Not everyone who joins your “community” is actually there to be part of it.
We run a free Slack group for our PMPro users (both free and paid). It’s 1,100 strong and growing. And it’s taught me a lot about people.
Everyone gets a welcome message after joining. It recaps what each channel is for, invites them to post a “hello” in the introductions channel, and reminds them of the CoC.
So when someone joins and heads to the introductions channel to tell us who they are and what they’re building? I love it. All the warm fuzzies. That’s a member of the community.
When someone joins and instantly DMs me (I’m the founder for crying out loud – ha) for support? Bypassing every guideline and public thread? Let’s just say I have less warm feelings. (We have a canned reply for that now.)
When someone joins and posts a support question straight into general, no intro, no context? I feel torn. Because while it’s technically *fine*… it’s also not the energy I want to build our community around.
We all want to belong to something. But belonging requires a little tact.
Joining a space just to get your question answered doesn’t make you a member. It makes you a drive-by.
The internet is full of them. But in our corner of the web, we’re trying to make something better.
Community is messy. It’s made of:
- Takers
- Moochers
- Lurkers
- Piggybackers
- Connectors
- Thread-starters
- Quiet geniuses
… and most of us still figuring it out.
You can’t fully prevent missteps. But you can set expectations, model good behavior, and curate the vibe.
So here’s my question for the hashtag#community builders here:
What am I not yet accounting for? What caught you by surprise as your group grew past 1k members?
Would love to hear from others doing this work (especially in open-source or SaaS / product-driven spaces).
