The “90-9-1″ Rule states:

In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.

One of our goals with Ninja Post is to achieve a more equitable participation distribution in online communities. To combat this phenomenon, known as “participation inequality” we have made the following items cornerstones of Ninja Post software:

• Make it fast and easy to sign up.
• Make the site fast and responsive – this is CRUCIAL!
• Send email alerts when one of their threads is updated to draw users back to the site.
• Allow users to vote a post up or down as a way to get involved without having to compose a reply.

We’re also considering other ways to entice—and enhance—participation. For example, eBay’s reputation system and other “reward mechanisms” are models that we’re considering.