It's a funny coincidence: I referenced peeps from this group at work last week. The issue is back then was: association / propinquity was bounded by physical l

It's a funny coincidence: I referenced peeps from this group at work last week. The issue is back then was: association / propinquity was bounded by physical locality because it was effectively pre-internet. The closest you could back get then was happening to attend some place like Caltech, MIT, or Stanford. Sure, you could've stumbled upon some usenet groups or BBSes, but geographically-diffuse interest groups pre-web were unlikely.