[mlyle]

Sure-- I agree with all that. And I mean, I've benefitted from the new thing: being parts of groups of 50 people assembled worldwide hacking on one thing because it's interesting or whatever where you'd never have a critical mass on a local board.

But there was something about having consistent groups of friends online. It stayed around on the internet for awhile after mass adoption, but really started to dry up around 2002, and then the rise of social media hastened the demise.