[andreasklinger]

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

[Malcx]

> 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]

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?

[werber]

I religiously follow producthunt now because of the Devo extension ( 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]

Product Hunt isn't a real community as it's a very explicit marketing platform, hence the pats on the back, astroturfing, etc.

[danso]

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]

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.

[larrydag]

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]

> 2. make it clear what the community is about [positioning/marketing]

Could you give some examples on communities with successful positioning/marketing?

[ethiclub]

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

- 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