Editing Dialogues/Learning from Small and Overlapping Communities (section)

===Why People Join Multiple Communities ([[:File:Overlapping_communities_cdsc_workshop_2022.pdf|Slides]])===
Nate TeBlunthuis and Charlie Kiene

Does your project need one place for community gathering, or multiple? Will people use multiple spaces if you create them? Will overlaps make things redundant?

A single community cannot fulfill all of someone's needs. Instead, participating in multiple communities can best serve the needs of individual members. This is why people turn to multiple online communities that are complementary. You find the same people in several communities about the same or related topics. These overlaps and complementarities can benefit communities in the long run.

Key takeaways include:

* Shared platforms can help people find homes in connected communities;
* Communities use multiple channels, but these can introduce risks and tradeoffs;
* Design plays an important role in community discovery and organizing participation;
* Boundaries and distinctions between communities are still important;
* Concrete suggestions for design to organize participation in multiple communities.