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I helped building producthunt.com and overclockers.at (and other less successful ones) Here a few learnings: 1. the community already exists, you just create

I helped building producthunt.com and overclockers.at (and other less successful ones) Here a few learnings: 1. the community already exists, you just create a communication platform for it 2. make it clear what the community is about [positioning/marketing] 3. make sure the communication/content is interesting [quality] 4. make sure there is enough engagement [perceived critical mass] (encourage people to post, post yourself a lot, fake accounts if needed, only create subforums once the main ones are noisy) 5. have a rhythm - some communities need daily good posts, some live of the weekly newsletter

werber 7y ago
I religiously follow producthunt now because of the Devo extension ( https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/devo/elkhalpmbmbaeoemecpcfdcoekmpgmdm?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/devo/elkhalpmbmbae... ), but have noticed that the forum portion tends to be mostly pats on the back. With other endeavors have you been able to create a space where people are more critical?
- arkitaip 7y ago
  Product Hunt isn't a real community as it's a very explicit marketing platform, hence the pats on the back, astroturfing, etc.
  - a0zU 7y ago
    It can still be a real community even with the marketing aspects.
  - sky_rw 7y ago
    As somebody who has suffered through "networking events" I can assure you, what you described is a very real community.
  - thojest 7y ago
    Turtle (https://turtle.community https://turtle.community) is similar to Product Hunt except that the focus is on dev tools and that we aim to build a real community.
danso 7y ago
In your time, how much has producthunt's platform evolved and iterated? I mean, has it been worthwhile and/or necessary to add new features – anything from new functionality to design tweaks to social/API integrations – to keep the platform healthy and audience engaged?
nwsm 7y ago
How do you "make sure the communication/content is interesting"? Are you talking about moderation or talking about making sure there is good content posted? I've read the Reddit origin story of founders submitting content under several usernames to give the appearance of a forming community, while also dictating the initial content and therefore the audience and culture.
Malcx 7y ago
> the community already exists, you just create a communication platform for it That gave me a minor epiphany, it flipped my understanding of communities and their relation to tech. Thanks
- gweinberg 7y ago
  Does it really though? The individuals with a common interest exist already of course, but if they don't meet in some common physical or virtual space, how is there a community?
  - wuliwong 7y ago
    I think this is interesting. Since the original comment was from a producthunt perspective, I was thinking that in that case there was a community. Maybe a strategy is that there is a community that communicates already but this communication is spread across various mediums and not efficient?
  - aewens 7y ago
    Depends on how you look at the word "community". One definition of the word, "a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals," can dictate that a community can exist among those who have not yet met, but are of the same community through a shared interests / goals.
  - vokep 7y ago
    There is a sort of proto community. A community that wants to be, but isn't because nobody started doing that yet. The point of it of course is that, if such a proto community doesn't exist, its going to be very difficult for a community to grow.
larrydag 7y ago
Agree on all of these points. One thing is you need to preserve the engagement. If you are the founder of the community platform make sure you keep content being contributed and be personally accessible.
sidwyn 7y ago
> 2. make it clear what the community is about [positioning/marketing] Could you give some examples on communities with successful positioning/marketing?
- ethiclub 7y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumsnet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumsnet - PR and relationships with (governmental or other) organisations - Intelligent positioning - (Arguably good timing in the market) - Community well targeted, needs catered for well. - Appropriate (simple, fast) technology, little barrier to entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_News https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_News - Two way beneficial relationship with YC - Careful / Aggressive (depending on situation and feature) moderation - General (although arguably slipping into Eternal September) maintenance of a niche community but with steady growth - Appropriate (simple, fast) technology, little barrier to entry

werber 7y ago

I religiously follow producthunt now because of the Devo extension ( https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/devo/elkhalpmbmbaeoemecpcfdcoekmpgmdm?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/devo/elkhalpmbmbae... ), but have noticed that the forum portion tends to be mostly pats on the back. With other endeavors have you been able to create a space where people are more critical?

arkitaip 7y ago
Product Hunt isn't a real community as it's a very explicit marketing platform, hence the pats on the back, astroturfing, etc.
- a0zU 7y ago
  It can still be a real community even with the marketing aspects.
- sky_rw 7y ago
  As somebody who has suffered through "networking events" I can assure you, what you described is a very real community.
- thojest 7y ago
  Turtle (https://turtle.community https://turtle.community) is similar to Product Hunt except that the focus is on dev tools and that we aim to build a real community.

danso 7y ago

In your time, how much has producthunt's platform evolved and iterated? I mean, has it been worthwhile and/or necessary to add new features – anything from new functionality to design tweaks to social/API integrations – to keep the platform healthy and audience engaged?

nwsm 7y ago

How do you "make sure the communication/content is interesting"? Are you talking about moderation or talking about making sure there is good content posted? I've read the Reddit origin story of founders submitting content under several usernames to give the appearance of a forming community, while also dictating the initial content and therefore the audience and culture.

Malcx 7y ago

> the community already exists, you just create a communication platform for it That gave me a minor epiphany, it flipped my understanding of communities and their relation to tech. Thanks

gweinberg 7y ago
Does it really though? The individuals with a common interest exist already of course, but if they don't meet in some common physical or virtual space, how is there a community?
- wuliwong 7y ago
  I think this is interesting. Since the original comment was from a producthunt perspective, I was thinking that in that case there was a community. Maybe a strategy is that there is a community that communicates already but this communication is spread across various mediums and not efficient?
- aewens 7y ago
  Depends on how you look at the word "community". One definition of the word, "a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals," can dictate that a community can exist among those who have not yet met, but are of the same community through a shared interests / goals.
- vokep 7y ago
  There is a sort of proto community. A community that wants to be, but isn't because nobody started doing that yet. The point of it of course is that, if such a proto community doesn't exist, its going to be very difficult for a community to grow.

larrydag 7y ago

Agree on all of these points. One thing is you need to preserve the engagement. If you are the founder of the community platform make sure you keep content being contributed and be personally accessible.

sidwyn 7y ago

> 2. make it clear what the community is about [positioning/marketing] Could you give some examples on communities with successful positioning/marketing?

ethiclub 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumsnet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumsnet - PR and relationships with (governmental or other) organisations - Intelligent positioning - (Arguably good timing in the market) - Community well targeted, needs catered for well. - Appropriate (simple, fast) technology, little barrier to entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_News https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_News - Two way beneficial relationship with YC - Careful / Aggressive (depending on situation and feature) moderation - General (although arguably slipping into Eternal September) maintenance of a niche community but with steady growth - Appropriate (simple, fast) technology, little barrier to entry