# Community debt Community debt is the accumulation of issues that arises when the community is not taken care of... just like a garden. Similar concept to [[Technical debt]]. I suppose the term was created by taking inspiration from software development. An example for communities would be bringing in a lot of people who won't be active long-term. In the short term you get growth and content and engagement, but you're going to pay for it in the long term when you can't sustain it. But, there are other things that could be community debt, like choosing one chat platform over another, investing in a fad or trend that won't last, even something like accepting toxic behavior from star community member Virtual events are, I think, another example of community debt. We all switch to virtual to keep things going during the pandemic, but what's the long term cost? How do we switch back? Can we switch back? Community debt, like technical debt, isn't always the result of bad choices. Sometimes they're the result of pragmatic choices, fully knowing the consequences. In those cases they're only bad when you don't pay them off when the time comes. According to [[Rosie Sherry]], community debt are things that cause unnecessary work, bloat or impact negatively on the community experience. Too many members, or members just not having the right kind of conversations is a form of community debt. As are old discussions/content. Or processes that need to be updated. Related to the [[Broken windows theory]]. The [[Boy Scout rule]] can help keep community debt low. ## Related - [[Technical debt]]