

A few words of caution for anyone about to launch an online community;

Beware!

• Most people will not participate (even if they say they will),
• Many of those that participate initially, will stop after a few months (weeks probably),
• You will be left with a core of ‘die hard’ enthusiasts (talking to each other), and
• An (increasingly disillusioned) ‘community facilitator’ working at
  full stretch to keep the community alive.

Sorry if that sounds very negative, but it is a fair reflection of the reality in some of the online communities I’ve experienced It’s also part of the 1% rule of Internet culture.

The 1% rule or the 90–9–1 principle is a hypothesis that more people will lurk in a virtual community than will participate. It’s been around since the mid 2000’s and has been…