There are many parallels between a great online community and a great community that you live in. One of the BEST examples of that is the fact that in a great community, there are adequate an abundance of laws to protect the citizens and there are enough police to enforce the laws.

Let me show you what I am talking by talking specifically about the real estate community. Please realize that I mean NO disrespect to any specific community. It’s just that since I am going to be LIVING there online for a long time, I might as well choose the best fit for me.

Example 1: Bloodhound Blog–This blog has moderated comments and VERY little spam. Nice work Greg. Notice that the thoughts are typically cogent and the discussion lively. Blogs are easier to do than blog farms or forums and many do not consider them a TRUE online community. I beleive that they are.

Example 2: Real Estate Webmasters–Yeah. I am a bit biased. I moderate there. But aside from that, Morgan and the REW crew put much effort into keeping the streets of REW city free from spam. Users are limited in the types of links that they can insert and self promo is not tolerated. Hmm..is there a correlation between that and their steady growth into the most active community of web savvy REALTORS? Don’t think so!

Example 3. GAREIA–This is IMO, how NOT to do it. They have a private forum, but once you pay to be a member, you can post almost ANYTHING. If you are going to grow a community, would paying a bribe to the local constable be an acceptable practice? My opinion is “No.”

Example 4: Active Rain–These guys are great. BUT they have not managed growth and their members. Link spam is getting out of hand here. Their community grew like wildfire, and like many boomtowns, soon profiteers rolled in to AR-ville to loot and pillage. In my opinion, they need a new sheriff. (see the next example) BTW-In my opinion, they have one of the

Example 5: Squidoo–While they are definately NOT just real estate 9anyone can squidoo!) they are : An online community reclaimed. Congratulations guys..IMO you are the online urban renewal project of 2007 so far. With a limited staff (reportedly 4 folks??) and a willingness to take on challenges, TeamSquidoo handled a penalty earlier this year from Google and eradicated the majority of their spam issues and have bounced back to be a vibrant community that is back to its winning ways (at least for now on Google.)

Congratulations, guys on a job well done.

Communities need a plan. They need to grow. They need to breathe and they need good rules and enforcement to keep them on track.

Just My Opinion…

Eric