A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy

Added to The Forgotten Web: . Historical publication details follow.

2003 · online communities · original online
WhatEssay on why groups need social structure.
Why nowOnline communities still fail this way.
Statusoriginal online
Found inpre-platform culture

Clay Shirky explains why software for groups cannot dodge group dynamics, moderation, and governance.

WHY IT STILL MATTERSIt shows that community problems are not bugs in the UI; they are load-bearing social mechanics.
Best opened before building any community feature and pretending the humans will behave like database rows.
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