I have been moderating a couple of online communities. These are communities of mostly software devs, trying to help each other out.

Since it is a community of devs, a lot of the people who join, join with, let’s say, the intention of hiring someone from the community.

Every day someone will post “I am looking for someone with 5 years of experience, who wants to build the future of AI” and are then disappointed by zero responses.

So here are few pointers for people like them, who want to use a community in a more effective way.

Spoiler alert: Very similar in principle to the optimal strategy for game theory.

Pssst: You can apply these to your social media as well, they’re a community of people too, after all.

Be active

Only 10% people post anything ever in a community, and only 1% are actually engaging with the community.

Just be active in the community, and you’ll stand out.

Help others

Don’t know how to be part of a community? Start by helping others. Answer any question others have asked that you can help with.

Do it consistently, eventually people will start recognizing you, even start tagging you in future for any questions you have.

Don’t hesitate to let other help you as well. If there’s something you’re stuck in, make sure to ask the broader community. This is what the community has been made for. Asking and answering questions.

This is hard to do if you have joined a bunch of communities. I would suggest to pick 1 or 2, and start going through new threads/messages daily, and trying to be helpful there.

Praise other members

If someone from the community helped you, in private DMs, or publically, make sure to shower them with praises in the community.

This would help you make a deeper connection with the members from the community, so whenever you have an ask, they’ll be all ears.

Give before asking

If you join a community, and immediately start asking for things (like putting out a Job, or asking people to try out your product), you’re not going to get any success.

You have to first get some people in the community on your side, by helping them out, or by being active contributor to community content in other ways.

You need others in community to endorse you, so that when you do ask for something, these people have your back, and other community members feel safe to interact with your asks.

Don’t be lazy with your asks

This is one the WORST mistakes people make.

Looking for a developer to build the future of AI and E-commerce

Brother, WHAT?

Please add context. Get as specific as you can. The more details you add, the better response you will get.

Things you can add (for let’s say a job posting):

  • Salary
  • Job location
  • Relevant links
  • Ideal persona
  • Specific skills needed
  • Years of experience needed
  • What do you bring to the table
  • Specific tasks that will be part of the job

I can keep going, but you get the gist.

Add context to your asks.

If you’re asking, for example, some programming question, make sure to add context like what you’ve tried, what is the error trace you’re seeing, what are the libraries you’re using, etc.

Bad question:

Hi, can someone help with chatgpt api?

Good question:

I just signed up for openai, and tried to make a call to their API. I am getting an error that says 429 exceeded quota, even though this is my first call to their API. I tried to google but getting answers like reduce the number of calls, which is impossible given this is the first call. What could the problem?

The bad question is just lazy. It shows you haven’t put in any effort, why will someone else put in the effort to help you?

The second one is pretty good, and I can tell the solution with certainty (buy credits, you have $0).

You have to put in the effort, and show that to others. No one wants to help a lazy bum, everyone wants to help go-getters.

Don’t spam

No one likes it when you keep repeating the same messages every day without any difference in context.

This spoils the mood of others present in the community as well, makes it harder for well intentioned people to help others.

At the end of the day, remember that it’s just people out there. Don’t do something you wouldn’t want to face and you’ll be fine. Be nice, helpful, clear, and you’ll immediately stand out and capture the attention of others.