# Grow my community
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/grow-my-community/292292
**Category:** Community Building
**Created:** [January 19, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grow-my-community/292292 "2024-01-19T20:45:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@JimPas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JimPas)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2024, 10:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grow-my-community/292292/50 "2024-02-16T22:45:16Z")
RE the ‘PCB’ on the Sierra Connect site. It helps if there is a hover over description that gives a brief 1-sentence explanation. This helps newcomers to the site to understand what it stands for. There are 68 possible meanings for PCB. 🤷♂️ [PCB - Definition by AcronymFinder](https://www.acronymfinder.com/PCB.html)
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### Author:  [@Bas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Bas)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2024, 11:57am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grow-my-community/292292/51 "2024-02-19T11:57:11Z")
> [@lucy.sierracircuits](#):
>
> I didn’t give the full explanation but yes our customers and prospects have similar needs they can solve with the platform. I meant to say that the forum caters to everyone, whether they’re customers or not.
Yes of course, it is absolutely fine if the forums caters to everyone. But who’s your focus? 🙂
Customers will have knowledge of what you do, so you won’t need to explain your product range (probably). So they’ll need guidance on how to use your products.
Prospects will need to understand what you do in detail. So if you are aimed at prospects: your banner could be calling out your offerings, or a “getting started with protoexpress” guide.
If your forum is open to non-customers, could be good to make that explicit. It’s _free advice_ from experts, that has a lot of value!
> [@JimPas](#):
>
> RE the ‘PCB’ on the Sierra Connect site. It helps if there is a hover over description that gives a brief 1-sentence explanation. This helps newcomers to the site to understand what it stands for.
This is actually an interesting observation! PCB is a very common acronym in your industry. I think it’s fair to assume all your customers will know. Probably all prospects too, but I’m less certain. Would you expect _all_ your (valuable) visitors to know what PCB stands for?
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### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2024, 1:19am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grow-my-community/292292/52 "2024-02-20T01:19:31Z")
Interesting and likely relevant article: [First 1,000 Community Members](https://community.inc/frameworks-reports/first-1000)
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### Author:  [@JimPas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JimPas)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2024, 8:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grow-my-community/292292/53 "2024-02-20T20:29:12Z")
> [@Bas](#):
>
> Would you expect _all_ your (valuable) visitors to know what PCB stands for?
For some acronyms I would expect almost everyone to realize what they mean, but there are many the some would have to look up.
“The 20,254 entries make up the bulk of the text Over 7,000 terms are new, or have been revised since the 1972 edition.”
from [IEEE Standard Dictionary of Electrical and Electronics Terms | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4114093)
That’s a lot, especially for someone new or fairly new to the game.
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### Author:  [@Ed\_S](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ed_S)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2024, 8:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grow-my-community/292292/54 "2024-02-21T08:42:08Z")
I don’t think there’s any ambiguity about PCB in this context. It is indeed a TLA with many meanings, but this is a PCB fabrication business, not intended for the general public but for people who want to fabricate a PCB. Those people will know something about electronics.
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### Author:  [@anon36555649](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon36555649)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grow-my-community/292292/55 "2024-02-21T16:54:45Z")
> [@Bas](#):
>
> If your forum is open to non-customers, could be good to make that explicit. It’s _free advice_ from experts, that has a lot of value!
In addition, also an opportunity for experts to offer advice. Discourse seems to more built for collaboration rather than some people giving away advice for free to others.
Regardless of PCB being a standard term for printed circuit boards, can still be a good idea to have posted somewhere the full words of what acronyms stand for. I don’t work in that field now but have some background in manufacturing.
Here is another one, “TLA,” what does that stand for?
> [@Ed\_S](#):
>
> a TLA with many meanings,
Many people also talk about “UBI” as if everyone knows they are talking about universal basic incomes, not realizing that is also a standard acronym for a Unified Business I.D.#
So many other acronyms, so confusing.
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### Author:  [@lucy.sierracircuits](https://meta.discourse.org/u/lucy.sierracircuits)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2024, 4:09am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grow-my-community/292292/56 "2024-02-22T04:09:52Z")
Everyone knows what PCB stands for in the industry.
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### Author:  [@JimPas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JimPas)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grow-my-community/292292/57 "2024-02-22T18:42:36Z")
> [@Ed\_S](#):
>
> but this is a PCB fabrication business, not intended for the general public
Okay, understood. I was under the misunderstanding that it was for the general public. 👍 (I knew what it meant as I repaired TVs, radios & 2-way radios since I was 14. 🙂 )
> [@lucy.sierracircuits](#):
>
> Everyone knows what PCB stands for in the industry.
See my comment above this. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2024, 1:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grow-my-community/292292/58 "2024-02-24T01:22:28Z")
This #Customization > Theme component can help
> [@Add \ tags to words in posts](https://meta.discourse.org/t/add-abbr-tags-to-words-in-posts/88394):
>
> About This theme component is ported from [Auto-Linkify Words](https://meta.discourse.org/t/linkify-words-in-post/82193) to provide functionality similar to the [Abbreviations and acronyms plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/abbreviations-and-acronyms-plugin/38501) – namely to wrap various abbreviations used in a given forum/site/Discourse installation in \ tags. Location [https://github.com/metabrainz/discourse-abbrify-words](https://github.com/metabrainz/discourse-abbrify-words)How to install Credits Thanks to @sam for writing the “Linkify words in post” plugin.
Linkify can also work if you want it to say take them to Wikipedia instead. Though now you can do linkify in watched words.
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