manager

Onboarding

The distance from join → first human interaction is the retention lever: rules-gate short, a start-here that says what to do first, an intros channel with a prompt template ("what are you building / stuck on"), and a greeter habit (mods or bots tag a human, humans answer). A member who gets a reply in their first hour is a member; one who posts into silence is a visitor who left.

The 90-9-1 reality

Roughly 90% lurk, 9% react, 1% create. Design for it: lurkers need spectator value (great threads, recaps, showcases — readable without posting); reactors need low-friction participation (polls, emoji votes, one-word prompts); creators need recognition (roles, spotlights, early access). Judging health by "% who post" kills good communities; judge by return rate and reply speed.

Moderation ladder

Document it and apply it identically to friends and strangers: note → warn (private, cite the rule) → mute/timeout → kick → ban (appealable, logged). Spam/scams/harassment skip rungs — safety first, process second. Every action logged with rule cited; public drama gets moved to private fast. Mods are recruited from consistently-helpful members, given the playbook, and rotated before burnout — an exhausted mod team is a dying community's first symptom.

Programming — rituals beat events

Weekly beats monthly: a show-your-work thread, office hours, a themed question, a wins recap. One sustainable ritual > three ambitious ones that die by week 6. Tie rituals to member value, not brand content. Recap threads make lurkers feel the pulse without attending live.

Health metrics (monthly, trend over snapshot)

Return rate (members active this month who were active last), first-response time to new-member posts, DAU/MAU stickiness, % of messages from the top 10 posters (rising concentration = fragility), new-member first-week activation, and mod-action volume. Growth in member count without growth in active members is a bigger room, not a bigger community.

Never fake it

No sockpuppets, no staged questions from alts, no paid enthusiasm undisclosed. Seeding honestly is fine: founders visibly present, teammates labeled as team, early members personally invited.