Over the 10 years that I have been working with and on online communities, I have come across numerous member personalities. It is funny how these personalities are similiar to real life. At the same time, it is also interesting how someone in real life can project an entirely different personality online.
I wanted to share a couple of those personalities with you and would ask that you also share some of the ones that you have noticed, that I may have missed.
* Note: All of the titles have been made up
The “All-Knowing” – will answer any and every question, and will not reference any materials that may have assisted in their answer. They know it all, just ask them.
The “Researcher/Teacher” – will find sites to reference within the answers that they post, and link directly to those sites. Very knowledgeable individuals.
The “Poet” – all posts are a work of art, they are all well thought out and to the point. This member really knows what to say, when to say it, and whom to say it to.
The “Pile-on-er” – if there is ever a disagreement and it is many against 1, this member will always take the side of the many. They may not post that often, but they know when to pile-on and chime in.
The “Agree-er” – similar to the above, except this member will not just pile-on, they will simply agree, and move on. They may not post a reason for their actions, and may just post, “I agree”, but these members are out there.
The “Bater” – always wanting to start a fight, this members knows what to say, and who to say it to to get things going and to start a debating discussion that could spiral out of control.
The “New-bie” – someone that is truly new to your community and posts to find information or see what the community is about. These members need immediate attention so that you can retain them.
The “Goold-old-days-er” – this member will reminisce about how things were in the past, and how much better it was. At the same time, they were also complaining back then as well, so nothing really has changed with them.
The “Multi-personality” – will create numerous ID’s on your site to either agree with themselves, or fight with themselves. They can also gang up on others within your community and make it seem that some members are outnumbered.
The “Governor” – weather self-appointed or not, this member feels the pressure of leading the community to the promised land and will do anything in their means to protect it. While in most cases this can be a good thing, in some cases it can end bad with the member feeling that they have too much power.
The “Mediator” – generally every community has a couple of these. Whenever situations seem to begin to spiral out of control, this member will try to step in and diffuse it, not taking either side.
I think that this is a good start, but know that it is not a complete list, please feel free to add yours below.
As always, thanks for reading.
Mike
Social Media Strategy, Moderation & Management Musings 
4 comments
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April 24, 2009 at 11:26 am
Casey
I would have to add the lurker, or the observer, or whatever you want to call it. This is the member that only reads posts and/or comments but never participates. Just watches from the sidelines. That’s usually my modus operandi so it’s quite ironic I’m posting to this.
May 4, 2009 at 3:58 pm
mikepascucci
Casey,
Thank you for posting, I appreciate that – given your “modus operandi”. I agree with you 100% and am not too sure why I forgot that one. My main focus was to point out the personalities of people that actually participate. True lurkers tend to stand on the sidelines and blend in with the crowd, but never interact at all.
Mike
October 2, 2009 at 11:17 am
Steve Early
Mike:
Great List and funny because they are all so true!
My addition: The Politico – All politics, all the time. You’ll never have to guess about who they like and who they despise … politically speaking, of course.
Steve
October 5, 2009 at 11:48 am
mikepascucci
Steve,
That is funny, I can not believe that I left that one off of the list. They also generally fall under the “Multi-personality” bucket as they sometimes create separate user accounts and fight with themselves. HA. Good one!
Mike