That's definitely a factor. On Reddit I've met a few people who I've had some correspondence with after one of us messaged the other. But on old forums there w

That's definitely a factor. On Reddit I've met a few people who I've had some correspondence with after one of us messaged the other. But on old forums there was also the fact that the communities were so small that just hanging out a bit lets you get to know all the regulars. The closest I get to that nowadays is probably guilds in MMOs. There's also Discord, but that's a constant rolling conversation which reminds me of IRC, which was never really my cup of tea.