Meeting Laurel Papworth

There's few outstanding online community builders in this world and considering there are over 40 million communities and groups I'd like to think that more talented people will step up to this role. Laurel Papworth is one of the rare breed. She's been building online communities since the early days of internet when discussion boards and forums were thriving - mainly around gaming, academic and technology enthusiasts.

I met with her last week in Sydney and what truly impressed me was her pure passion for protecting this emerging space from predators who can potentially destroy a community overnight and educating anybody who is willing to listen or read on building sustainable and valuable communities on the web. Laurel walks her talk and gave up the opportunity to attend a three day luxury retreat for Venture Capitalists who are enthusiastic to learn about social networks and online communities and instead spend a week teaching school children what she's learned over the past 10 years.

Good on you Laurel!