“
Meanwhile, small, focused, and yes, exclusionary community sites flourish. Matt Haughey made several key decisions in the formation of MetaFilter, but the most important one was to limit growth. Hell, for years you couldn’t get an account if you wanted one. After that, they started costing money. When it costs money at the door, that means you don’t have to sell out your members to advertisers. It also means the community stays small, which – surprise! – also leads to healthier communities.
Derek Powazek, “What If Social Networks Just Aren’t Profitable?” (ht journo-geekery)
This prompted me to go back more than a decade to read what I wrote about how subscriptions might work for communities.
Plus ça change plus ça reste la même chose.
