im mean technically lemmy counts as social media i guess since it's a feed but it's the closest things we have to an old school forum. Just idea that you care so much about a topic you create a site to talk about it was powerful. People don't realize it's a big difference between a land grab for subreddits or even communities on here and running a server. startrek.website is the closest thing since they have very focused communities.

It's like match making and running a gaming sever back in the day. it was this weird hybrid of a public game and playing with friends. there was a TFC server i played with the same people and along with them but never knew them or joined a clan in mechwarrior 2 and would battle other clans i never knew any of them outside this one thing. It was a natural filter for jerks and cheaters. now it's ether play with friends or play alone.