Interesting post on talks at Noah Kagan's CommunityNext (which I missed) and the discussions of both forming communities and of community as a business practice. Lee's observations ring true:

• The most successful communities were started by people with a ton of devotion and passion about the community project. This can't be created in a board room or assigned as a project.
• Successful communities require a community manager to balance the needs of the community and the organization. Like I wrote recently, the manager is the protector of the community.
• In-reach vs. outreach. Instead of focusing on bringing people in (outreach), be more focused on making people feel welcome after they arrive.
• Authenticity, transparency, genuineness are absolutely required in the community setting. Do not deceive.
• Listen to the community, listen to the community, listen to the community.

Susan sez: The interesting thing here is that we need to remember these lessons over and over again--every time the platform tools change, the process notes become i mportant again.

Lee's now on my blogroll (thanks, Boris.)