Including those detached from the community

[jonathanbishop]

Hi all,

I'm an online community developer and user. I have found that some members of online communties that I know are not fully involved in the community, even though they post messages and take part in chat rooms. Some of these people don't feel they are part of the community and some of them don't see the people they chat to as real people, just human-less text.

Has anyone else come across people like this, and how do you think moderators or others can make them believe that the people they are speaking to are real people and not just text, i.e. real people with real feelings and real personalities?

[GordonS]

Are they telling you this or is it just a feeling that you get? And does your site allow the posting of photographs. It's amazing how much more impact a real photo makes.

[jonathanbishop]

I've been told by some members that when they speak to others online they don't see them as real people, just text. I've asked some of them whether photos help and they don't see them as "having much effect".

I think its something to be concerned about as they are not fully experiencing community life or fully connecting with other people in the community.

[GordonS]

There's no doubt that people using online communities don't feel as connected to their fellow users as they would do in real life.

Here are some suggestions, although not knowing much about your site it's hard to know whether any might be relevant:

- encourage users to have photos of themselves, and ban photos of anything other than the member him/herself
- encourage users to use their real names instead of handles, either in sign-offs or as their actual usernames
- hold a real-life event in a central location, take photos and post them to the site
- encourage postings about the users themselves, their lives, as well as strictly "on topic" postings
- if necessary, seed threads by asking users about themselves
- collect and display more personal information about the user - sex, age, geographical location, occupation - and display this with their profile
- post a photo of yourself as moderator - it really helps users to respect you and your work if they can see who you are

G.

[Musicarl]

These are some excellent ideas. I have noticed that some people like a little privacy and won't post pictures.

As soon as we started our boards, I made it clear who we were and humanized it. This came in handy when we faced problems, as users realized we were real people and doing the best we could.

We started a Friendster group, which has worked pretty well as an outlet for more personal stuff, and as a way to promote the forums.

[linear]

Most of the good tricks are well-known to small town newspaper editors. Get everyone's name featured once on the front page once a year at least. Have a running contest and let a different user judge each week's entrants. (Maybe the winner judges the next round.) Get people talking about themselves, it's usually their favorite subject. But that may have to be approached in a non-threatening way, like "post your favorite flavor of pie" or "what's your shoe size" rather than most embarassing moment.