OJ’s rants What would OJ do?

The Value of a Technical Community

This post was inspired by an experience I had recently in an IRC channel. To protect the innocent, I'll refrain from naming and shaming the channel and individual as those details aren't important.

Communities are arguably the life blood of technology. Without a good community the likelihood of the technology catching on is drastically reduced. Those communities which lack individuals that are happy to put time and effort in to help get others up to speed tend to stagnate. Any community which involves members that are abrasive, rude and downright offensive is destined to suffer long term.

The level of suffering will vary depending on quite a few things. Those things include existing user base, the age of the technology and the number of different ways that a given n00b can get information about that technology.

IRC is a very common and popular means for members of communities to interact. It provides a real-time element that you don't get with blogs, forums and other media like Twitter. It satisfies every geek's desire to get the answer and get it now. Experiencing support in real time via IRC can be extremely helpful and rewarding. It can work wonders for the popularity and image of the community and the technology itself.

If you're interested in seeing some active and extremely helpful communities, you should take a look at #haskell and #mercurial. Both of these channels are generally very active. The people that spend time in them are both helpful and friendly. Both of these channels indicate to me that there is a very healthy and vibrant community behind each of these pieces of technology.

Unfortunately, this kind of communication also has a downside. The real-time nature of IRC allows people to vent anger on newcomers without any means of moderation. The net result of this is that other individuals become to scared to offer their view or provide support for fear of receiving the same treatment. This goes for members with any level of skill or knowledge. There are some community channels out there containing hundreds of people, and yet there is no conversation. When questions are asked, nobody responds.

After my recent experience in a channel that fist this description, it's easy to see why. In less that half an hour of asking for clarification on certain points, I received a barrage of abuse which, in my view, was totally unjustified.

But let's say, for the sake of argument, that it was justified. That for some reason I annoyed someone in such a way that bombarding me with many 4 and 5-letter expletives was acceptable. Do you think that it paints a good picture of the community?

I think not.

In less than half an hour I went from excited to deflated. I lost interest in the piece of technology and lost faith in the community around it. Was my response justified or understandable?

I'm not sure about the answer to this

I feel that it's the job of the community to moderate other members of their community. If people get abusive then other members should step in and prevent it. In my case this wasn't possible due to the fact that the person in question was abusing me via a private chat so that the channel couldn't witness his venting. I'm guessing this wasn't the first time that he's done this to someone, nor will it be the last. I wonder how many others have suffered the same fate? If the silence of the channel is anything to go by, I'm guessing quite a few.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is this: don't underestimate the value and importance of your community. It's one of the most frequented faces of your technology. If it's bitter, unwelcoming and unsupportive, you will not only lose valuable newcomers who come looking for information and support, you will also lose future users due to the poor reputation. Ultimately, your tech will suffer.

If you're part of a community, do your bit to police it. Help those who need help. Stop those people who are abusive.

.. and if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all!