Actually, I think they also need positive attitudes to remain successful. I don't know about you, but I have those days when I look at our online community and get a bit discouraged. The reasons? You name it -- not enough time, not enough help, limits to the software, user complaints, etc.
I'm a huge fan (and user) of Ubuntu, probably the world's most popular flavor of desktop Linux. I'm also a huge fan of Jono Bacon, the Ubuntu community manager, and what he has done to make the Ubuntu community such a big part of Ubuntu's continued success. (Jono has a must-read new book coming out this summer called The Art of Community, and he's releasing the content for free under a Creative Commons license.) Here's how he answered an interview question about the Ubuntu community culture and why it works:
I am a firm believer that positive culture is largely driven by positive personalities. Communities are vessels of dependent relationships: we have thought leaders for the entire project, sub-communities with their own thought leaders, people who follow those leaders and people who listen to those followers. At each step in the chain we need to encourage positive participation both in the cogs of the machine, but also in the personality and outlook of the those who drive those cogs. It has been an explicit desire of mine in the Ubuntu community to not only ensure that the machine is simple to interact with, but to encourage people to bring their positivity, excitement and enthusiasm to the machine so the community feels like a fun and inspiring environment to be part of.
It takes what Jono calls lots of "care and feeding" to make this happen. In online communities, as in the rest of life, success doesn't come without sweat.
As Ted mentioned, our wiki -- our online community -- has reached critical mass, and the next step will be working hard not to rest on our laurels, but to think harder and more creatively than ever to make our wiki community "a fun and inspiring environment to be part of." What additional value can we deliver?
I'm looking forward to the creative challenge and opportunity. Are you part of the Ubuntu community or another online community at work or in your spare time? What challenges is your community facing now, and how will you overcome them? Please comment to share your thoughts.
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