How online communities have come of age … for catalogers

By Joe Dysart

Some of the most mature online communities bring in professional moderators, experts in fields such as law, accounting and technology. These sponsors assume responsibility for moderating and managing their own forums.

These “expert” forums are a win-win. Sponsoring companies harvest the prestige of having industry-recognized authorities contributing to their Web sites. The experts get valuable exposure to an audience of potential customers.