Unless you happen to have a friend that wants to get in on it, you’re basically always picking a stranger.

At risk of sounding tone deaf to the situation that caused this: that's what community is all about. The likelihood you know the neighbors you've talked to for years is practically nil. Your boss, your co-workers, your best friend and everyone you know, has some facet to them you have never seen. The unknown is the heart of what makes something strange.

We must all trust someone, or we are alone.

Finding strangers to collaborate with, who share your passions, is what makes society work. The internet allows you ever greater access to people you would otherwise never have met, both good and bad.

Everyone you've ever met was once a stranger. To make them known, extend blind trust, then quietly verify.