On Community Software

[JoelR]

There are plenty of forum choices. There are plenty of discussion platforms.  There are only a few community software choices (and calling yourself a community platform when you're nothing more than forums + gallery doesn't really count).  

When I evaluate the landscape of software, especially in context of legacy forum software, most of them created software that was driven by users: albums, files, blogs.  This worked 10 - 15 years ago.  Nowadays, social platforms have absorbed these user-centric groups and offer user albums, user blogs, user clubs.  Independent community platforms shouldn't compete with social platforms, because social platforms are extremely good at chasing and winning user attention.    

Modern independent communities have evolved.  When I think of the modules that are needed today, they're driven by knowledge:  learning modules, help articles, informational databases, file databases, and identifying items for expertise, authority, helpfulness, or information.  

While some of the legacy apps continue to work well (forums + files + blogs) in modern communities, I can see a greater demand for a robust help desk article system, learning courses, and reference databases.