How to Build an Online Community

The folks at Flickr have a pretty sweet community going on, and the driving force behind it is a corporate ethos that knows to leave well enough alone. This hands-off approach is very interesting to me, in laying only the most basic ground rules and expectations, and letting everything else develop from there.

Link: A List Apart: Articles: Community: From Little Things, Big Things Grow.

People don’t like being told what to do. We like to explore, change things around, and make a place our own. Hefty design challenges await the makers of websites where people feel free to engage; both with the system itself and with each other. Embrace the idea that people will warp and stretch your site in ways you can’t predict—they’ll surprise you with their creativity and make something wonderful with what you provide.