aleksl - 7:46 pm on May 12, 2008 (gmt 0)

ByromM: Some of the best online communities are the DIY forums from home building to home repair to small hobby & professional construction discussions.

My point EXACTLY.

Are best online communities built around ecommerce stores? NO. WHY? Because they are financially interested. Online communities are REAL NETWORKS of REAL people who discuss hobbies and issues, not the best prices on widgets.

I've used MSND many many times in the past. I don't anymore. Collaborative knowledge of people outside Microsoft, on various forums and groups, that can be searched via your favorite SE is much deeper.

The topic is whether online businesses need to start communities. I think that for 99% of online businesses it will be useless waste of time. For a few big ones like Microsoft, Oracle and Amazon - yes, sure. Still, it will be mostly a format of Support, FAQs and discussions around bugs, widget problems and main functionality. But not a community. An ecommerce business will drag community down, and other seemingly non-profit communities will eat its lunch.

But if your business IS a community...well, that's another story.