We just need to think of a local village and the elders who live in it. We can then start to imagine all the knowledge, memories and relationships they've built up over the years.
It may not always be visible or shown in our 'community engagement' metrics, yet their presence is valuable and priceless.
This feels obvious on the face of it, but when we run paid communities where members lose access after a period of time or through non-payment then we can see how much of a challenge building community can be when experienced members leave.
Not only do we feel loss as the community builders. The members can also feel a loss too when they are suddenly disconnected from easy access to their network.
This is why lifetime membership models can be interesting. Another option is to always maintain a free community part and to then add areas that generate revenue, I call this the a freemium community strategy.
