11
votes
How to retain new users on a Q&A site effectively?
Stack Exchange (and some other communities on the Internet) have a gamification component in the form of reputation (and, to a lesser extent, badges). The green +x notification is (for some (most?) ...
- 581
8
votes
How bad it is to enforce rules "just because", while refusing to even substantiate them?
Generally it is a bad idea to have "because we said so" rules. Having a rationale for the rule makes it easier to follow and easier to justify. However in this case it's clear why the rule was put in ...
- 6,495
8
votes
How to encourage members to engage with the group?
The short answer is often, "people like to be where people are." It takes a lot of energy and pump-priming to get people used to a new community and willing to engage with it. The more they see is new,...
- 441
7
votes
Accepted
How do you onboard new community members?
The best way I've found to onboard someone is to assign them a person (or two) that are their "tour guides/main contacts." Get someone to do this who is charismatic/friendly, but also shares ...
- 2,719
7
votes
How to retain new users on a Q&A site effectively?
Provide great answers
If a user doesn't get an answer at all or there's no activity whatsoever on their question, they wouldn't be too motivated to come back to ask a new question.
If they get a ...
- 171
6
votes
How can we get users to participate more in Meta?
One thing I know (mod at Travel Stack Exchange) is to feature a question.
A mod can add the feature tag to the question you want to be seen and it shows up in a field next to the questions or answers ...
- 161
5
votes
Do I need any license if I want to contribute in open source?
I think you are looking for an open-source license. If you would like specific protections for your code you need a license. The Open Source Foundation has a list of licenses here.
How can I ensure ...
- 442
4
votes
How to make it easier to join a community?
I have a much smaller server, but our users are usually coming from casual subreddits and not looking to do too much, so even asking them to read the rules is too much.
I'd avoid making authentication ...
- 61
3
votes
Accepted
Are there benefits of having SSO (single-sign-on) capability in an online community?
Yes!
For new users/members onboarding that requires the creation of accounts across multiple services or applications that support SSO, it can definitely be beneficial. Having one login to rule them ...
- 519
3
votes
How to encourage members to engage with the group?
My friends and I created a Facebook group for programmers and alike. Its aim is to have members asking questions and others answering them.
If you want to keep your membership small on your Facebook ...
- 331
2
votes
Effective methods to screen new membership requests for high-risk Facebook groups
What you probably want is two kinds of members: new and established, or unverified and verified, that sort of thing. Facebook doesn't technically allow that, but you can achieve that with two groups. ...
- 961
2
votes
How should I deal with help vampires in a forum?
Let us review the following points to find appropriate solutions in facing such situations:
When you see that many new members of your community behave in unacceptable ways, it may be due to the fact ...
- 429
1
vote
Best practice to balance the dynamic nature of a community
Balancing implies compromising between competing interests, and I don't think that's an accurate model of the process. There is a life cycle to participation, and dropouts along the way for various ...
- 131
1
vote
How do I handle an answer that appears to be written by a bot?
I agree this does not sound like a bot to me. I agree with Jan's conclusions.
SE is a bit different from other online communities, and it's not one I've moderated. On email or Facebook and some ...
- 329
1
vote
What are techniques that encourage new members to familiarize themselves with community guidelines?
The best example I have seen was on one Russian web-site for geaks.
When registering and reading the rules for your first time, you don't tick one "I have read the rules" box, you have to manually ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible