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I'll give you an "I don't know" back. IMHO the best communities are those that retain bitter rivals. The worst are the ones that have a high churn of beginners

I'll give you an "I don't know" back. IMHO the best communities are those that retain bitter rivals. The worst are the ones that have a high churn of beginners parroting received wisdom in an echo chamber without any of the necessary experience. I love nothing more than when high level participants who have fundamentally irreconcilable differences have explosive but on-topic fights. Even better when they surprise themselves and agree. These are special experiences you can learn so much from.

nv-vn 11y ago
Definitely. One of my favorite IRC channels is pretty much exactly this. Everyone disagrees about what their favorite technology is or what their political views are on said channel, but arguments are encouraged and often last hours at a time. Since all users (including moderators) are displayed as +v (voice), it helps create a sense of comfort disagreeing with people because there's no perceived risk to disagreeing with moderators/"power users" and in turn basically any discussion or opinion is welcome to be voiced. In a way, the friendships formed there are nicer than on other channels because you're comfortable bringing anything that comes to mind up without tarnishing your relationship and just arguing it out (+ maybe even changing your mind). This should be what online communities are designed to be like.