For the 2012 edition of South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive, I would like to reflect on what it means to manage the same online community for more than a decade. My proposal is titled “Lessons from a Decade of Community Management.”

In 2011, I celebrated the 10th anniversary of two of the online communities that I manage – KarateForums.com and phpBBHacks.com. I launched both of these communities and have managed them since day one. You aren’t this involved for this long with projects of this nature without them becoming a part of your life – without them becoming your baby.

These communities mean a lot to me and, as such, I definitely got a little emotional as we celebrated these milestones. It bought to mind a lot of memories and amazement at the passage of time. I was proud of what we had accomplished and of the challenges that we had successfully navigated. If this proposal is accepted, I will riff on the past 10 years and share some of the most important, enduring lessons that I have learned from being directly involved in the day to day management of these online communities for over a decade.

This will include what I would tell myself 10 years ago when I started, what the legacy of an online community is, what the actual, long term impact of disruptive forces like spammers and trolls is and more.

If this sounds like an interesting idea to you, I would greatly appreciate your support. You can vote for the session on the SXSW PanelPicker.