Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities you know?

Posted by anujkk on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @05:53AM
from the ask-hn dept.

Everyone knows about facebook, google+, twitter and other popular social networking sites/communities that are general purpose(for all audience). I wish to know which niche communities(like HN) you like the most and why?

Edit : I'm also especially interested in communities that are women oriented.

( 18 comments | 23 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by revorad on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @06:58AM (#3098069)

I'm not part of either of these, but http://ravelry.com is a famous knitting community. Another one which is really impressive is http://www.airliners.net. The photos and in-depth reviews people post on that site are just mind blowing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by DanBC on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @06:17AM (#3097982)

Meatball wiki is crucial reading for people wanting to learn about online communities.

(http://meatballwiki.org/wiki/)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by callmeed on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @02:37PM (#3099754)

http://www.digitalweddingforum.com is my favorite forum for professional wedding & portrait photographers. I'm a member and an advertiser. It's a pretty great resource if you want no-nonsense business/technical photography info.

Membership is in the thousands and it's a paid forum, so it's profitable.

I don't know the actual numbers, but portrait and wedding photography has become very popular with women in the past few years. There are a lot of women that participate (possibly a majority).

There is also a women/mom photography forum called http://www.clickinmoms.com that is fairly popular, but I have no first-hand knowledge of it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by latch on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @12:11PM (#3099140)

http://webhostingtalk.com is a pretty huge forum for everything hosting (vps, cloud, dedicated, colo..) related. Used to participate pretty heavy. It's actually a really good hacker resource.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by gadders on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @07:32AM (#3098144)

http://www.bobpitch.com

People who just enjoy chatting about various subjects all day long.

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Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by stfu on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @02:58PM (#3099844)

I prefer http://www.popbitch.com ;)

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Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by gadders on Wednesday October 12, 2011 @11:53AM (#3103365)

There was a schism and some people created it as a spin off.

Similar sense of humour, but no interest in celebrities.

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Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by szany on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @07:29AM (#3098136)

Programming languages: http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/

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Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by episod on Wednesday October 12, 2011 @10:24AM (#3103036)

http://Everything2.com is a great community of writers; kind of an alternate reality, perspective-based wikipedia with a mix of fact, fiction, essays, drivel, and close-nit culture of folks who regularly meet up together.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by Mankhool on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @12:51PM (#3099306)

Cinema 5D http://www.cinema5d.com/index.php Now including discussion about large sensor video cameras, but started very niche for those of us interested in shooting video on DSLRs.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by wj on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @11:19AM (#3098901)

Not specifically for women but Elite Trader (http://www.elitetrader.com/) is pretty niche.

Food bloggers seem to have a lot of online (and offline) meetups.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by joshontheweb on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @09:25PM (#3101101)

some obvious ones:

* web developers - http://forrst.com

* web designers - http://dribbble.com

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Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by katiepatrick on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @12:52PM (#3099314)

http://www.ign.com/ - not sure if it counts as 'community' - but is very popular and was sold for something around $600m I think.

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Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by lilkik on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @05:46PM (#3100448)

http://www.justbreastimplants.com/forum/ is self-explicatory, fairly busy and has a female audience.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by dchuk on Wednesday October 12, 2011 @10:11PM (#3105710)

I setup http://www.saasaholics.com for SaaS and Startup founders to help each other out

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Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by hcho on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @09:26AM (#3098434)

In the UK, there's http://mumsnet.com Obviously it's a mother's online community.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by katiepatrick on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @12:54PM (#3099322)

There is also essentialbaby.com.au that is an Australian new mom site that was purchase by fairfax for around $4m

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Tell me about some good niche online communities ... by EgeBamyasi on Tuesday October 11, 2011 @02:02PM (#3099620)

rateyourmusic.com

Every music nerds wet dream.

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