There’s also this very interesting, heavy-cross-linked wiki posting on Meatball Wiki.
One of the key differentiators that many Social Software advocates are arguing about is the question of the number of participants vs. the value. We have all seen forums “turn nasty” and communities go sour. I’ve also had the priviledge to belong to long-lasting groups that had decorum as well as numbers CompuServe’s FoxForum 1990-1995 hosted as many a 500 messages per day and yet threads were maintained, order was enforced (not by SysOps as much as community activists) and a really powerful social as well as business network was formed. I am not convinced that the software features are as enabling as a few skilled people who serve as Connectors, as Malcolm Gladwell described them in “The Tipping Point.”