Building Communities with Software

This fine article is from 2003 (oldie but goodie).<p><i>So posting rules is just a way to insult the majority of the law-abiding citizens and it doesn't deter the morons who think their own poo smells delicious and nothing they post could possibly be against the rules.</i><p>Here's a link to posted forum guidelines dated 2006:<p><a href="http://www.ericsink.com/entries/BOS_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.ericsink.com/entries/BOS_Guidelines.html</a><p>No registration necessary in '03:<p><i>But requiring registration does NOT improve the quality of the conversation or the average quality of the participants.</i><p>Sifting through archive.org, even in late '07, users didn't have to register but were being gently nudged into creating accounts as anonymous posts would most likely be deleted.<p>In 2009, you'll now find that you can no longer post/reply unless you register:<p><i>This community works best when people use their real names. Please register for a free account.</i><p>What changed?<p>I'd really love to hear an updated take on this topic from Joel himself.<p>Any differences in creating or nurturing an online community now compared to 6 years ago?<p>Any new challenges?

"Creating community, in any case, is a noble goal, because it's sorely missing for so many of us. Let's keep plugging away at it."<p>Hear. Hear.<p>The principle of no meanness that pg mentions so often is one great way to start. The software defaults suggested in the submitted article have testable effects on user behavior: I'm curious what tests of software defaults other HN readers have tried in forums that you administer. Do you enjoy reading a forum better, for instance, when you follow Joel's suggestion of making the reply button out of view for anyone who doesn't read down to the bottom of a thread?

Regarding the third place mentioned in this post: a piece with a similar concept came across my reader the other day.<p>It was based on a critique of modern American religion (albeit from a religious perspective) and talked about the need for what the author calls "triangulation" in social settings.<p><a href="http://gatheringinlight.com/2009/03/02/the-ironic-gesture-of-the-church/" rel="nofollow">http://gatheringinlight.com/2009/03/02/the-ironic-gesture-of...</a><p>Regardless of the religious content in the article, I thought it interesting to note the similarity of concepts from an anthropological perspective.<p>One could speculate that the virtualization of many of our relationships has the potential to fill similar needs that the religious seek to fill in worship.