Communities Glossary

Browse 47 communities terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

47 Communities Terms

Bulletin Board System
An early online system users dialed into to post messages, share files, and participate in discussion communities.
Changelog Drama
Conflict or backlash triggered by how product or project updates are described in release notes or changelogs.
Community Building
The work of creating, sustaining, and strengthening a group of people around a shared interest, product, project, or mission. In tech culture community...
Community Forum
An online discussion space where a product's users, contributors, or interested public ask questions, share knowledge, and help one another. In tech culture...
Community Garden
Literally a shared garden maintained by a community, and metaphorically a shared space or project that thrives through distributed care and stewardship. In...
Community Guidelines
A published set of rules and norms describing acceptable behavior in a community, platform, or forum. Good community guidelines help moderators act...
Community-Led Growth
A growth strategy where user communities, practitioner networks, events, and peer-to-peer advocacy drive adoption, trust, and expansion. It differs from pure...
Community Manager
A person responsible for growing, supporting, and moderating a user or developer community around a product, project, or platform. In tech this role often...
Convention
A widely accepted norm or customary way of doing something within a group, language, framework, or community. Conventions reduce friction because people can...
Crosspost
To repost the same content, link, or announcement across multiple forums, channels, or communities. In tech communities it often describes spreading a launch...
Developer Forum
A forum where developers ask questions, share solutions, discuss tools, and help each other troubleshoot. In product culture, a good developer forum often...
Edge Lord
A person who tries too hard to seem shocking, contrarian, or dark for attention, often in online discussions. In tech communities it usually describes...
Electron Community
The ecosystem of developers, maintainers, tool makers, and users around Electron-based desktop app development. In software culture this community is...
Emacs Community
The long-standing community of users and contributors around the Emacs editor and its ecosystem of extensions, configuration, and culture. In developer...
Event Culture
The habits, values, and expectations that shape how a group uses events for learning, networking, launches, or community building. Event culture influences...
Forking Etiquette
The social norms around when and how to fork a project, including communication with maintainers, naming, attribution, and whether a fork is a hostile split or...
Gatekeeping
The act of controlling access, legitimacy, or belonging in a way that excludes people unnecessarily or unfairly. In tech culture gatekeeping often appears in...
Geek Culture
The broader culture around enthusiastic interest in technology, games, science fiction, comics, gadgets, and adjacent fandoms. In tech history geek culture...
Hacker House
A shared living or event space where hackers, founders, or builders gather to work intensely, network, and collaborate.
Hacker News Effect
The sudden spike in traffic, signups, or attention a product gets after appearing prominently on Hacker News. The term also implies that the audience may be...
Hackernews Frontpage
The highly visible set of top stories on Hacker News, often treated as a milestone for attention in startup and developer circles.
HN
A common shorthand for Hacker News, the Y Combinator-run social news and discussion site. In conversation it often stands for both the site itself and the...
Internet Troll
Someone who deliberately provokes, derails, or inflames online discussions for attention, disruption, or amusement rather than sincere engagement. The concept...
Linux Distro
Short for Linux distribution, meaning a packaged operating system built around the Linux kernel plus a selected set of tools, package management, defaults, and...
Linux User Group
A local or online community of Linux users who share knowledge, troubleshoot systems, and promote free or open source software. Often abbreviated LUG, these...
Maker Culture
The community and ethos around hands-on creation using electronics, fabrication tools, microcontrollers, 3D printers, and custom-built devices. Maker culture...
Nerd Cred
Informal reputation earned by demonstrating real technical skill, deep niche knowledge, or authentic participation in a community. In tech culture it acts as...
Newsletter
A recurring email publication used to share updates, links, analysis, product news, or community highlights with subscribers. In tech it is a common format for...
Nous Research
An AI research collective and model brand often discussed in the open-model and alignment-adjacent ecosystem.
Open Collective
A platform used by open source projects and communities to collect funds transparently, manage expenses, and show how money is spent. It is widely used to...
Open Design
A movement and practice of making design processes, assets, decisions, and collaboration more open, participatory, and shareable. In open-source culture, open...
Open Governance
A governance approach where decisions, roles, roadmaps, and processes are visible and participatory rather than concentrated behind closed doors. In open...
Open Source Governance
The rules and decision-making structures that determine how an open source project sets direction, grants authority, resolves disputes, and manages...
OpenStreetMap
A collaboratively maintained open geographic database used in mapping applications and spatial tools.
Plugin Ecosystem
The collection of extensions, developers, APIs, review processes, and distribution channels that grow around a platform’s plugin architecture. A strong plugin...
Product Hunt
A platform where startups and makers launch and discuss new products, often using it as a distribution and credibility moment for early traction. A strong...
Slashdot
A long-running technology news and discussion site that played a major role in early internet and open source culture. It is especially remembered for...
Startup Ecosystem
The network of founders, investors, accelerators, service providers, employees, events, and institutions that support startup creation in a region or sector. A...
Tech Community
The network of people, groups, events, and online spaces connected by shared interest in technology, software, hardware, or startups. The term can refer to a...
Tech Meetup
A smaller, usually local gathering where people interested in technology share talks, demos, discussions, or networking around a topic, language, or ecosystem....
Tech Twitter
The overlapping cluster of technology workers, founders, researchers, and commentators who discuss tech topics on Twitter, now often used historically or...
Ubuntu Community
The global network of users, contributors, maintainers, and advocates around the Ubuntu Linux distribution and its ecosystem. It is known for emphasizing...
Uncensored Model
A model advertised as having fewer safety restrictions, moderation layers, or refusal behaviors than mainstream assistants.
Unconference
A participant-driven event where sessions are proposed, shaped, or selected by attendees rather than fixed entirely in advance by organizers. Unconferences...
User Group
A community of people who use the same technology, product, or platform and meet to share knowledge, solve problems, and build relationships. User groups have...
WomenWhoCode
A global community organization focused on supporting women in technology through events, education, networking, and career development. The name is commonly...
Write the Docs
A well-known community and conference series centered on documentation, technical writing, and docs tooling. In tech culture, the name signals serious...

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