The Art of the Community Cross-Post

There's nothing like a good old community migration to get me to re-think how to build community. One such thing I've been thinking about recently are the types of conversations that happen within communities.

Time and time again, I think back to how people don't return to communities and they often state 'overwhelm' as part of it.

"It's too busy."

"It's hard to find stuff."

"I don't feel like I can contribute anything useful."

Personally, I'm not convinced it's just the overwhelm. Perhaps the overwhelm is a symptom of something else. Social networks can be pretty overwhelming too. There's always so much going on, but it sure doesn't stop people to keep going back for more.

Even when social networks don't have all the features, people can still find a way to hack their way to achieve what they want.