How to host a good party

This interview with Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake from .net magazine is worth reading if you 're pondering the imponderables of how to build online communties, keep flame wars to a minimum and learn to live without control. Here's a good taste:

According to Caterina: “The most difficult part is not the technology but actually getting the people to behave well.” When first starting the community the Flickr team were spending nearly 24 hours online greeting each individual user, introducing them to each other and cultivating the community. “After a certain point you can let go and the community will start to maintain itself, explains Caterina. “People will greet each other and introduce their own practices into the social software. It’s always underestimated, but early on you need someone in there everyday who is kind of like the host of the party, who introduces everybody and takes their coat.

(thanks to kotke.org for the pointer)

–Howard Weaver