Community structure should follow member‑driven “desire paths” by forking chat rooms when subtopic engagement reaches critical mass, ensuring relevance, focus, and sustainable growth (Wikipedia, 2025; Pareto principle, 2025). This strategy mirrors UX practices of letting emergent user behaviors guide formal design, rather than imposing top‑down structures (Kohlstedt, 2016).
This post is prompted from several recent conversations about our process for guiding or developing the community. More of this in Building Communities
Key Takeaways for Community Builders
- Observe organic topic drift as an indicator for when to create new channels (Throgmorton & Eckstein, 2015).
- Wait for at least 20 percent core engagement (≈10–15 active members) before forking to sustain critical mass (Pareto principle, 2025; Wikipedia, 2025).
- Spell out clear room purposes and let membership criteria emerge naturally through invitation and interest (Irregularpedia Community Wiki, 2025).
- Leverage user behavior to minimize moderation effort and maximize relevance (Kohlstedt, 2016).
- Accommodate new conversational “shortcuts” rather than forcing members back to ill‑fitting threads (Marion & Reid, 2001).
- Apply the Pareto principle to monitor engagement and room viability (Pareto principle, 2025).
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Evolution of IrregularChat
We began with a single Signal chat, the general IrregularChat group, focused on broad technology discussions aligned with the Innovation and Evolution Council initiative, which provided a direct feedback channel to leadership (Mad Scientist Laboratory, 2021). When we launched the Operational Skills Detachment (OSD) for specialized training discussions, the limitations of a single threaded platform became clear, prompting the community to collectively decide on dedicated rooms (Irregularpedia Community Wiki, 2025). From this first fork emerged Influence & Tech, then DragonOS for electronic warfare and software‑defined radio topics, and so on, until by 2025 we operated about 24 Signal chats as well as purpose‑built groups on SimpleX, Matrix, and Discord (Irregularpedia Community Wiki, 2025).
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Desire Paths: From Dirt Trails to Conversational Shortcuts
Definition and Origins
A desire path is an unplanned trail created by the erosion of soil and vegetation from repeated foot—or hoof—traffic, indicating the shortest or easiest route between two points (Wikipedia, 2025). Early adopters of this concept include Broadway in New York City, which follows a centuries‑old Indigenous trail, and numerous university campuses that waited for snow to fall before observing footprints and paving accordingly (Tomes, 2022; Wikipedia, 2025). Field studies show that as few as fifteen passages can establish a distinct, self‑reinforcing trail that attracts further use (Marion & Reid, 2001). Designers often integrate these emergent routes by paving them, aligning infrastructure with actual behavior patterns (Kohlstedt, 2016).
Lessons for Community Design
In UX and urban planning, designers sometimes “pave” these emergent trails rather than block them, aligning infrastructure with actual behavior patterns (Marion & Reid, 2001; Nichols, 2014). Analogously, in community management, tracking where users naturally congregate—off‑topic threads, repeated side discussions, or persistent hashtags—reveals “conversational desire paths” that deserve dedicated channels or subforums (Throgmorton & Eckstein, 2015).
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Why Fork?
- Focus & Discoverability: Narrowed topics improve relevance and ease newcomers’ entry (Kohlstedt, 2016).
- Critical Mass: A subtopic must demonstrate sufficient engagement—typically when a small core (≈20 percent) drives most discussion—to sustain its own room (Wikipedia, 2025).
- Voluntary Engagement: Members self‑select into forks that match their interests, reinforcing organic growth and reducing moderation friction (Irregularpedia Community Wiki, 2025).
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When to Fork: Criteria and the 80/20 Rule
Topic Drift
A chat room merits a fork when recurring side discussions or repeated offshoot threads consistently divert attention from its core purpose (Throgmorton & Eckstein, 2015).
Critical Mass & Pareto Principle
Per the Pareto Principle—where roughly 80 percent of effects stem from 20 percent of causes—successful forks emerge when that vital few coalesce around a subtopic (Pareto principle, 2025; Wikipedia, 2025).
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Benefits of Aligning Forks with Desire Paths
- Enhanced Engagement: Participants find clear, relevant spaces, boosting sustained interaction (Kohlstedt, 2016).
- Reduced Moderation Overhead: Topic‑aligned rooms minimize off‑topic posts and moderator intervention (Marion & Reid, 2001).
- Community Trust & Ownership: Letting members shape the structure fosters buy‑in and responsibility (Nichols, 2014).
- Scalable Growth: Forks create modular subcommunities that can grow independently without overwhelming a single chat (Pareto principle, 2025).
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Repeating what we said
By treating community conversations like a landscape of desire paths, we empower members to carve their own routes—forking chat rooms only when natural conversational currents demand it (Kohlstedt, 2016). This user‑driven approach has kept IrregularChat focused, resilient, and scalable, demonstrating that guiding rather than dictating structure unlocks the community’s full potential (Irregularpedia Community Wiki, 2025).
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References
IrregularChat Forum. (2024). Secure comms: Signal reality & building for the way it works [Forum post]. Retrieved from Secure Comms & Signal Reality: Building for the Way It Works
Irregularpedia Community Wiki. (2025). History of the IrregularChat Community. Retrieved from Permission error - Irregularpedia
Kohlstedt, K. (2016, January 30). Least Resistance: How Desire Paths Can Lead to Better Design. 99% Invisible.
Mad Scientist Laboratory. (2021, June 21). Keeping the Razor’s Edge: 4th PSYOP Group’s Innovation and Evolution Council. U.S. Army Mad Scientist.
Marion, J. L., & Reid, S. E. (2001). Development of the U.S. Leave No Trace Program: An Historical Perspective. Leave No Trace: Center for Outdoor Ethics.
Nichols, L. (2014). Social desire paths: A new theoretical concept to increase the usability of social science research in society. Theory and Society, 43(6), 647–665.
Pareto principle. (2025). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from Pareto principle - Wikipedia
Tomes, H. (2022, July 9). The twists and turns of “desire paths.” The Spectator.
Throgmorton, J., & Eckstein, B. (2015). Desire Lines: The Chicago Area Transportation Study and the Paradox of Self in Post‑War America. The 3Cities Project.
Wikipedia. (2025, March 29). Desire path. In Wikipedia. Retrieved from Desire path - Wikipedia