[greggarious]

>You wouldn't consider it weird to join say a hiking club to make friends as the primary goal over just the hiking.

I'm queer. I think the issue in the OP is more like that one episode of Community where someone who's very advanced at pottery takes a pottery course -- nothing wrong with meeting people in a class. Nothing wrong with having people see your kindness as attractive because you do things like organize a study group.

The problem becomes if you only let someone like Jeff Winger learn from you, and turn away the Shirleys. (To keep with the "community" analogy :))

I agree there's nothing wrong with joining something to be social, the issue is hiding your skill level or purposefully competing below it...