In this issue, we shout-out DevRel leaders on the move, hear from Orbit CTO about Orbit and Funnel on a podcast, and take a look at some perspectives on forums for community building + some bonus Slack emoji π₯³
ποΈ On the move
In each issue, we'll highlight key moves in the DevRel and Community space. Have a tip for us? Drop a note to observatory@orbit.love.
- Kim Maida joins Gatsby as Head of Developer Relations from Auth0 (announcement)
- Jeremy Meiss joins CircleCI as Head of DevRel & Community from Solace (announcement)
π§ Orbit on the airwaves
Tune in to this podcast for favorite Orbit Model hits, including:
- software is not sold, it's adopted
- funnel is a model for capturing value for the company; Orbit is a model for creating value for the community
- the Orbit Model gives us a language for describing the complex experience of community
π What's in it forum me?
In our recent chats with leaders of dev communities, we've noticed more discussion around transitioning online conversation from realtime tools like Slack to persistent forums like Discourse.
Forums offer communities lots of benefits, like nuanced permissions and moderation, badges and progress tracking, and the added benefit of content that's both referencable and SEO-able.
We'd love to hear from you about your perspective on forums for building high gravity communities.
To start the conversation, here's a comprehensive overview to get everyone on the same page: Everything You Need To Know About Building Your Online Community Forum (warning: it's a little Vanilla Forums-heavy, but the principles are still instructive).
But does forum = community? Catch up on the discussion in the CMX Facebook group with this question: Can you share the difference between an online community and online forum?
π Discuss below
- What are some examples of effective developer community building through forums?
- What are some common forum pitfalls?
Bonus round: Grab these π₯ custom Orbit icons for your Slack
ποΈ Previous editions
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- Follow Orbit on DEV to see all of our posts.
Top comments (3)
We're partly doing this as well. I think both hold their own merit, but for information that will be read by multiple persons over an extended period of time, nothing really beats the good old forum (or notion if it's 1:many rather than a discussion).
I'm curious: what forum platform are you all using?
We're using discourse, which is serving us great so far.
If you want to have a look, it's available at community.k6.io/ π