I love that Romain referenced PG's Do Things That Don't Scale essay. That's exactly how Product Hunt has grown. Tons of emailing, tweeting, etc. and when it comes to building a community, being personable is the best way to build a healthy culture, imho.
Spot on. Reaching out to your earliest users directly - and not via a canned email - is really effective for building trust and loyalty in a community. Communities are often a reflection of the founder him/herself and this sort of grassroots outreach goes a long way toward attracting others.
