Yes, it wasn't me who started the groups in mind, and these were quite early, starting in the late 90's. While many members were researchers, on the whole they

Yes, it wasn't me who started the groups in mind, and these were quite early, starting in the late 90's. While many members were researchers, on the whole they were not in computer fields- chemistry, biology, medicine... On top of that, people of that vintage knew very little about the internet. There have also been many other comments here about other types of groups, from bird watchers to people building rockets to histories of WWII, that would certainly not have had this kind of technical background.