Building Online Communities

Online communities: groups of people connected by cables and wires. Transcend space and time. May be permanent or fleeting. May grow, shrink, collapse, split off into factions, amalgamate with others. Great creativity can be achieved. Disagreements may escalate to high levels, as disputes are public and reputations are at stake.

What are the central themes of the great online communities? What brings people together?

What subjects are there that demand having a SINGLE place as a info resource/portal?

Many subjects might be best served by a single location, or a few locations. Many subjects would differentiate on style then, if there are no distinguishing factors in terms of content. The content is irrelevant for the most part, because the content is assumed to be there based on the community.

It would seem that capturing a solid community could be very profitable over time.