[petercooper]

You're right. I just don't think that's a healthy way to build a community. It reminds me of those high end "planned communities" in places like Florida, Dubai, and around the Med. You get interest and deposits, build a "perfect" environment, and people come in and enjoy their holiday homes without really forming a "community."

Most good communities, online or off, build organically and over time. See HN, Reddit, MetaFilter, Digg, or even Stack Overflow itself (in its original form). Getting hundreds of users to "commit" to forming a community on day one is a recipe for disaster and will end up in a place people dip in and out of rather than truly care for.