[starkparker]

lots of password-protected plex/media servers shared in invite-only discords, like a regression back to the days of knowing the phone number and login of that one BBS you knew about from a friend of a friend that posted cracked software

[altairprime]

I have been very excited to see us returning to private forums. This is not a harmful regression, certainly!

[freedomben]

If you don't know anybody in meat space who can invite you or tell you about it, how do you get in? How do you meet people?

[altairprime]

Hobbies and the social gatherings (both chat rooms and/or in person) that accompany them. See also the phrase Special Interest Groups, with context in both Brin’s “Earth” and Vinge’s “Deepness”.