Why do Yankee fans flock to their favorite online community, YanksBlog?  Perhaps, it’s because they feel welcomed and supported, as you would want to be at the site for your passionate interest. Patrick O’Keefe is a gracious and savvy host  for this avid baseball fans. He manages several communities including PhotoshopForums, KarateForums and BadBoyForums.

Like Augie Ray, he can help you decide whether to join or build a community.Now, would you like to launch and manage a lively online forum for people who share your favorite interest?  And perhaps make money? Or become more adept at most any type of social interaction online? Then listen in as O’Keefe, the author of Managing Online Forums, describes how to jumpstart and care for a lively, growing community online.

•Work from anywhere.

• Host a popular place for people who share your interest to gather.

From mothering to scuba diving, managers of some of the largest online forums rave about O’Keefe’s advice. Hear how powerful a community can become, ways to set up a community and a content site, mediate squabbling members, develop guidelines and promote your community.

Here are more resources to get you started. As you can tell I am a fan of this generous community-building expert and his book. As both O’Keefe and Peter Block suggest, what makes communities work online is the same as in face-to-face time – –it is the sense of belonging.