In continuation of this thread, I want to talk a little bit about how to 'grow' a community online. I've mentioned before that it's a lot like growing a garden. For example, you have to first study the soil (pick the pest software to build the community on), plant seeds (post new threads), weed the garden (take care of trolls), etc. One thing that helps when growing a community online is to know *why* people contribute. In Chris Willis and Shayne Bowman's We Media (PDF) (Exec Overview!), they list the reasons people contribute as: * To gain status or build reputation in a given community * To create connections with others who have similar interests, online and off * Sense-making and understanding * To inform and be informed * To entertain and be entertained * To create Anything you would add to that list? Which one are you? How will knowing your users help you grow the community faster and better? -kpaul